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(Joe Biden was on LE only by proxy.)

By Mark Kilmer Posted in Special Features — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

Sunday, April 22, 2007

On FOX News Sunday this morning, Virginia Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling said that he didn't have time for those who'd talk about more or less gun control at this point, while the families were grieving, George Washington University president Steve Trachtenberg boasted that at GWU, not only are the faculty and students disarmed, but so are the campus security officers.

Next on FNS, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Chuck Schumer lamented that he didn't have the votes to renew the Assault Weapons Ban, but that he was trying to pass it in bits and chunks. He gave the President a few names of acceptable replacements for Al Gonzales: Larry Thompson, Jim Comey, and one other whose name slipped past. Arlen Specter called Harry Reid's "war is lost" quip, "very, very demoralizing" and "very destructive."

On TW, Newt Gingrich said that "with time and patience," the United States "absolutely" could win in Iraq. It was a good interview for him.

On MTP, nothing happened. Not a thing. And then Russert had Jon Meacham on to emit noise about nothing.

The most interesting thing said on CBS' Face the Nation was Sarah Brady's insistence that "we enforce the existing [gun control] laws." She meant it in the context of federal laws overwhelming State law.

Also on FTN, Pat Leahy boasted that the Republicans had taken the lead on ousting AGAG.

On LE, Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell posited that we must be careful not to abandon our civil rights "because of the actions of one madman." Columnist Tom Friedman of the New York Times, hawking the latest flat earth book, declared his oneness with Joe Biden.

Read on for the show-by-show review…

TRACHTENBERG AND BOILING ON FNS. This morning, FOX News Sunday host Chris Wallace spoke first with Virginia Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling and George Washington University president Steve Trachtenberg about the Massacre. Trachtenberg faulted the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Buckley Amendment – same thing – for not being able to get the goods on the killer before the killing. Boiling said that he "couldn't answer" the question from Wallace about whether an armed teacher could have stopped the Massacre before it became as bad as it eventually was. He put a pox on both sides of the debate: those who argue for more gun control and those who argue for less. He said that our concern should be with the families. Trachtenberg boasted that at GWU, not only are the faculty and students disarmed, but so are the campus security officers.

SPECTER AND SCHUMER ON FNS. Wallace next had Senator Arlen Specter and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Chuckie Schumer on to talk about the Massacre and about the witch hunt.

First on the Massacre, Specter's argument was one against federalism: "State law ought to be in conformity with national law." The Virginia Tech Massacre would not have occurred, Arlen insisted, if Virginia had been forced to use the federal law. Cho would have been stopped, Specter argued. (In Specter's own words: "Action could have been taken in a preventative manner.")

Schumer said that Carolyn McCarthy in the House and he in the Senate had proposed legislation which would give the States money to update their gun records. "Given the horror" of Virginia Tech, Schumer speculated, it has a "good chance of passing."

Wallace asked Chuckie why he doesn't just renew the Assault Weapons Ban? Schumer said that they don't have the votes, so they plan to pass it in smaller, more easily passed chunks.

Wallace played a video montage of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales telling the Senate Judiciary Committee that he just does not recall. Specter insisted that AGAG's testimony was damaging to the attorney general and to the White House. He said that it only hurt in defending against the accusation that the Justice Department had become nothing more than a political wing of the White House. Specter admitted, "There's no proof of that." He justified is anger by adding, "But there's no proof of anything else, either."

Yeah, Arlen.

Specter said he spoke to AGAG on Friday and advised: "Al, lay out the facts now."

Wallace asked if it were good or bad for the Department of Justice if AGAG stayed on. Specter answered that "it is harmful," but he pointedly refused to explicitly demand Gonzales's resignation.

Wallace asked Chuckie about the notion that the President might not ask Gonzales to resign because he is afraid his successor might not be confirmed by Committee Dems unless and until they have Karl Rove's testimony. Schumer answered that it is important that Rove and Harriet Miers be forced to testify before his committee. Wallace asked him the question again, and Schumer made a crack comparing AGAG to "Brownie" at FEMA. Schumer said that Larry Thompson or Jim Comey could probably be confirmed with little problem. (The new paradigm in Washington is evidently that when there is a vacancy in the President's cabinet, the head of the DCCC will submit to the President, either orally or in writing, a list of acceptable nominees from which the President must select one person to nominate for a given cabinet office.)

Wallace played the clip of dingy, defeatist Harry proclaiming that the war is lost. Schumer posited that Reid had said that the war was lost if we continued the surge. Specter argued that "certainly, the war is not being won." He argued for giving the surge a chance to work but suggested that the Senate would eventually talk about withdrawal. He spoke of Reid's remark as "very, very demoralizing – and not necessary." He called Reid's statement, "Very destructive."

GINGRICH ON TW. This morning, host George Stephanopoulos of ABC's This Week talked to the new face of green politics in America, Newt Gingrich. Steph asked Newt what he would have done differently with the Massacre if he were President, and Newt said that President Bush had handled it well.

Newt argued that in States where there are concealed carry laws, the killer can be stopped by "honest, law-abiding citizens." He suggested that the late professor Liviu Librescu, had he been permitted to carry a weapon on that campus on that day, would have been in a position to save a lot of lives. (Librescu was the Holocaust survivor who barricades the classroom door with his body allowing his students of jump out the window to safety.)

Steph argued that the federal law was not followed and the Virginia law was not good enough. Newt agreed that the database should be federalized and he likened it to pedophiliac. He argued that gun violence has gone up in places with gun bans like Australia and Great Britain.

Steph quoted Gingrich blaming Columbine on the effects of liberalism. Newt stood by this and blamed the violence in vid games, etc., and not being able to talk of the Creator. He agreed with Imus's firing but explained that we are not asking what is wrong with our culture when kids, "10, 11, 12 years of age," dress up as pimps and prostitutes for Halloween. He argued that while we can restrict political speech (McCain-Feingold), we cannot limit "vicious, vulgar, and inhuman speech." He argued that this is a "major component of what's happened to our culture in the last forty years."

An uncomfortable Steph abruptly changed the subject to Alberto Gonzales and his lack of recall. Newt has called for AGAG to step down. Gingrich accused the President of breaking President Eisenhower's rule about measuring a subordinate by service to the country, not to personal loyalty. Gingrich argued that every rational person knows that a new team at the Justice Department will be better for America and better for President Bush.

Steph claimed the SecDef Robert Gates had praised the Democrat anti-Bush resolution as "helpful" in putting pressure on the Iraqi government. He said that Gates had declared that we would reevaluate our presence in Iraq if their government had not met benchmarks by August. Newt thinks Gates was laying the groundwork for telling the Iraqis they have to get their act together.

Steph asked if Newt would pull out in August if the Iraqis didn't meet the benchmarks. Newt said he would listen to General Petraeus, but you have to let the Iraqis know that our presence is not open-ended.

Newt said that it took two-generations to liberate South Korea and allow it to become a wealthy democracy. He called the Iraq problem, "More complex."

Newt faulted Harry Reid's recent statement as "shallow and cynical and contemptible," referring, of course, to Reid's comment that the Iraq war would help to gain Senate seats for the Democrats. He thinks it "bizarre" for a national leader to see young men and women fighting in Iraq and calculating how many seats he'll gain.

"If we lose the Iraq war, this will be an enormous victory for terrorism" and the "world will be a less safe place." Steph asked him if victory in Iraq "in any real sense" were really possible anymore.

Gingrich: "For the United States? With time and patience, absolutely."

Steph asked Gingrich if he'd run for President if Fred Thompson got into the race. Newt said he wouldn't think about it until the end of September. He praised Rudy's leadership on 9-11 and said the big story is how well Giuliani has so far done. He said that Thompson has a base of support and Mitt Romney is doing better.

Newt talked about his "American Solutions" program, reaching out to local elected officials to talk about energy, the environment, education, and health. These things are not exactly why governments are instituted amongst men, but Newt's got a vision.

STEGER ON MTP. As his first guest on NBC's Meet the Press this morning, Tim Russert had Virginia Tech President Dr. Chuck Steger. He said that school was still in shock, classes start Monday, and they're focused on supporting the families of the victims. Russert wanted to know why he didn't shut down the campus after the first shooting, and Steger said that they thought they had the situation under control. He said that after the first shooting, they had a suspect whom they were interviewing.

NOISY RUSSERT PANEL ON MTP. Okay, Russert's panel this week -- HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt and Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, retired Virginia State Police Superintendent Col. Gerald Massengill and former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge – was much less boisterous than is usually the case. Ridge said that the Massacre was a very unique situation, Ridge called for national standards and a national warning system, and Spellings told him that the solution is not "one-size-fits-all."

JON MEACHAM ON MTP. Jon Meacham of Newsweek was Russert's next guest. He never has anything interesting, enlightening, or even curious to say, but Russert has him on just the same. I'm not sure why.

LARRY HINKER ON FTN. VA TECH associate veep Larry Hinker said that even though his campus had suffered an atrocity, the "Hokie Spirit" and the love from around the country has shown that they are ready to "go ahead and begin that rebirth." Using hindsight, host Bob Schieffer taunted about the "warning signs" and asked about "different procedures." Hinker said that there would be a "significant police presence on campus." They cannot "let this event define us," he said. They have to "open ourselves up to the world."

Schieffer asked him about Gingrich's assertion that concealed weapons have stopped killers. Hinker would ask Gingrich if he would want to be in "front of a class knowing that one or more students might have a weapon." (Schieffer had tried to neutralize the seriousness of Gingrich's suggestion by proclaiming that he is "thinking of running for President.")

MCCRARY AND THE BRADYS ON FTN. Bob Schieffer, host of CBS' Face the Nation, introduced former FBI profiler Gregg McCrary. He showed vid from the assassination attempt on President Reagan and noted that Jim Brady had been hurt there. He had the Bradys on from location.

Schieffer told McCrary that there were warning signs, what should have been done. McCrary said we can't fall into the trap of allowing everything to seem ominous given later events. He suggested on getting representatives from all sorts of groups on campus, "the best way to get early intervention."

Schieffer, "as a journalist," thinks it was necessary to show the Cho vid for news but then they should cut it out. He asked McCrary "what was the impact?" McCrary said that they should report on the vid but not show it, as it would bring out copycats.

Schieffer asked Sarah if she thinks she's had an impact. Sarah Brady said that they need to "curb the availability of these weapons" to felons and to nuts. She boasted that their law had stopped millions from purchasing their weapons from gun dealers. She complained that Virginia used their own mental health guidelines, not the federal, thus Cho "fell through the cracks." Sarah said that the federal government should mandate that all records be "up-to-date." She added that we have to "enforce the existing law."

Jim Brady told Schieffer: "Bob, I have good days and bad days. Today is a good day."

McCrary quoted Mencken: "For every problem, there is a solution that is clear, simple, and wrong." We cannot be simplistic about the solutions.

LEAHY ON FTN Schieffer then talked to titular Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Pat Leahy, who said that he will hold hearings after Virginia Governor Tim Kaine finished his investigation. He apologized for the confusion about whether he was supposed to be on the panel with McCrary and the Bradys. Leahy wanted to know why someone who is nuts should be allowed to buy guns. He blamed Virginia and called for a federal law.

Schieffer said that the "debate about guns is over," as the Dems stopped pushing "after Al Gore lost." Leahy and Schieffer agreed about grief and mourning, but Leahy declared the grief and mourning to be completed. Leahy posited that we have to learn how to enforce the laws we have.

Schieffer shifted to AGAG. Leahy snorted that Republicans had turned on Gonzales more severely than had Democrats. Leahy doesn't think AGAG can be effective, but he thinks the WH would replace him with another robot controlled by the WH so they could interfere in justice.

BOB MCDONNELL ON LE Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell was Wolf Blitzer's first guest on CNN's Late Edition. Wolf asked him: "Could it have been averted?" McDonald promised that they "were going to leave no stone unturned in this criminal investigation," but he added that now is the time for the families to mourn. McDonnell's office is looking at the State statute vs. the 1997 federal statute, looking for an "immediate fix" for the "disconnect." (The State statue proscribed gun purchases by folks with any sort of mental health treatment; the Virginia statute deals only with inpatient treatment.)

Wolf asked if anyone "slipped up." McDonnell said his lawyers are looking at it; if the federal law proscribed it. "There is a gap" between the two laws, and they're analyzing this.

Wolf put up a bunch of "facts" from the Brady Campaign, which gives Virginia a "C-." He asked if Virginia should crack down on gun purchases in the wake of the Virginia Tech Massacre. McDonnell agreed that they have to look at those with mental health problems. He talked about the pro-gun and anti-gun arguments and said that people were still grieving. He added that we should not give up our rights "because of the actions of one madman."

Wolf said that Cho purchased ammunition on eBay. McDonnell said that he heard that Cho had bought clips, not ammunition.

FRIEDMAN ON LE. Blitzer wasted a large amount of time with New York Times columnist Tom Friedman and his book tour for the latest version of The World is Flat. [NOTE: I'm not being snarky. That's what he called the book.] I don't cover book tours, as a rule, but some things stood out:

Friedman declared that the President had sent just enough troops to Iraq to lose. Friedman also declared that Joe Biden was the egg man. Joe Biden is the egg man. Joe Biden is the walrus. [Make the nonsense sound of your choice or have that Newsweek Meacham fellow do it for you.]

"Joe Biden," he said, "has been on top of this from the very beginning." Joe Biden "was on top of the opportunity." Joe Biden "was on top of what stakes we needed or what we needed to do to get some chance of realizing that opportunity and he's been on top of saying this isn't working."
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And have at it!