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Sunday, November 26, 2006

On FNS, Chuck Rangel did not address the Heritage Foundation's report indicating the contrary but insisted that today's U.S. military is comprised do dumb, poor kids because that's how it was when he dropped out of high school to sign up to go to Korea in '48. Barney Frank accused Chris Wallace of not being balanced because he asked controversial questions not ones about positive agendas. John Dingell wants to hold hearings into Vice President Cheney's Energy Task Force, the one which met in the opening months of 2001.

On MTP, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger did not rule out running against Barbara Boxer in 2010 and told Russert, in response to a question about quitting his political party, that of course he was a Republican and would remain one in perpetuity.

On FNS, Trent Lott declared that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has to take control of his own country or we should leave.

On TW, Jordan's Hashemite Royal Excellent Majesty King Abdullah II said Iraq was a problem, so was Lebanon, cry me a river. The real problem, he said, was the plight of the Palestinians. On the same show, Durbin urged the President not to nominate extremists judges like John Roberts and Sam Alito. He spoke in favor of Reed-Levin. Steph hassled Sam Brownback about a Judge Janet Neff who is being blocked, Brownback insisted, until he knows where she stands on the issues surrounding gay marriages. (She spoke at a lesbian wedding in Massachusetts.)

On FTN, incoming Tennessee Republican Senator Bob Corker indicated that he is looking toward Baker-Hamilton for a way out of Iraq. Missouri Democrat Claire McCaskill said that Congress cannot change Iraq policy, as it's all the President's fault. She and Sherrod Brown of Ohio agreed with guest host Gloria Borger that the last election was a repudiation of President Bush, and Borger asked Corker how he was going to "pay for" extending the President's tax cuts.

On LE, Iraqi National Security Advisor Mowaffak al-Rubaie told Wolf Blitzer that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki would meet with President Bush next week despite Moqtada al-Sadr's threats to pack up his toys and leave the government if he does. He said that the government enjoys broad support and that a few people leaving won't matter. Without missing a beat, he then said that al-Sadr's delegation to the parliament was the largest.

Read More for the show-by-show review.

DINGELL, RANGEL, and BARNEY ON FNS. On this morning's edition of FOX News Sunday, host Chris Wallace first spoke with incoming House Energy and Commerce Committee John Dingell of Michigan, incoming House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Chuck Rangel of New York, and next term's House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank of Massachusetts. Dingell conciliation was: "We'll do what makes good sense... in the middle." He spoke of taking "no extremist positions."

Wallace confronted Conscription Charlie Rangel with the results of a Heritage Foundation study showing that members of the military represent a more affluent and educated set than the averages of society as a whole. Rangel's response: "Of course not." He said that no "bright young kid" wants to fight in a war for a bonus or for educational opportunities. No one wants to fight in Iraq, he said, because things are just as they are when he went to Korea for Truman's war.

Barney Frank wanted to talk about global warming, housing for the elderly, and education. He did not want to talk about gays in the military. He said that these issues have become liberal issues because the "extreme right wing" has abandoned them under President Bush.

Wallace asked if it would be a mistake for Nancy Pelosi to name Alcee Hastings the next chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. Dingell said that Nancy has made no decision but that after Hastings was impeached and removed from his federal judgeship, he was tried and acquitted on all counts. Rangel added that the Congressional Black Caucus was not consulted on a Hastings chairmanship. This is all Pelosi, he said.

Barney then accused Wallace of not being "balanced" because he's talking of controversy, not global warming, housing for the elderly, and education.

Rangel stated: "We don't want to be a lame duck."

Dingell said he wanted to investigate things, "no personalities." For instance, he said, he wants to investigate Vice President Cheney's energy task force. (That's the one which met early in 2001, at the start of the President's first term. They were done before May of that year.)

TRENT LOTT ON FNS. Wallace's next guest was the incoming Republican Senate whip, Trent Lott of Mississippi. Lott spoke of becoming "very aggressive and specific" with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. We have to let Maliki know that if he won't deal with his own problems, we're leaving: "I think circumstances have to change. ... If we don't contain the situation in Iraq, it will spread beyond the borders." (Yeah, thought I, and when you stare into the abyss for a long time, the abyss stares into you.)

Lott hopes Senate Republicans "can be on offense," and he cited all the times Republicans were able to work with Clinton. Not sure why. He complained that this past Senate was in the doldrums because they were unable to do anything, what with the Dems demanding 60 votes on all and sundry.

ARNOLD ON MTP. Russert opened with an interview with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Russert made him out to be a sort of political rock star, and the governor's response was: "Thank you very much. Thank you, Tim."

"We're going to rebuilt California," he said. And the next President is going to have to talk about cleaning the environment and our reliance on fossil fuel.

He said that California's deficit will disappear next year, and that one can "never raise taxes." He cited no personal conviction on this; rather, that increased taxation had been repeatedly and soundly rejected by California's voters.

Russert told Schwarzenegger that his recent election victory -- by 17-points in a lefty State -- should put him on everyone's Presidential short list, but that the cruel fate of the Constitution denied this to him. Arnold replied: "Look at all the things I was able to do [in this country] as an immigrant." Russert insisted that it was not fair that Arnold could not be President. Arnold explained that any movement on the matter "will never happen in my lifetime."

Russert asked Arnold: "Will you stay a Republican?"

Quite a question deserves quite an answer: "Of course I will. Yes."

Russert asked him if he would run for the U.S. Senate against Barbara Boxer. Arnold has become a very good politician. He told Russert that he is not thinking that far ahead and launched into a paragraph about solving the problem of criminal recidivism in California!

HUNTER, SKELTON, MCCAFFREY, AND DOWNING ON MTP. Russert next spoke with Representatives Duncan Hunter and Ike Skelton, and retired Army Generals Barry McCaffrey and Wayne Downing. (To my lefty friends, don't salivate on yourselves. General Downing did not write the Downing Street Memo.)

The emphasis was on training the Iraqis, with Skelton tossing out that the redeployment process for our troops should begin this year. (Can they plan and begin to execute troop withdrawal in 35 days?) He was to "redeploy" three US brigades for every Iraqi brigade trained to stand on its owned. He complained that the average American soldier was not trained to train troops. Russert asked him to where our troops would be "redeployed," and Skelton suggested bringing some home, putting some in Germany, and stashing a few in Kuwait. Unsaid but implied was the Democrat plan for redeploying our troops in Iraq to Okinawa, a plan first formulated by Okinawa Jack Murtha. We might have to go to war against Japan for basing rights, and it would be a war of choice based on Democratic lies, but this is getting out of hand.

General Barry McCaffrey said that we needed to ensure stability in Iraq, that it was not realistic to expect a liberal democratic government there. He said that the consequences of failure would be tremendous. He said that we have to win in Iraq during the next 24-months, as our next President will not want to deal with it. The next 4-6 months are crucial, he said, and this after Russert noted that we had heard such things so many times over the past several years.

STEPH CHATS IT UP WITH KING ABDULLAH (II) OF JORDAN. With the President heading to Amman to meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, ABC's George Stephanopoulos took the time to interview Jordan's Hashemite King Abdullah II on his This Week program. Steph asked if the Amman summit were "the last chance to save Iraq." His Majesty -- speaking fluent English at a rate of about a mile a minute -- replied that the two leaders will work on trying to tone down sectarian violence and that they hoped for "something dramatic." Steph asked about "something dramatic," and His Royal Highness said that he hoped Maliki would have new ideas for President Bush concerning how to make the Iraqi government more inclusive to their various schisms in Iraqi society. "And they need to do it now."

Steph suggested that if Maliki has no such proposals, President Bush will threaten to pick up his toys and go home. His Most Excellent Majesty indicated that he was not privy to the discussion points but that something had to be done now. We cannot let is slide, picking it up in 2007. (He seems to be concerned about the Congressional takeover in the United States by the Democrats.)

Steph asked him if the situation in Iraq were now a civil war, and His Most High Excellency said that we could potentially be juggling three civil wars: the Palestinians, Lebanon, or Iraq. He said he wants to help Iraq -- yadda, yadda -- but the main problem was in Palestine and what he's seen over the past several days in the Lebanon.

Steph asked if the United States had pushed too hard for democracy in the Middle East, thus causing these civil wars, and His Really Excellent Highness did not, of course, want to discuss democracy. He said that though Iraq was important to Americans because we have soldiers there -- yadda, yadda -- the real problem was Israel and the Palestinians. We have to act in the next several months, he said, or it won't do any good to talk of a two-State solution because "there won't be any Palestine to talk about."

Steph asked what "Sunnis and Shi'ites killing each other in an uncontrolled manner" in Iraq has to do with Israel and Palestine, and King Abdullah explained that it was a "potential flashpoint." This was changed by the "situation in Lebanon." In the long term, it's Israel-Palestine, because it is "the emotional, core issue" with the Arabs.

He digs James Baker.

DURBIN VS. BROWNBACK ON TW. Dick Durbin thinks "it is past time" to give al Maliki and "ultimatum." He complained that "150,000 of our best and bravest" are caught in "the middle of a civil war." He did not, for the purposes of this show, reiterate that he believes our troops to be, in his words, like "Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime -- Pol Pot or others -- that had no concern for human beings." He said that the war has lasted longer in World War II, dammitall.

Steph argued that such a threat from the President would "strengthen his diplomacy." Brownback countered this may be the case but it would also strengthen the militias by telling them how long they had to hold out. He said that they can't face the voters in 2008 with things the same as they are now. He advocated "going around the Maliki government in certain situations," doing reconstruction ourselves, working with "other groups there," and getting "regional buy-in." He wants a political discussion including the Iranians and the Syrians.

Steph suggested that the Baker Commission might not agree on anything or that they might not suggest troop withdrawal. He asked Durbin if the Dems would support them then. Durbin replied that the Dems agreed that this had to be a "year of transition." He brought up Reed-Levin. He called this "the worth foreign policy decision" since Vietnam.

Steph asked again if the Dems would get behind Baker-Hamilton no mater what. Durbin said that there would be a "series of hearings."

Steph brought up Chuck Hagel's cut-and-run op/ed in this morning's WashPost. Brownback disagreed with what Hagel "is saying there." He dismissed it and spoke of solutions.

Durbin demanded "centrists, more moderate candidates" for the Court. He suggested that Roberts and Alito were "extremists who really should not be nominated to the Court." Steph asked Brownback about his block of Michigan appeals court Judge Janet Neff to sit on the District Court for speaking at a lesbian wedding in Massachusetts. Brownback said he's looking at the Neff nomination and this his concern was with the "legal issue involving same-sex marriage" and whether they should be decided by legislatures or by courts. (Neff's nomination was a Bush sop thrown to lefty Senators.)

MCCASKILL, BROWN, AND CORKER ON FTN. On CBS's Face the Nation, guest host Gloria Borger spoke with recently elected Senators Clair McCaskill of Missouri, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, and Bob Corker of Tennessee. Claire was the only one in the studio.

Borger asked Claire if she had yet changed her mind about not pulling out of Iraq. Clair said that the Veep did the right thing by going to Saudi Arabia. Now we have to engage moderate nations. If we leave now, she said, the civil war will spread. She demanded accountability: "People have gotten rich on this war and I'm gonna put a stop to it."

Brown wants to "stick to a timetable." The President is "beginning to listen to the election results," he said. This was is now as long as World War II, he hissed, and the Administration is starting to back down.

Corker said that he's looking forward to Baker-Hamilton. He predicted "no silver bullets" and call for a "change in strategy." He said the report might tell us to send more troops to secure Baghdad, and he complained that militias have "splintered off."

Borger argued that neither party has a strategy in Iraq. McCaskill agreed but stated that it is only the President's duty to have a strategy. Brown said that the President "is making some of the right moves... in response to an election where the public said, 'We want something different in Iraq.'" He said the President has to tell Maliki that "we are leaving at some point, at dates fairly certain at some point."

Corker declared "we have to talk to all of the players in that region," despite Syria's recent terrorist activities in the Lebanon.

Borger asked Claire how Congress can make the President do the right thing. Claire answered that we have to remind that President that the election "repudiated" his policies. She doesn't want to take our eye off Afghanistan, "even though we have chaos in Iraq."

Brown repeated Biden's mantra: oodles of House and Senate Republicans are going to defect to the Democrat position on the war now that the election has liberated them.

Borger assumed Corker thinks Brown is right. Corker replied that "all of us understand that we're in a complex situation." There will be "bipartisan efforts... to get us to come together."

After a commercial break, Claire criticized earmarks. Borger asked Corker how he would "pay for" extending the President's tax cuts. Such language is disgusting and disingenuous. Period. Corker reminded her that it was "their money (taxpayers) that we are spending."

RUBAIE AND WOLF ON LE. Iraqi National Security Advisor Mowaffak Al-Rubaie was host Wolf Blitzer's first guest on CNN's Late Edition. Blitzer asked if the insurgency is now "self-sustaining," as a New York Times report suggests. Rubaie explained that members of the business communities and other individuals from more than two countries hostile to Iraqi democracy were funding these insurgents. He would not name countries, but he said they are asking the governments of these countries to clamp down on this activity.

Blitzer said that Rubaie had mentioned Arab countries, "but what about a Persian country"? Iran. Rubaie said that there is no evidence that Iran is involved. Wolf pointed out that the United States had accused Iraq of some involvement in IEDs. Rubaie talked about the need for sharing intelligence.

Blitzer brought up Moqtada al-Sadr's threat to leave the Iraqi government of Prime Minister Maliki meets with President Bush in Jordan next week. Rubaie said of course he would ignore it, as it's a non-threat. The Iraqi government, he said, has broad support across the country. He said that losing the Sadr crew won't bring down the government.

Blitzer brought up John McCain's suggested that Moqtada al-Sadr be removed from the situation and asked of al-Sadr could be arrested. Rubaie expressed admiration for McCain and said that Sadr's element has to be "contained." He said what happens to al-Sadr is up to the "judiciary system." At this point, he added, al-Sadr is "part of the political process." He stressed that al-Sadr "has renounced violence."

CNN had a weather map -- Holiday Travel update -- on the right column of the screen, with a five day forecast for various cities across the bottom. It's 38° in Portland.

Barney Frank should have been there to accuse Blitzer of not being "balanced" because he was concentrating on the controversial things in Iraq, not on training and infrastructure.
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