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By Mark Kilmer Posted in Elections — Comments (1) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

The most important things I picked up this week are that Karen Tumulty is confused, Joe Biden is adamant, George Stephanopoulos wants to see payroll taxes increase, Wolf Blitzer wants Ahmed Chalabi to run Iraq, and James Baker is living large.

Here's the show-by-show review:

FRIST ON FNS. Host Chris Wallace had a series of questions to ask Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tennessee), and they covered their bases. "We have to address the skyrocketing costs of health care." Don't unravel the set of Medicare changes "before it's even started." Frist agrees "wholeheartedly" with Speaker Hastert that they "can't ram change [to SSI] down the American people's throats."

They have to convince the American people that there is a problem, he said.

Harry Reid says he has 45 Dems in store to vote no on any privatization plan. Some seem starting to slip, such as – one example – Ben Nelson of Nebraska. When asked, Frist said he does not know if more will break from Reid's proclaimed 45, but he advised against "drawing lines in the sand."

GRASSLEY AND RANGEL ON MTP. Tim Russert and the perfect pabulum, all the expected canards. Representative Chuck Rangel (D-New York) of the House Ways and Means Committee went through the list of NO WMD, NO AL QAEDA CONNECTION, all the things in the standard "Bush lied" line: "It was all a fraud.... We cannot afford to be freeing people all over the world."

Senate Finance Committee chair Chuck Grassley of Iowa suggested that "going back to Locke," people are "born free." No need to break into song. Here comes Rangel: "They do not want their children to die for other people's freedom." Even if their freedom is in our national security interests? He doesn't think beyond the primary level, It's the perfect line for exciting and inciting the low-wattage agitators with little of a grip.

Social security. Grassley had what he called an "old adage": "The person who defines the issue determines the outcome." He told us that the President was being "professorial," educating the American people on the social security problem. It's up to Congress, then, to find the solution. That seems to me like the President defining the issue and Congress determining the outcome...

Rangel: "Social security reform by the President is dead, and he killed it."

Answering a direct question from Russert, Grassley said that the President will sign a bill which offered private accounts even if it also included payroll tax increases and benefit cuts.

Russert said to Rangel: "You oppose the President's plan. What's your plan?" Rangel asked: "What's the President plan?" He then took off again on privatization. Grassley accused the Dems of "wanting to wait until the last minute" to fix Social Security.

The segment devolved into a series of statements we've heard before.

JOE BIDEN ON FNS. Host Wallace introduced Senator Joe Biden (D-Delaware) as the Dems' "point man on foreign policy." Joe Biden's first word of wisdom was that the Shi'a had to bring the Sunnis into the process "if there's going to be any legitimacy." They have to bring the Sunnis into the Constitution-writing process. He spoke it as if it were something the Bush Administration did not understand when it was from the Administration – including Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld – which first talked of this.

Wallace played Teddy Kennedy's embarrassing tirade at Condoleezza Rice's confirmation hearings, the one where he shrieked that no Iraqis were dying for Iraq: "Is that kind of talk sensible?" Biden didn't answer; rather, he decided that "six to 16, 19-thousand" Iraqis were trained. (During Rice's confirmation hearings, Biden's figure was 4,000.) He acknowledged that Iraqis were "finally" being trained, and we "missed an opportunity" earlier.

Biden's idea with North Korea is to have China, Japan, and South Korea use more "sticks" (in the form of trade sanctions) with Pyongyang, while the United States uses more "carrots" (Bugs Bunny toons?). He also suggested sanctions with Iran. Europe has to stop buying oil from Iran, and the U.S. has to sign a non-aggressions pact if offered proof that Iran had stopped its weapons program. (Proof? Hans Blix, anyone?) Barring that, he said, we'll have to either accept Iran as a nuclear power or invade.

Biden dismissed Howard Dean's selection as DNC chairman; in fact, he dismissed DNC chairmen in general, as far as having a policy role. (The elected officials determine the policy, which is the only way for a party to function successfully, but does Dean care about this and will be Dems ever function successfully?) Biden's not worried about Dean.

Wallace played a clip of Biden telling Dr. Rice to ignore Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. To Wallace, he explained that they have been wrong on "every significant decision they've made since the fall of the statue." (He cited, again, greeted as liberators, stockpiles of WMD, and so on down the facetious list.) He reiterated that "unless their advice changes," Secretary Rice should ignore Rumsfeld and Cheney.

Wallace ended the interview by telling Biden that the President and the Secretary of Defense "are going to ignore your advice about advice." Biden laughed, time's up.

SANTORUM AND DURBIN ON FTN. Host Bob Schieffer and TIME mag's Karen Tumulty interviewed Senators Rick Santorum (R-Pennsylvania) and Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) about social security. Starting with Santorum, Schieffer noted that even Republicans hate the President's social security plan: "What did he do wrong?" Santorum replied: "Nothing." He talked about Republican support and the "miracle of compound interest."

It is like the old FRAM oil filter commercial, he said: "You can pay me now, or you can pay me later."

Durbin declared that we could do nothing to social security and be fine or 37 or 47 years, and if we did do nothing, we would be better off than we would be after implementing the President's proposal. The President's proposal, he maintained, called for a "40% cut in benefits." Durbin demanded that we do what Tip O'Neil and Ronald Reagan did in the 80s: a "commone snese, moderate proposal."

Tumulty asked Durbin if the Democrats were going to kill the President's social security plan "in the same was as Newt Gingrich killed" Hillary Care: by just saying no to everything. Durbin lost me with a convoluted football analogy.

Durbin declared that Republicans want social security to die. Santorum argued that he does nnot want to see it end; "I think it is a vital program." He suggested that social security money in private accounts would be invested in government bonds thus would go back into the system. Durbin proclaimed that the President's Social Security plan reminds him "of a baseball player on steroids." (Was this a Jason Giambi press conference analogy, in that the Yankees' slugger apologized to the world but wouldn't specify why he was doing so?)

Tumulty harped about the bogus Medicare figures whereby a different decade was used to falsely make it appear that the President's plan would cost twice as much as he had said it would. Tumulty insisted on using the two sets of figures as if they represented the same thing. Santorum tried to explain, but it seemed that Tumulty had put too much time, effort, and faith into this line of questioning as the way in which she was going to show Santorum a thing or two.

Santorum politely cut her adrift.

JAMES BAKER ON TW. Steph's first guest was former Secretary of State James Baker, interviews Saturday at the James Baker Institute at Rice University. As far as Secretaries of State goes, that covers two of them.

On the freaks in Pyongyang, Baker offered: "I think it's difficult to fathom what that regime is up to."

"At some point, we might have to go to the [U.N.] Security Council," he said, for the "stick" of sanctions. Yes, he too, like Biden, was into the carrot and stick thing.
Baker backed the 6-party talks as the "way to go right now." He raised the possibility that North Korea could do what Libya did, take the bait and join the civilized world, renouncing their weapons and engaging in talks and trade.

Steph pointed out that "Iran is certainly pursuing weapons." Many in the MSM have said this, but they said the same things about Iraq at one point. Iraq was, to an extent, but the media line is that they were not. Which is Iran from that view?

Baker: "We can use carrots and sticks, and we ought to use them both in both situations [Iran, North Korea]," he said, and it sounds like he's been listening to Joe Biden.

And Baker forecast that we would be in Iraq at least "until the end of 2007."

He said that he would not "take the question" on whether or not he would serve as the President's new liaison in the Middle East: "It's way too premature."

He acknowledged that he was not saying that he would not "take the job."

GREGG AND CONRAD ON TW. Steph had Senators Judd Gregg (R-New Hampshire) and Kent Conrad (D-North Dakota) on to discuss Social Security. Nothing much new. Gregg averred that he and Conrad could sit down "with a magic wand" and solve the problem in (three or four hours." It's not that difficult, he insisted.

Conrad admitted that "the President has the kernel of a good idea" with Private accounts.

And Steph lobbied for a payroll tax increase.

RUBAIE ON LATE EDITION. Mowaffak Al-Rubaie, an Iraqi Shi'ite involved with the party which won the plurality of the vote in their elections, was Wolfgang Blitzer's first guest. He spoke of the "huge transformation of millions of Iraqis... millions of Iraqis are rejoicing." Blitzer snarled that the Sunnis weren't rejoicing, and Rubaie countered that millions had voted.

"The Iraq people won this war against terrorism."

"This is history we are making, and this is the birth of a new nation."

He would not speak of who he wants to see as prime minister: "It's important, Wolf, that we not talk about personalities."

He mentioned a free-market economy. If they get that, we're fine.

CHALABI ON LATE EDITION. Media darling Ahmed Chalabi was Wolfgang's next guest by phone. He said that he wants to be prime minister, and he is one of three in contention for the post. He said that he has not yet met with American ambassador John Negroponte, and he and Wolgang agreed that this was wrong and was Negroponte's fault.

Paraphrasing Blitzer: "How could John Negroponte have been in Iraq for months without meeting Ahmed Chalabi?"

He's a criminal, Blitzer.