Pawlenty Says Economic Recovery Phony

I think most economists would disagree with presidential wannabe Gov. of Minnesota Tim Pawlenty. Given all the positive economic signs out there, he's really going out on a limb.

Pawlenty chatted with David Gregory in Minnesota.
Pawlenty conveniently says the economy will erode again in 2011, post midterm elections.

On the oil disaster, Pawlenty says he wished that Obama assumed accountability earlier. What an absurd statement.

It's also highly ironic that Pawlenty is slamming the Obama administration for not having the technology or the plan to stop the BP oil spill, as if republicans, the party of drill baby drill, in bed with oil for decades, would've overhauled MMS or cracked down on oil companies. Ugh. I hate politics. I don't know how anything gets done in the realm of politics, where everything is phony.
This is the full video:

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Here is the clip where Pawlenty calls the economic recovery phony:

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David Gregory Interview With John McCain

John McCain talks about the minute by minute news cycle, which helps leads to a polarized nation, which makes it more difficult to govern.
McCain talks about a little bit of everything, including his thoughts on Sarah Palin's new book.
McCain says we haven't "won" in Afghanistan because we had all of our resources in Iraq. For background on Afghanistan, McCain recommends the book "Ghost Wars." Okay. I'll check it out.
On Iran, McCain says we should apply passive pressure for regime change. I think we should support the Iranian people but only Iranians can change their leadership. And they will. And we can support them as they do.
Modern day communism works for China. Communism works for Cuba. We can co-exist with other nations without them being exactly like us.
McCain paints a pretty picture of the republicans. He makes it sound like they want to negotiate and work with Obama. McCain may want to work with Obama, but most republicans don't.
This interview took place Oct. 1 at the Atlantic's First Draft of History forum. There is a Q&A session at the end with questions coming from the audience:

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MSNBC's David Gregory Suggests Health Reform Doomed

What else can Obama do? He's been highly visible at town halls, radio interviews, TV interviews... He could use a little backup from the democrats. I'd say the media is about three days behind on this issue. A shift in the tone and the direction of the debate has already occurred, but David Gregory and the rest of the media haven't noticed that yet.

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Romney Says Spend

On Meet the Press this morning, Mitt Romney says government needs to SPEND! Wowsa. Romney seems like a smart guy but he disturbs me, more than Sarah Palin, if you can believe that. Perhaps it's that phony smile he always has plastered on his face. Even as David Gregory wished him well -- his wife is dealing with some health issues -- he still had that fake smile. You never see an emotion. He also seems self-righteous.
Seems to me that everyone--republicans and democrats--on the roundtable essentially agreed on the fix -- government needs to invest.
Carly Fiorina made an excellent point: Why did the banks get the bailout money without being required to lend money? They're sitting on the money and businesses need loans. It seems to me there must be more to the story, but wouldn't Fiorina know if there was?
David Gregory did a good job. I'll post video when it's up.
The Meet the Press lineup this morning:

LISA MADIGAN (D)
Illinois Attorney General

LT. GOV. PAT QUINN
D-Illinois

GOV. JENNIFER GRANHOLM
D-Michigan

FMR. GOV. MITT ROMNEY (R-MA)
2008 Republican Presidential Candidate
Founder, Bain Capital

CARLY FIORINA
Fmr. CEO, Hewlett-Packard

LEE SCOTT
President & CEO, Wal-Mart

ERIC SCHMIDT
CEO, Google

MARY MITCHELL
Editorial Board Member & Columnist, Chicago Sun-Times
Radio Talk-Show Host, WVAZ-V103

CHUCK TODD
Here's Carly:

Political Director, NBC News

Here's Mitt:

Obama Says White House Will Become The People's House

First, Obama will hold a press conference today at 11 am announcing Eric Shinseki as his choice to head veterans affairs. 

Also, on Meet the Press this morning, amid all the economic and foreign policy talk, Obama said the White House is really the people's house and he's going to make it more open. Local school children are going to visit and he's going to invite all kinds of artists, poets, musicians and scientists to be a part. It's refreshing to have a president who values art and culture and science. 
Video below:

Wash Times: Mr. Obama, speaking on NBC's "Meet the Press," outlined for the first time a way to showcase the "tapestry that is America."

"We want to invite kids from local schools into the White House," he said. He said he wants the White House to be a forum for "elevating science once again and having lectures in the White House -- traveling to the stars or breaking down atoms, inspiring our youth."

He said he would like to invite jazz and classical musicians and have poetry readings in the White House.

"Our art and our culture, our science -- that's the essence of what makes America special, and we want to project that as much as possible when we're in the White House," he said.

He said he and his wife, Michelle Obama, want to "open up the White House and remind people this is the people's house."

Tom Brokaw officially announced an under the weather David Gregory as the new moderator for Meet the Press.
Also on MTP, Obama vowed tough financial regulations:

Reuters: President-elect Barack Obama said on Sunday he would put strong new financial regulation at the center of his economic recovery program to force more accountability on the banking industry.

Obama again warned that the U.S. economic crisis, which saw the country lose more than half a million jobs in November alone, would worsen before it gets better.

"As part of our economic recovery package what you will see coming out of my administration, right at the center, is a strong set of financial regulations," Obama said in a taped appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press" television show.

"Banks, ratings agencies, mortgage brokers, a whole bunch of folks (will) start having to be much more accountable and behave much more responsibly.

"We've got to have transparency, openness, fair dealing in our financial markets and that's an area where I think over the last eight years we've fallen short."

Obama also said there should be a new era of shared wins and losses. As CEOs are laying off people, they ought to be cutting their $25 million salaries. Of course that can't be legislated but Obama saying it sets a bar.

Obama beamed when Brokaw mentioned that Caroline Kennedy might be interested Hillary's Senate seat in New York but he said he didn't want to get involved in NY politics. 

Meet the Press transcript.

Obama won't allow auto companies to go down:

On international terror

Obama reiterates direct diplomacy with Iran