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By Mark Kilmer Posted in Special Features — Comments (11) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

Sunday, September 30, 2007.

First, a caveat: This is the first such review of the Sunday Shows ever drafted for RedState by a cancer patient undergoing simultaneous radiation and chemotherapy treatments. There will be weeks, I'm sure, when I cannot do this, and the quality might be diminished when I can. I beg your patience and understanding, and I ask for your prayers.

First this morning, on NBC's Meet the Press with Tim Russert, Clinton (Bill) was the guest. Interesting stuff. He credited his Global Initiative Project with having developed a new form of solar energy. He said that Hillary was right about there being no exceptions for torture, but added that individual agents can go all Jack Bauer on suspects if they see fit to do so. (Yes, he spoke much of Jack Bauer.) He praised his wife, calling her "more talented" that he is. He also handicapped the Republican race.

On FOX News Sunday, host Chris Wallace interviewed Chuckie Schumer and Trent Lott about SCHIP. Chuck said that they don't have the votes in the House to override the President's veto, so he supports Nancy's scheme to send the same bill repeatedly to the President until he signs it. Lott called this "totally political" and called for Democrats to compromise and send the President something he could sign.

On ABC's This Week, Steph talked to Newt Gingrich said that he was told yesterday that it would be a criminal offense if he had any contact with his American Solutions 527 tax-exempt outfit after the point at which he had decided to run for President. He said that Hillary is "nice person" who "works hard" but is "just wrong."

From CBS' Face the Nation, Dem Presidential candidate Bill Richardson declared that calling Iranian President Borat names and drawing up invasion plans will tick of the "Moslem world." He still wants to GET OUT NOW! (Iraq) and declared that he's the only candidate showing character on this issue. He wants to invite Iran to participate in Iraqi reconciliation.

Read on for the show-by-show review….

CLINTON (BILL) ON MEET THE PRESS. On NBC, host Tim Russert's guest on Meet the Press was former President Bill Clinton. He was, of course, charming, or whatever Gingrich called him in the day. I melted in his presence, even though he was only on TV.

Fresh off his Global Initiative Project, Clinton touted his success: more commitments for money, more people brought together, and a new form of solar energy. (Perhaps one which doesn't require the sun? Who knows? With the Clintons, all things be possible.)

Russert brought up that disagreement Hillary had with Bill's stated position on torture, this coming from that Dem debate Russert recently moderated. Tim had read a quote from President Clinton allowing for torture in certain circumstances, and Hillary responded by ruling out all torture anytime. Russert told her that it was her hubby's quote, and Hillary said she'd have to sit him down and have a little talk with him. Well, she evidently did.

Clinton (Bill) admitted that Hillary was right. He told Tim Russert that he might be Jack Bauer, even though it's rare. (He'd almost lost me.) He explained that our national policy must be one of opposition to torture in all circumstances, but individual agents may act like Jack Bauer if they think it is the right thing to do. This means, evidently, that he'd leave all decisions on whether or not to torture up to the individual agents given the individual circumstances. If it sounds arbitrary, it is, but we haven't heard from Hillary on this scheme.

Russert played the clip of Hillary telling him that she'd have to talk to Bill later. Clinton burst out into a phony laugh and said that he loved it. He called it the "defining moment in the debate" and reiterated that "she was right."

Clinton said that a Hillary victory would not be a "Clinton dynasty." He iterated that dynasties were for French kings who received their positions because of their families – not adding that they eventually lost their heads – and Hillary would become President on her own merits. She should not be eliminated from consideration, he guffawed, just because she is his wife. He tells us that when they were dating in law school, he told her not to marry him because it might ruin her chances of succeeding in politics on her own. (Before or after he got on bended knee?) She's more gifted than he is, he said, oozing more charm.

Russert pulled out an Alan Greenspan quote, the one calling Clinton (Bill) one of the best Republican Presidents because he balanced the budget. Clinton smiled: "I've always been a Democrat. I just never thought being a Democrat was fiscally irresponsible." He shared credit for balancing the budget with a Congressman: former Representative Joe Kennedy (D-Massachusetts).

Handicapping the GOP race, Clinton said that if there is no Thompson surge, the race will depend on two things: Can Romney hold onto his leads in Iowa and New Hampshire if he continues getting trounced in the national polls? How will Giuliani fare in the face of the negative ads against him which will come from the social conservatives? Also, he tossed in the notion of a McCain resurgence. He also mentioned Mike Huckabee. (He said that Thompson was a "Rorschach test," in that he could be conservative to the conservatives and to the Indies, whatever the heck they wanted. Kind of like Reagan, surmised.)

Russert asked Clinton about the poor GOP turnout for the Tavis Smiley debate on PBS. Clinton said that he was surprised that John McCain was a no-show, what with McCain's campaign finance reform and global warming positions, but the other major candidates didn't surprise him. He had a caveat, though: "As African Americans become more prosperous, you'd think that they'd want to vote Republican." That one's loaded. Can you imagine the fallout if that had come from Fred Thompson or Rudy Giuliani?

LOTT AND SCHUMER ON FOX News Sunday Host Chris Wallace had Senate Republican Whip Trent Lott and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Chuck Schumer on FNS to discuss SCHIP. There was the President's Saturday radio address which called the Democrats' latest scheme and irresponsible expansion of the program which went beyond what SCHIP's creators intended. Then the Democrat response was a 12-year-old boy complaining that President Bush wants to kill children.

Lott explained that the program was created in the 1990's by a Republican Congress and it does need "to be increased." However, he said, it has been "bumped up over and over again." The Democrats, he insisted, wanted to expand it to rich kids and even to adults. Schumer countered by declaring that the Dem version of SCHIP is "needed." He held that health insurance costs families $20,000/year, and the government needs to help out. It will be funded through Paygo, Schumer beamed, meaning that they'll pay for it by raising the cigarette tax. Lott explained that when the higher cigarette tax causes more people to quit smoking, there will be less revenue from the increased cigarette tax and the Dems will have to tax something else to pay for their Supra-SCHIP.

Schumer said that they have enough votes in the Senate to override the President's promised veto, but the votes aren't there in the House. He commended Speaker Nancy for promising to send the same SCHIP bill to the President repeatedly until he signed it. Lott called this "totally politics," relating that the Democrats should compromise a little to gain more votes and give the President something he could sign. Schumer said that the Republicans don't want to compromise.

So. There.

NEWT ON THIS WEEK. It was years ago that a Democrat named Ben Jones ("Cooter," Dukes of Hazzard) challenged Newt Gingrich in Georgia's 6th CD with a commercial consisting of a vacuity: the repetition of the sing-song phrase, "Newt? Not." In this spirit, George Stephanopoulos interviewed Gingrich on ABC's This Week. Gingrich said that he will not seek the Republican Presidential nomination because "the McCain-Feingold act criminalizes politics." He said that his peeps were all set to launch until he learned, yesterday morning, that if he had "any contact with American Solutions" – his latest project – after he became a candidate, "it would be a criminal offense."

Steph asked the obvious question, the one on everyone's minds: What the heck is American Solutions? Newt said that it is technically a 527 tax-exempt outfit which allows them "to develop ideas." They'll release polling data to both political parties and have launched/will launch 35 workshops to 2,000 locations. It's bipartisan, and the attempt is to "start a national dialogue among all people to find solutions."

Steph asked him about the money. Newt said he already had "several million dollars in pledges" and would be competitive in three weeks. But he doesn't want to give up his project for an "underdog campaign."

He thinks it is more likely that this next election will be more a '76 then a '64. The Clinton machine is the most powerful in the whole wide world, and Bill is the "smartest politician of our generation."

He complained that the Republicans had created disaster after disaster and the Democrats "continue to pile up more big-government proposals."

Of the candidates with whom he feels most akin, and who have a chance to win, he favors Mitt and Rudy. He thinks Huckabee need some money; if he finds it, he will be "dramatically competitive almost overnight." Of Fred, New said only: "I think Thompson has not…" then he switched seamlessly to what he thought about Huckabee.

George pointed out that on Friday, Bill Clinton had told him that Hillary would have an easier time winning the general election than the primaries. Does Newt agree? No. "Nice try. He doesn't believe that either." He said that there is no way to take Hillary on in the Democratic primaries without going to the left; if they other Dems go to the left, they make her look like a moderate.

He said that the GOP candidate has to slow things down and pick 3-5 points on which to hit. He said that everyone knows everything they need to know about Hillary, so the Republican has to say only that she is a "nice person, works hard" but is "just wrong."

Steph showed his taped interview with Clinton (Bill), but that's redundant, and he's become an amiable surrogate for the gal who owned the Sunday Shows last week. (And Newt is melting in her presence.)

BILL RICHARDSON ON FACE THE NATION. Host Bob Schieffer of CBS' Face the Nation talked to the smartest governor in the history of the entire world ever, New Mexico's Bill Richardson, supposedly campaigning for President. He thinks the President is going to invade Iran, and he faulted Hillary for voting to label the Iranian Revolutionary Guard a terrorist outfit. He complained that if we invade Iran, we'll tick off "the Moslem World." He said that the President's positions on Iran were based on "more faulty intelligence."

Richardson said that he would not have invited Iranian President Borat, but it is "academic freedom." Richardson is glad Ahmadinejad did not go to Ground Zero. He correctly identified Ahmadinejad as a "minor player" in Iran, what with the country being ruled by the mullahs and Ayatollahs. However, he added that calling the Iranians names (such a Borat?) and drawing up attack plans was counterproductive.

Schieffer asked Richardson about his GET OUT NOW! strategy for Iraq. How would Iran react? Richardson said that a Presidential race was about character and he was the only one telling the truth: we have to get out. He will ask Iran to "participate in the reconciliation process." He said that it is in their interests to have a stable Iraq.

Schieffer ended the interview by saying: "Thanks, gov'." He then went to a commercial and then a "panel of real experts." Ho. And. Hum. (Is Robin Wright of the Washington Post a "real expert" on Iran? She thinks President Borat most hurt himself when he said that there were no homosexuals in Iran. She knows of a "vibrant gay community" there, albeit "underground." Danielle Pletka of AEI pointed out that Iranians had no interest in a stable Iraq.)

SY HERSH ON LE. CNN's Wolf Blitzer led this weekend's episode of Late Edition with longtime Pulitzer Prize winner Sy Hersh. Perhaps we've found our expert-by-acclaim!

Wolf played clips of strong talk against Iran from President Bush. Sy accused the President of changing his rhetoric. Bush tried to push that Iran was a nuclear threat, but that wasn't working, so they switched to Iran being a threat in Iraq. Hersh admitted that the Iranians were "killing Americans" in Iraq, but there is no proof that they are trying to build the bomb, which was how the White House initially tried to "sell" this upcoming war against Iran.

Sy predicted we will launch Cruise missiles and launch strategic air strikes. He said, however, that there is a debate over "how deeply involved" Iran is with the situation in Iraq.

Sys said that "on the inside, the CIA is ramping up really hard," as is the National Security Council.

Blitzer reported that White House Press Secretary Dana Perino told him that diplomacy was the favored option. Sy insisted that we want to bomb Iran. Sy said that the Israelis want us to hit Iran and hit them hard, but we are going to be more "surgical" about it.

He said that by saying that we're fighting terrorists when bombing to Iran, its' easier to sell to the American people and to the world. Bush pulling the wool again, Hersh hinted.

Cheney's onboard also.

We've got Special Forces on the border, Sy said, and they "want to go in."

Sy does not know if we will invade Iran before the President leaves office, but he does know that the President does not want to leave office with the possibility of Iran becoming a nuclear power.

Sy said that the French now see that the Iranians are close to a nuke bomb, but that the French do not want a military strike. The French want the Iranians to "get serious," but the Iranians, Sy said, are not being serious.

HOSHYAR ZEBARI ON LE. Next up on Late Edition, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari held forth. First, Wolf asked Zebari about Sy Hersh's presentation. Zebari suggest that Hersh has "not always been right" in his articles. He said that the Iraqi government has been warning the Iranians that they have to take the word from the international community very seriously and "remember the lesson of Saddam Hussein. (WOW!)

He said that the Iraqis have been honest with the Iranians and have tried to get them to cooperate. He said that the Iraqis are ready to confront their neighbors at a conference in Istanbul to stop meddling in Iraq.

Zebari said that one of the problems is that the words of the Iranians are often in discord with their deeds. Their neighbors' words, he said, have to reflect their actions.

Wolf asked him if he would support the language that the Iranian National Guard is a "foreign terrorist organization." Zebari said that the National Guard is an executive body – the "most effective" such – under the Iranian constitution. He said that calling them terrorists will "only contribute to rising tensions."

Zebari said that Iraq had to live with Iran and "they need each other." He said that the two countries have a long history of cultural exchanges and cooperation, and we do not understand this because we don't understand Middle Eastern culture.

Wolf asked Zebari about the Biden-Brownback partition measure. Zebari says that Biden doesn't want to divide Iraq into three mini-countries; rather, it sounds more in line with the Iraqi constitution. The problem, he said, is that this is up to the Iraqis. He said that though the solution has created "something of a backlash," it needs to be explained further. (Not to himself. He described it better than has Biden: three weak states with a federal government controlling certain things like defense and oil revenue.)

NANCY ON LE. Wolf Blitzer next spoke to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California), sometimes known as ratbag. (Okay, that was uncalled for. I admit it, yet I'm strangely unconcerned. Perhaps it's the Cisplatin.) He questioned her last week about her failure to end the war in Iraq and her Congress' low approval ratings.

She blamed the President's veto and the Senate (60 votes) for the not ending the war. She believes that "last week was a turning point," because they finally put something on the President's desk.

Wolf pointed out that the Dem base was miffed at her. Nancy said that she will keep sending the same bill to the President until he signs it – if it meets the 60-vote requirement in the Senate – just as these lefty groups demand.

Nancy said that it is no longer Bush's war. The war, she said, is now owned by "Republicans in the Senate."

Nancy said that though she cannot do anything, she "will hold this Administration accountable" for the war. She blamed the President for "taking us down the path that makes it harder and harder for us to redeploy from Iraq."

She cited "retired generals." (Of course.) Retired generals tell her that there can be no stability in Iraq until we GET OUT OF IRAQ NOW! We need troops only to protect our property, train the Iraqis, and fight "the al-Qaeda." (I assume we have to fight "the al Qaeda" in "the Iraq." That was a sad pop net-culture reference.)

Nancy is not taking impeachment off the table. She called this the "President's war, Vice President Cheney's war, and now the Republicans in the Congress."

Nancy said that she doesn't approve of the way the Congress is handling the war in Iraq, "and that is because of the 60 votes needed in the Senate."
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That's it for this week. Have at it!