December 03, 2007
Sunday Snapshot
Lots of '08ers on the Sunday shows this weekend:
Mike Huckabee was on "This Week":
Asked if he's peaking too soon: "No, I'm not peaking at all. I'm still gaining and growing. You peak when you stop. We haven't stopped yet."
On the Club for Growth criticism of his tax record: "I plead to the charge of cutting taxes 94 times. I also recognize that the income tax was the same when I left office as it was when I started. The overall tax burden, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, state and local taxes in my state, in the nearly 11 years I was governor, went up by 1.1 percent."
Asked why he signed the no raised tax pledge: "Because I don't think the federal government needs more money. If you look at the spending issues that we have, it's pretty evident to me that we need some policy changes more than we need some tax changes at the federal level. So it's a different thing when you're running a state government and you have to balance your budget, you have to make sure that you're living within the means."
Asked if Romney is a Christian: "I have enough time trying to be the Christian I need to be rather than trying to tell a Mormon how he needs to behave. So I am not going to get into that argument, because my goal in life is not to evaluate what's wrong with your faith or somebody else's, but it's to be able to live mine so that I remember that the greatest commandment is love my neighbor as myself."
Asked if his IA ad is saying POTUS needs to be a Christian: "I'm not trying to say that it has to be. I'm trying to introduce myself to the voters of Iowa. It's been funny to me to watch all the pundits trying to figure out what is the back story behind that spot, what am I trying to say? What I'm trying to say is, look, you guys may not know me very well. Let me explain me. Let me try to introduce myself to you. And since everybody else wants to highlight the fact that I'm a believer and that I have deep spiritual convictions, let me acknowledge, OK, so I plead guilty. I'm a Christian. I plead guilty. I believe some things very deeply, and they govern my life. That's all in the world I'm trying to say."
Huckabee: "All through the last 11 months, you know, every month somebody comes out and writes my political obituary. I wish they'd at least given me a birth announcement before they'd write the obituary. But through the process ... they've said, well, if you don't have $20 million in the third quarter, you're not competitive. That was Mitt Romney who said that. Mitt Romney didn't raise $20 million in the third quarter. Maybe he should drop out. I've been amazed at all the people who set certain criteria and said that I wouldn't get where I ended up being. Now I'm leading in Iowa. I'm third place in New Hampshire. Rasmussen yesterday has me second place nationally. I'm second in Florida, second in Texas. And you know what? I'm not supposed to be here. So it's kind of like the old story of the bumblebee. By the aeronautical design of the bumblebee, the wingspan and the circumference of the bumblebee's body, it's scientifically impossible for the bumblebee to fly. But the bumblebee, being unaware of these scientific facts, flies anyway and makes honey and pollinates the other plants."
On the Giuliani security detail story: "I'm not going to defend what he was doing, where he was going, because I don't know. But I can tell you this, and every other person who's ever been a governor or a mayor understands if you have a security detail, they make decisions about how they handle that. I thought it was a cheap shot at Rudy. There's no point in trying to dig through what his security detail did. Unless they can specifically say that he personally ordered something, then -- I know how it works in the security detail of a governor. Governors don't specifically say, 'OK, here's how I want you to budget that.' Governors just pretty much take care of their business, and the security detail manages that manner in which they handle their security. And I thought it's a little bit of a stretch to go after Rudy for how his security detail accounted for their processes."
Asked if he's been consulting with Dick Morris: "I wish I had been. Dick's one of the smartest political minds, as you well know, in the business. I've known Dick for, gosh, almost, I guess, 18, 17 years. He was a political consultant for me in the early '90s in the first races that I won. But Dick is not available for doing political consulting work. Frankly, I wish he was, because he's a brilliant political mind and I still consider him a friend. I run into him from time to time or may talk to him. But I probably talk to 30, 40 journalists a week. Most of them I talk to more than I talk to Dick Morris, and I haven't talked to him in awhile" (ABC, 12/2).
TICKET TALK TIME
John McCain was on "Face the Nation":
Asked if his New Hampshire Union-Leader endorsement is make or break: "I don't know if you'd call it make-or-break ... but it's very important. We all know that. Since 1980, the person who has won, either party, two of the first three primaries -- South Carolina, Iowa and New Hampshire -- has been the nominee of the party. I'm very appreciative of the Union Leader endorsement. Joe McQuaid is a tough guy and a tough guy to please, as a matter of fact. The publisher of the paper and the editors all came to this decision. I'm grateful for it. And I think it will give us a boost. But I've still got to go out there and I have to go up tonight -- I think it's going to be snowing up there tonight -- and do the door to door, the town hall meetings. People expect to see you. And we're working hard there."
Asked if he's written off IA: "No, I haven't. It's tough in Iowa. To say the least, we have a lot work to do. We have a very good organization in Iowa. We have a very strong organization there and I'm trying to continue to make headway."
Asked about Huckabee's surge in IA: "I think one of the lessons here is debates matter. I don't think there's any doubt that Governor Huckabee has done well in the last few debates. ... He's a force to be reckoned with in the Republican primary. You never know how these things are going to turn out, but I'm not surprised that he's doing better."
Asked about a McCain-Huckabee ticket: "I think you could see us a scenario but, my friend, where I am, it's a little bit ambitious to be thinking about those things. But he certainly brings a lot to the table. But that decision is something that, after I win the nomination, I'll come on this show and we'll go through the various attributes of a lot of good people."
Asked if Giuliani has changed his position on immigration: "I don't think there's any doubt that he and Governor Romney have changed their position on immigration. And I'm sure they can answer for that and their reasons for it. But it's a matter of record that they have" (CBS, 12/2).
BE BOLD
Chris Dodd was on "Late Edition":
Asked about John Murtha saying the surge is now working: "The issue is ... what happens here when our troops leave? Are the Iraqi military forces going to be able to pick up this responsibility? Will the political leaders in that country decide to form a government that will bring in Sunnis and Shias and Kurds so they have a nation-state? And that's the $64 question for all of us here. And there's great concerns that many of us have here that once we leave in a sense here, this would begin to fall apart again because there's been no leadership up to now by the political and religious leaders of the country. And that's really the issue for us."
More: "We need to speak with some clarity and boldness in where we need to place our priorities and influence. That's what I would do as president here, is refocus our attention on the problems where they really exist instead of continuing to depend upon us keeping a civil war going in Iraq. That's unfortunate in my view" (CNN, 12/2).
MR. MONEY
Ron Paul was on "Late Edition":On criticism of his Iraq stance: "Isolationism isn't what I advocate. I advocate non-intervention, not getting involved in the internal affairs of other nations, and not pretending a country like Iraq is equivalent to Nazi Germany. Iraq had no army, no navy, no weapons of mass destruction, had nothing to do with 9/11, so the comparison makes no sense."
Asked if he were POTUS if he would if he would intervene in crisises outside U.S. borders: "When Congress directed me to in the act of war. If our national security was threatened and we went through the proper procedures, Congress would say, "Our national security is involved, it is threatened and we have to act." And Congress has that responsibility. The president is the commander in chief, and then he acts."
Asked how much he's raised this quarter: "Yesterday it went over $10.5 million or $10.4 million. Our goal was to raise $12 million by the end of the quarter. And there is going to be another super day sponsored by our supporters, spontaneously, like they did on 11/5, when they raised $4.3 million. And they say this one is going to be bigger, and that's December 16th. So, something big is going on. The people are really annoyed with conventional politics, and we're spending this money. We're spending it in Iowa. So I think those polls are going to continue to shift. Our numbers are going up. And people are just starting to think about how they're going to vote in these primaries. So who knows exactly what will happen. But we're pretty optimistic about the position we hold, and we're going to be financed for February 5th as well" (CNN, 12/2).
DUELING STRATEGISTS
Obama strategist David Axelrod and Clinton comm. dir. Howard Wolfson were on "Face the Nation":
Axelrod, on Obama leading in the IA polls: "Barack Obama spent the last eight or nine months meeting the people of Iowa, sharing with them his views of where we have to go as a country, his sense that we need to get past this sort of discord and partisanship and bitterness in Washington and start solving problems, and push back on the special interests, and level with people about the challenges we face and what we need to do about them. And people are responding. And this is true not just in Iowa, but there were a couple of polls over the weekend in New Hampshire that showed the race narrowing to a single-digit race. But, you know, we weren't jumping up and down about the polls when they weren't friendly. We're not jumping up and down about them now. We understand there's a lot of hard work to do between now and January 3rd. And he's going to be out there every day continuing to meet people and pushing for change in this country."
Wolfson: "We started out this race, we were always ahead in the polls nationally. But when we started out, we were not ahead in Iowa. We were behind. We're running against somebody from a neighboring state. We're running against somebody in John Edwards who had been there for some time and run there in 2003 and 2004. We've made progress, and I think the race now is, as David would probably suggest, pretty much a dead heat in Iowa. And it's going to be a very exciting month. We are very much looking forward to it. We're going to have a choice. Iowans are going to have a choice. They take this process very seriously. And they're going to have a choice between somebody who has a record, a lifetime record of fighting for change, and .... somebody who hasn't always done what he said he would do, hasn't always come through with what he said. You look at health care. When he announced his health care plan he said it would cover every American or guarantee coverage for every American. Now we know that is not true. And he's running a ad in New Hampshire saying it covers every American. We've asked the Obama campaign to take that ad down. It does not cover every American. I would ask David, does Senator Obama's plan cover every American?"
Axelrod: "Yes, Howard, don't ask me. Ask the Washington Post. They actually wrote on this subject and what they said, after looking at both our plans, it could be a struggle for Clinton to find someone who wants health insurance but doesn't qualify under the Obama plan because it's not clear such a person exists."
Wolfson: "There's a lot that voters don't know about Barack Obama. And one thing they don't know, we found out this week, which is that he has been using and operating a so-called leadership PAC, an apparent contravention of campaign finance laws, taking in money from lobbyists despite the fact that he said he doesn't take money from lobbyists. Taking in money from lobbyists and giving money out to candidates in New Hampshire and Iowa to support his presidential campaign. Senator Clinton does not have such a PAC. Others have shut theirs down. I would call on David -- David, will you shut down Senator Obama's slush fund?"
Axelrod: "Howard, you know, one thing before I answer that question. One of the interesting things in this Des Moines Register poll is that by a very wide margin, people believe Senator Clinton is running a negative campaign. And what you just did is one of the reasons they feel that way." More: "I'm not sure that there's any money left in that leadership PAC, and it's gone to candidates all over the country because we're trying to elect Democrats. And that's what we should be doing."
Wolfson: "So you won't shut it down, David?"
Axelrod: "I think it is shut down, Howard. I think it's run -- I don't know that there's any money left in it" (CBS, 12/2).
FROM POLITICS TO IRAQ
Karl Rove and Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) were on "Fox News Sunday":
Rove: "People understand that when you have a Democrat Congress intent on spending more and raising taxes that that's not good for the economy, and they'll understand that it's the answers proposed by the Democrats of more taxes, more spending, more government regulation, and less support for our military that's bad for America."
Van Hollen: "Look. They had six years to get it right. They saw the problems on the economy coming down the pike. They did nothing about it."
More Van Hollen: "I hope you'll take this opportunity, though, to retract the outrageous statements you made suggesting that the Congress pushed the president to vote on the Iraq war resolution during the election, because I was running in 2002. And I was opposed to the war from the beginning. I didn't think we should give the president a blank check. The president was out there saying to candidates and incumbents leading up to the election, 'You guys got to support this resolution.' And it was in the context of the election. Now you've tried to suggest and revise history here. Clearly, things have not gone right in Iraq, and you have tried to revise history and suggest that the Congress got ahead of the president on the Iraq war resolution."
Rove: "Well, no, that's not what I said. What I said was that the general conventional wisdom is that the president was the only person pushing the Congress to vote on the war resolution before the November election. And that's simply not true. Tom Daschle in June said there's broad support for regime change in Iraq" (12/2).
VP WATCH
Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA), asked if he'd take the VP slot: "I don't think that would be -- first, nobody's talking to me. And I don't think that would be a great..."
Asked again: "I don't think that would be a compelling enough reason for me to leave what I'm doing right now."
Asked if he's ruling it out: "I just don't -- I have no desire to do it, and I'm not trying to be coy here. I just..."
Asked again: "I have a lot of loyalty to trying to move forward the Democratic Party in the right way, but I really am not interested in that."
Asked if he wouldn't accept it: "I really -- those are what ifs, and Ronald Reagan said never answer what ifs."
NBC's Russert: "You were very critical of Bill Clinton, talked about his ethical fraudulence, he—that he left with arrogance. Are you more receptive to Hillary Clinton?"
Webb: "Hillary Clinton has been, been very good to work with. She's been very impressive. I sit on the Armed Services Committee with her. She has taken some positions and I've aligned myself with her on, on a number of positions over the past year."
Asked if HRC would be a good POTUS, Webb: "I think Hillary Clinton would be a good president."
Webb, asked about Obama: "I think Barack Obama would be a good president. Barack Obama is a very bright individual, and he's got a lot of good ideas. He's very charismatic, and I've enjoyed working with both of them."
Russert: "Protecting your options there, huh?"
Webb: "Well, I just happen to have respect for both of them" ("Meet the Press," NBC, 12/2).
ROUNDTABLE ROUNDUP
The "Late Edition" roundtable discussed WH '08:
CNN's Toobin, on the New Hampshire Union-Leader endorsing McCain: "New Hampshire has always been very good to John McCain. And we are now in the extraordinary situation where you could make a plausible argument for any of five candidates in the New Hampshire -- in the Republican race winning this thing. Five candidates. I mean, that's just extraordinary, given how close we are to the vote."
CNN's Yellin: "We should also point out that they have also endorsed in the past Steve Forbes and Pat Buchanan, and we know it didn't deliver them victories."
Newsweek's Zakaria, on the Giuliani security detail story: "Rudy has been able to bounce back from lots of these little things. And people have kept saying, 'Trust us, New Yorkers, we know Giuliani is weird, he's something of an authoritarian, it will come through.' So far the polls have not responded. He is still leading. My gut is he'll be able to get out of this one."
The "Fox News Sunday" roundtable discussed WH '08:
FNC's Barnes: "What Rudy Giuliani needs is one thing right now, and that's for Mitt Romney not to win in Iowa. If Mike Huckabee, who is now running ahead of him in Iowa, at least in the Des Moines Register poll by five points -- if Huckabee can knock off Romney, that will help Rudy, because he's going to do better -- he's been planning on doing better in the later primaries."
Weekly Standard's Kristol: "Missouri and West Virginia lost last night, the number-one and number-two rated teams in college football, and the number-one rated people in each campaign could easily lose."
The "Meet the Press" roundtable discussed WH '08:
CNBC's Brody, on Obama's lead in IA: "Barack Obama should be getting a thank-you card from the John Edwards campaign any moment now. I mean, John Edwards has done the dirty work for Barack Obama, at least initially, and now Barack Obama obviously continuing on."
NBC's Gregory: "Another factor is that there's been a fundamental decision that has not been made about Hillary Clinton among Iowans. You have undecided Iowans, as, as you were saying a minute ago, of 49 percent. And they don't want to get it wrong this time, and I talked to Democrats out there, they feel like they got it wrong with John Kerry. And so she hasn't closed that deal. The race is static. It hasn't moved in several months, which seems important."
The "This Week" roundtable discussed WH '08:
George Will: "Bill Clinton ... remembered that he was against the war from the start. Two things wrong that -- first it's brings back let's talk about who was against the war from the start: that's Obama's trump card. ... And he said it in a language that brings back the adjective Clintonian" [EMILY GOODIN].
Posted at 08:42 AM
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