Scott Brown on Face the Nation

Scott Brown is another republican, but at the very least, he's tolerable.

Bob Schieffer talks with Kathleen Parker, a conservative columnist. Parker says that some people are tarnishing the perception of the tea party. She is NOT a fan of Sarah Palin.

Colin Powell on Face the Nation Feb. 21

Biden on Face the Nation Feb. 14 Video

I get it now. Dick is upset that we're not torturing people anymore.

Face the Nation Roundtable Discusses Closing of Embassy in Yemen

One thing is clear, Chip Reid DOES NOT like Obama's "detached" and Spock-like thinking. If there is one criticism I don't get, it's this one. I don't want my president to be thumping his chest and feigning bravery. I want him to BE brave and to think--critically.

Olympia Snowe on Face the Nation

Olympia Snowe is concerned about new taxes and the Class Act, which provides long term care insurance. But mostly, she seems concerned about the time constraints. Snowe wants to wait until after the New Year to continue work on the bill. Only thing is, she's the only republican who's willing to continue to work on the bill. No other republican has shown interest. The bill shouldn't get put off for one republican.

It's Sherrod Brown and Mary Landrieu vs Lamar Alexander. Republicans are complaining about working during Christmas. Frankly, I'm pleased to see these folks working during the holidays. The American people deserve something out of Congress. Democrats haven't done a very good job of getting it together (republicans are even worse) and in the real world, if you have to work during the holidays, then you have to work during the holidays. Too bad.

David Axelrod on Face the Nation Nov. 1

Jim Jones on Face the Nation Oct. 4

Sen. Carl Levin, Rep. Ike Skelton and General Anthony Zinni talk about the coming decision on Afghanistan. Levin says we don't need more troops. Zinni says hurry up with the troops. It's too bad politics has to play a part in something as important as sending our troops to war:

Axelrod: Tea Party Protesters Don't Represent Mainstream

Got that tea partiers.
Carry your guns, make your ugly signs, push, scream and march all you want but you are not the majority. You are a sliver of America, a teeny tiny one. The American people have already spoken.
Bob Schieffer showed a 60 Minutes clip, which airs tonight, in which Obama says he wants to figure out how to make civility interesting so the media isn't covering in-your-face wingnuts around the clock. I am so weary of wingnuts. We have to figure out how to defuse them, though, before they resort to violence.

Olympia Snowe, the other guest on the show, says there is no way to pass healthcare reform with a public option, so Obama may as well take it off the table.
Can we get a pre-vote?
Snowe called Joe Wilson's behavior disgraceful and she said that she has never witnessed such an outburst.
The Face the Nation roundtable concluded Obama is going to let the Senate take the public option off the table.
Roger Simon of Politico said there is no upside for republicans in achieving a bipartisan bill, so they're not likely to participate. I'd say that's pretty clear.

Duncan on Face the Nation Sept. 6

Arne Duncan says that Obama wants to motivate students to do well with his back-to-school speech and if Obama accomplishes that for just one student, then all the hoopla would have been worth it. The 18-minute speech is not getting canceled. The speech will be posted tomorrow.

The wingnuts escalated their hoopla after the media turned its attention on them. Wingnuts were powdering their noses and preparing for their inevitable closeup. Wingnuts love a camera. They know exactly what to do to get attention. They're behaving like highly disruptive school children. The media needs to learn to ignore them. Seriously.

Wingnuts are always saying stupid stuff about Obama and we're getting a skewed view. The media should've reported on how many schools will be showing the speech. The media should've checked in with a teacher who planned to use the speech in the classroom. I haven't seen a single interview with one parent or one teacher who is looking forward to the speech. Not one.

The media makes It look like this country is ruled by wingnuts.

Duncan says we have an education crisis in this country. I'll say. Just look at the wingnuts and all the irrational thinking going on. Duncan says 30% of our students don't graduate from high school.

2,000 schools create 50% of America's dropouts.

Watch CBS Videos Online

Howard Dean on Face the Nation Aug. 23

For me, Howard Dean is the person who's making the most sense on health care reform. He gets the politics and the policy. Bob Schieffer asks if Grassley is right-- is Obama sending mixed signals? Dean says Chuck Grassley is sending mixed signals. I'll say.

Grassley backs off on pulling the plug on grandma. Kent Conrad says public option doesn't have the 60 votes to pass the Senate. Dean has said that the bill may not pass the Senate with the public option but when the House and Senate bills are merged, it will be added back in:

Gibbs on Face the Nation Aug. 16

Robert Gibbs answers more questions about health insurance:

The media thought they were getting signals from Gibbs and Kathleen Sebelius on this morning's political shows and is now out with this story:

Bowing to Republican pressure, President Barack Obama's administration signaled on Sunday it is ready to abandon the idea of giving Americans the option of government-run insurance as part of a new U.S. health care system.
Facing mounting opposition to the overhaul, administration officials left open the chance for a compromise with Republicans that would include health insurance cooperatives instead of a government-run plan. Such a concession would likely enrage his liberal supporters but could deliver Obama a much-needed win on a top domestic priority opposed by GOP lawmakers. AP

Hmmmm. I think the media is wrong. Obama has always said that a public option is what he preferred, but he never ruled out co-ops or other ideas to compete with private insurers. He has been pretty clear that he didn't intend to rule anything out.

Jim Jones Speaks on Afghanistan Strategy

New strategy in Afghanistan began in March, Jones said. More troops won't be ruled out.

Face the Nation Roundtable on Gates and Race

This is a great video because two people from opposite sides of the political spectrum have a rational discussion. Thank you Bob Schieffer, Kathleen Parker and Michael Eric Dyson. I'm so tired of the dumbed down talk on this issue.

Here is the entire episode with David Axelrod:

Hatch Says Republicans Weren't Invited to Health Care Party

I didn't realize you needed an invitation.
The real problem is republicans aren't interested in health care overhaul. They're being disingenuous for sure and I'm tired of hearing their multitude of excuses. Health care reform is important to all Americans, even the ones who have insurance, because everyone has been touched by the broken system. I'm sorry. If 40 million are uninsured or underinsured, it's broken. Charles Rangel and Orrin Hatch on Face the Nation:

Powell Says He's Still Republican

The voice of reason:

Powell has nearly convinced me that Obama should've waited to ask for Gitmo closure money, especially since the democrats were going to vote against it. But I still wonder if it isn't part of some grander plan. Obama has a way of thinking bigger than anyone else. I wish Powell would show up to voice his opinion more often. He makes so much more sense than the rest of the republicans out there.
Transcript

Powell on Limbaugh:

SCHIEFFER: What about Rush Limbaugh? A lot of people who are Republicans say, hey, people are taking him too seriously. He is just an entertainer. But he’s been on your case for quite a while. When you announced you were voting for Barack Obama , he said the only reason he’s doing that is because Barack Obama is black. Was he calling you a racist?

POWELL: I don’t know what he was doing by that, and I don’t want to exchange insults with him. But I thought it was unfortunate. I laid out a very specific set of reasons as to why I was voting for Barack Obama . Mr. Limbaugh saw fit to dismiss all those reasons and put it into a racial context, that the only reason I did it is I was black and I had never voted for a Democrat before.

Well, yes, I have. I voted for John Kennedy. I voted for Lyndon Johnson. I even voted for Jimmy Carter. And I’ve always tried to vote for the best man. But he put it in that racial context, and I thought that that was very unfortunate.

What about the 69 million people who voted for Barack Obama ? Did they all do it on the basis of race? Why doesn’t he sort of comment on those?

But Mr. Limbaugh is entitled to his opinion. And I don’t say he shouldn’t have a opinion. The nature of our country is we ought to debate these things. But he shouldn’t have a veto over what someone thinks. And he’s an entertainer. He is a radio figure, and he is a significant one. But he’s more than that. When the chairman of the RNC, Michael Steele, issues the mildest of criticism concerning Mr. Limbaugh, and then 24 hours later the chairman of the RNC has to lay prostrate on the floor apologizing for it, and when two congressmen offer the mildest criticism of Mr. Limbaugh, they too within 24 hours have such pressure brought to bear on them that they have to change their view and apologize for criticizing him -- well, if he’s out there, he should be subject to criticism, just as I am subject to criticism.

Let’s debate the future of the party. And let’s let all segments of the party come in.

You know, my model for the Republican Party is a great man we just lost, a man by the name of Jack Kemp. Jack was as conservative as anybody. We all know Jack. And Jack also was a man who believed in inclusiveness, reaching out to minorities, reaching out to the poor, sharing the wealth. Which became a bad term last fall, but sharing the wealth of the country not only with the rich, but with those who are least advantaged in our society. It’s that kind of Jack Kemp Republicanism that I like, and I would like to see the party move more in that kind of a direction.

Powell on closing Guantanamo:

SCHIEFFER: Let’s talk a little bit about Guantanamo. The vice president came out very hard against the Obama administration and his policies. He said it would be a mistake to close Guantanamo. Others have said it would actually pose a danger to this country if these people are brought back. Do you think Guantanamo should be closed, General?

POWELL: Yes. I felt Guantanamo should be closed for the past six years, and I lobbied and presented reasons to President Bush.

And Mr. Cheney is not only disagreeing with President Obama’s policy. He’s disagreeing with President Bush’s policy. President Bush stated repeatedly to international audiences and to the country that he wanted to close Guantanamo. The problem he had was he couldn’t get all the pieces together.

Secretary Rice, Secretary of State Rice and Secretary of Defense Gates had come forward with plans, but the plans ran into difficulties with Department of Justice and others.

So it is a complex problem, and President Bush wasn’t able to close Guantanamo on his watch. And President Obama came in saying he would close Guantanamo, and he has run into some of those same sorts of problems. So I think we need to kind of take the heat out of this issue.

I think President Obama didn’t handle it very well by going up to the Congress and asking for $80 million without a plan. And by, frankly, giving enough time to opponents of it to marshal their forces as to why we shouldn’t do this.

But Guantanamo has caused us a great deal of trouble throughout the world. And Mr. Cheney the other day said, well, we’re doing it to satisfy European intellectuals or something like that.

John McCain Says Torture and Torture Prosecutions Wrong

Torture is wrong and has made it easier for terrorists to recruit, McCain said.
But you can't prosecute people for bad legal advice. I agree with McCain, though I'd like to see more details on the role of Cheney and the rest of the higher ups.
I know many people are arguing that it's not just bad advice, it was lawbreaking advice but there again, Bush's lawyers made it legal. They were horribly wrong about most things. But we need to forget about the idea of prosecutions. All of Congress was responsible. Not just Bush-Cheney and the republicans. Americans are responsible too. We elected Bush-twice. We knew the Bush administration was lying through its teeth but we were a fearful nation then.

Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont wants a truth commission, of which Obama is opposed:

Obama's Trip to Mexico April 16

After a stop in Mexico, Obama is headed to the Summits of the Americas. In Mexico, Obama and Felipe Calderon are expected to discuss immigration reform and drug-related violence. 

Update 4-12, Face the Nation covers Obama's Mexico trip:

Watch CBS Videos Online

Obama on Face the Nation March 29

Update 3-29: I've posted video here. 

Obama and his people are blanketing the Sunday shows. I think Politico is reaching here -- who criticizes Obama for relying on social networking? :

Politico: President Barack Obama is personally leading a White House blitz of network Sunday shows, reenergizing one of the most traditional of Washington platforms at a time when his agenda is facing rising scrutiny from capital insiders.

Obama’s communications strategy has turned heads for its reliance on YouTube and edgy social networking tools.

But this weekend’s outings—an array of administration heavies led by Obama on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” along with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on both NBC’s “Meet the Press” and ABC’s “This Week” and Defense Secretary Robert Gates on “Fox News Sunday”—have highlighted a lesser-noticed element of the Obama strategy.

He is showing that the Sunday shows, which once looked like the old gray mare of Washington journalism, still have plenty of kick.

White Houses tend to pick a theme for the weekend, so there’s some risk in having so many top officials in prominent venues, where they are sure to be asked about very different subjects. And an inescapable storyline will be how Geithner does, after good reviews this week and shaky ones before that.

"While some criticize him for trying to do too many things at once, for the host of a Sunday show, it's an embarrassment of riches," said Chris Wallace, host of "Fox News Sunday

Politico has some of the inside game:

“This Week” host George Stephanopoulos said the Saturday before a show is “study day.” He usually works from home at his computer, with his briefing books. On game day, he shows up at 4 a.m.—five hours before the taping—then goes into the interview with an outline he has written. He said his job “is to imagine what everyone, sitting at home with their cup of coffee, wants to know—and to make sure I get it.”

Larry Summers on Face the Nation

Thomas Friedman:

Upside to Down Economy: Trash is Down

My hope is that as the result of this downturn, we become an economy that depends less on buying things and more on creating and inventing products, technologies and services that other countries want. We buy way more from other countries than they buy from us.

My hope is we learn to live better with fewer possessions.

An economy that depends on people buying things--often with money that we don't even have--is not sustainable and it's vapid in the moral or spiritual sense. We've also spent too much time worshipping money makers as if they were gods. That's where Jon Stewart struck a nerve.

It's good to hear the story about a person who starts with nothing and ends up a billionaire but there are other stories out there that are as worthy but don't get as much press coverage because it's not tied to the dollar bill.

Without a doubt, Obama's team is on the right track in wanting to create a sustainable economy for the long haul, not just the short term, which is what the impatients can't stand and the republicans are exploiting. People want their fix now.

But, hey, Bob Schieffer has some good news-- people are buying less so trash at the landfills is down.