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By Mark Kilmer Posted in Elections — Comments (20) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

Sunday, September 18, 2005

This week saw Admiral Thad Allen (MTP, FNS, FTN) expressing concern that New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin is bringing people back into New Orleans before the place is safe. Lindsey Graham (FNS) indicated that his "Gang of 14" would make sure that John Roberts's nomination is not filibustered, and Bill Clinton found bipartisan consensus on global warming though John McCain and Hillary (MTP).

Putin's not going to throw out the Russian constitution and run for another term (FNS), Bob Schieffer compared Hurricane Katrina to "the O.J. Trial" (FTN), and Arlen Specter discussed "Super Duper Precedent" with Schieffer on FTN.

Wolf Blitzer: "ARE YOU READY?"

And Clinton (TW) painted a fairy tale of the 1990's and declared that it is more important to win in Afghanistan that it is in Iraq.

Steph couldn't get Senator Vitter and Congressman Pence to verbally torment one another.

(The show-by-show review is beneath the fold.)

ADMIRAL THAD ALLEN ON MTP AND FNS. Coast Guard Vice Admiral Thad Allen, the man in charge of the federal government's Katrina relief efforts, led off both NBC's Meet the Press and FOX News Sunday this morning. He expressed concern that New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin is trying to repopulate the city when there is no potable water, the tests show high levels of E. coli, and the levees may not be able to withstand another weather event.

"Any significant weather event will be problematic" for the levees, Allen said on MTP.

"It is the mayor's city," he pointed out on FNS, but he is there with the federal government to offer counsel. The city needs an evacuation plan for those who have returned, and he's trying to help the city with that. But it's not yet in place.

Allen is advising the mayor "to slow down, to take things moderately."

GRAHAM ON FNS. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) was host Chris Wallace's next guest on Fox News Sunday. Wallace led off my asking him: "As a fiscal conservative," what do you think of the oodles of crash the President promises to spend? Graham stressed the parts of the plan which involved private ownership of housing."

"If we don't learn from Iraq," Graham stated, "where we spent billions to no effect…"

Graham disagreed with House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who does not favor offsetting the cleanup's costs with spending cuts. Graham suggested "across-the-board" cuts and revisiting the transportation bill. There's a lot which can be cut, he suggested. "Maybe something good can come of this hurricane." By that, he means the elimination of spending deemed wasteful. It's seems likely, though, that some Congress critters will hold out for their district's earmarked Bean Factory, or whatever, as essential. It's the nature of that beast.

Graham thinks "we need some sort of a Marshall Plan" to deal with the race and poverty issues about which the President spoke. He spoke of "separate-but-equal" not being equal in the context of the South Carolina he remembers, which was probably the case, but how does one apply that to New Orleans in the early 21st century? One can't, but Graham's heart is in the right place for something.

Asked about the President's pledge to ask for legislation to expand the role of federal troops in such disasters, Graham said that while he is "comfortable with the military," he is not comfortable with the military suspending local laws. He praised the Posse Comitatus statutes which forbid the federal military from taking over local jurisdictions. "We should not allow the federal government to wily-nily take over" local authority.

On Judge Roberts, Wallace pointed out that Graham was part of the Gang of 14 and asked him if he had spoken to his "fellow Gang members" about the Roberts nomination. Graham seemed tickled, and chuckled as he said: "I have talked to my fellow gang members."

He sees Roberts as one of the finest legal minds in this country, who would easily win confirmation if only objective considerations applied. Some Senators apply subjective tests, he said, on whether or not a judge will vote their way on specific issues.

He thinks Roberts will get an up-or-down vote, and he did not go out on the limb with his vote prediction for the judge: "well over 50."

CLINTON ON MTP. Meet the Press host Tim Russert aired a taped interview with President #52, William Jefferson Clinton. He said that his Clinton Global Initiative meeting in Manhattan, the $15,000/ticket gathering in NYC which sat world leaders and Hillary down to talk about issues and solutions, dealt with such things as how to help people escape poverty and good government for poor countries, etc.

He said a lot of it was people sitting around a table and talking. He expects to have anywhere from 100 to 300 firm commitments for action from these people – quite a range – and he's going to hold them to their commitments. How? He's going to make public which of them are doing what they said they'd do and who is not. Quasi-extortion? Humiliation via press release?

Clinton is "a little bit concerned" that there is a religious war between Islam and Christianity, but he thinks this is more about power. Clinton thinks the terrorists are using religion in the way Milosevic used ethnicity, so he suggested that President Bush bomb the Chinese embassy.

Clinton is "a little bit concerned" that Iraq will become an Islamic Republic, but he sees how religion could play a part in the government while not taking over.

Clinton thinks Iraq has been "a net negative" for the United States internationally, as we did not do the smart thing and wait for the United Nations to finish its weapons inspections. (He did not recall for Russert that Saddam would not let them finish.)

Russert asked if the old debate about global warming had "dissipated" under the force of scientific evidence, and Clinton said that it had. He said that there was bipartisan agreement about global warming now, since John McCain went to Alaska with Hillary.

Clinton said that no serious person will "look you in the eye with a straight face" and say that global warming caused Katrina, but there are more storms and more severe storms because of global warming.

PUTIN ON FNS. FOX News Sunday host Chris Wallace aired a taped interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who told him that Iran had revealed all of her nuclear information and was cooperating with the IAEA. (He did not mention his financial interest in Tehran's nuclear program.)

President Putin, translated by man with a high-pitched voice, said that "sooner or later… foreign troops will have to leave Iraq."

He predicted that the U.S. could pull out of Iraq "in 12 months, 24 months, something like that." It would be a positive thing, he insisted, to have a "timetable." (Although his "1 or 2" years isn't much of one.)

"Democracy cannot be exported from on country to another," Putin insisted, which means that if he doesn't want democracy, he's not going to have democracy. He praised his "components of democracy," though.

Wallace prodded him into admitting that he thinks American democracy is not perfect, as there are "quite a few gaps in the legal system in America." By this, he means our inability to count every vote or to count votes properly. (That's from the Democrat Party here in the U.S., of course, and from our MSM. This might be why he doesn't want a free press, one which is free to speculate wildly and to invent.)

Okay, Tim Russert is the best at harassing a politician for a decision on whether or not they are a presidential candidate. Wallace could challenge. He pointed out that the Russian constitution forbids Putin from seeking another term 2008. Is there any set of circumstance, Wallace asked, in which Putin might consider a run? The Russian said that he would not change the Russian constitution to seek office again.

Wallace then told Putin about Civil War Union General William Tecumseh Sherman and his famous quote: "If nominated, I will not run. If elected, I will not serve." Was Putin prepared to make a "Sherman Statement"?

Putin: "I have answered your question. I will not."

ADMIRAL ALLEN ON FTN. Bob Schieffer talked to Admiral Allen, who covered what he had said in his earlier interviews. Schieffer did quote from a New York Times story which indicated that FEMA was still faltering. Admiral Allen said FEMA was doing its job, and he mentioned that the "widespread dispersion" of people made it difficult to contact everyone.

OBAMA DOES FTN. Bob Schieffer's next guest on CBS's Face the Nation was Senator Barack Obama (D-Illinois), who seems always available to stir the racial pot. Schieffer compared Hurricane Katrina to "the O.J. Trial" in terms of how America is racially divided.

The O.J. Trial. Call Greta.

Obama answered by saying that "incompetence is color blind," but he added that there is a "broader racial element," and that there is an "intersection of race and poverty."

He said he and Senator Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) are trying to have a Chief Financial Officer put in charge of federal spending on Katrina.

He also wants to train New Orleanians to handle the cleanup activities.

And he wants to raise taxes.

SPECTER AND LEAHY ON FTN. Schieffer next spoke to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pennsylvania) and ranking Dem Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont). Schieffer pointed out that the Washington Post had editorially supported Roberts while the New York Times had opposed him. He quoted from the Post op/ed, Leahy misunderstood and railed against it, Schieffer misunderstood and explained it, and nothing substantive came of that exchange.

Leahy claims to have written two speeches on John Roberts: one if he opposes, one if he supports.

Leahy does not want the President to play politics with the nomination to replace Justice O'Conner: "He can play politics with cabinet positions, heads of FEMA, things like that." And the Dems just finished criticizing the President for playing politics with the directorship of FEMA.

Specter spoke of "Super Duper Precedent," like Roe v. Wade, which he indicated was precedent the Supreme Court has actively upheld, or not overruled, scads of times.

Specter will announce his decision regarding Judge Roberts, he says, on Monday. He had hoped to do it on Friday, but the Senate had left the building. (If Specter comes out against, they'll have to find a way to schedule his removal trial between this vote and the next justice's confirmation hearings under the gavel of a Chairman Kyl.)

The full Senate will vote on Roberts, Specter said, by Thursday the 29th. Leahy offered, "We will vote on Thursday," although it wasn't clear if he were agreeing to the full Senate vote on the 29th, which is not his call, or on this coming Thursday's committee vote.

- - A SPECIAL CNN's LATE EDITION: "ARE YOU READY?"- -

MIAMI MAYOR MANNY DIAZ ON LE. The Mayor of Miami, Manny Diaz, was asked by Wolf Blitzer on CNN's Late Edition: "Are YOU ready?" He replied that "we've been ready," and have gone through a bunch of drills.

He said that they've learned the lessons of Hurricane Andrew and have the toughest building code anywhere. Everything is build to withstand floods and high winds.

Wolf read a statement which said that Miami-Dade was not prepared for the wind and didn't have enough shelters. Diaz disagreed but agreed that they need more shelters.

Diaz said that they had a plan to evacuate seniors and the elderly.

Blitzer argued that the left hand of the government cannot speak with the right hand, and he asked about communications. Diaz credits the post-September 11 federal efforts for eliminating the "turf wars," increasing the inter-governmental, inter-agency communication. He said that he's used federal money for it.

Blitzer said that this is not the case, based on "what people are saying," but "I'll take your word for it."

Blitzer then informed the mayor that he still had "some hurricane season to worry about."

MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR MITT ROMNEY ON LE. Blitzer said that he was going to discuss disaster preparedness with Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. While this might appear to the uninitiated to be an irrelevant Romney campaign commercial, Blitzer reminded us that Boston could be a terrorist target.

Potential disasters for Boston: Flooding, Hurricanes, Blizzards, Wildfires, Terrorism. Blitzer: "Are YOU ready?" Romney said that "we all thought we were ready" until Katrina proved otherwise.

Blitzer quoted from a Boston Globe story which said that Boston had no plan to take care of the displaced. Mitt said that Boston had housed people from Katrina at "military bases," so they could handle "refugees." (Yes, he used the "R" word, the one which got so many into racial trouble in the days following Katrina.)

Romney said that he used the federal funds allocated post-September 11 to work on the communications infrastructure. He admitted, as Wolf accused, that they had spotty communications trouble deep in Boston's subway system.

Wolf asked that if it were okay to use cell phones in The Big Dig, and Mitt said that YES, of course they want to use cell phones and communicate. And cell phones were not the only way to trigger a bomb.

Wolf quoted from a report (March, 2004) which said that staff had been cut in emergency preparedness departments and a large percentage of them were not prepared for terrorist attacks. Mitt said that the report came from a commission that wants to raise taxes, and that hiring more police won't stop the terrorists.

Wolf played a vid of Mitt saying that he was going to wiretap mosques and students, and Mitt said that he would obey the law (probable cause) but we should "focus on where the risk is coming from." Throw people out "when their Visas are overdue." We have to spend money, he insisted, to "monitor" people from state sponsors of terrorists "who preach hate."

We're not spending enough resources, the governor argued, monitoring these people.

This begs a question: If we're going to waste resources monitoring nasty terrorists who preach hate, why do we let them in the country in the first place? Strengthen deportation laws and improve the means of removing them on one such infraction. Don't keep a daily hatred-preaching scorecard on every visitor from the Middle East.

STEPH AND CLINTON, TOGETHER AGAIN. George Stephanopoulos, host of ABC's This Week, had as his primo guest Fmr. President Bill Clinton. This was Steph's boss back "in the day" (1991-1996).

Steph first got him to blame Bush. Steph accused Bush of not taking Clinton's advice to stop cutting taxes. Clinton lectured that the tax cuts were popular but that they help only people "in my income group." The "American people have to understand," he lectured, that we have to borrow money from foreign governments to pay for everything. This is the first time in history, he said, that we've paid for a war with borrowing money. (Remember War Bonds, Bill?)

He predicted that the "chickens" will "come home to roost," and that Japan and the PRC might decide not to lend us money, and we need them to lend us money to "pay for my tax cut."

Steph brought up race, suggesting that we saw with Katrina that the government is racist. Clinton said that his Administration did a good job with race and poverty, and that it was wrong to give tax cuts to the rich and force the minorities to be poor. "We know what works," he said, and the Republicans "got rid of it."

He said that the federal government should have had lots of buses and lots of vans to take people out of New Orleans, and his FEMA director (James Lee Witt) was sensitive to the racial and the economic issues because he grew up, like Clinton, in a poor region.

He said that the Clinton Global Initiative won't be the "center" of his public life, because he's doing lots of good with his project. His initiative, though, "has the power… has the potential to help the greatest number of people."

He said that the NGO movement was not anti-government, but it was the new wave and it would have a "measurable impact." Especially if you have governments involved, as he did with his Global Initiative thing. (Both Holly actor Brad Pitt and Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie were theew, though Clinton did not mention it.)

Steph asked him about Judge Roberts, brought up the Republican votes for Breyer and Ginsburg, and asked if the Dems shouldn't vote for Roberts in the same way. Clinton said that he didn't nominate ideologues and both were well qualified, but Bush has the opportunity "to change the balance of the court." He "suspects that [Roberts] probably will be confirmed." ("Hillary would know better'n me.") He that said Roberts "is obviously a very bright man." He posited that the Senate has a "higher burden" because it could have an impact on the balance of the Court "depending on who the next nominee."

The strategy in Iraq, Clinton said, "is not working right now." He faulted the Bush Administration for invading Iraq alone and with no evidence, and he said that it "diverted our attention from Iraq and al Qaeda."

CLINTON JUDGMENT: "It is more important not to lose Afghanistan than it is not to lose in Iraq." Words to that effect.

He said that "if there is a reasonable chance" that Iraq can have a legitimate constitution, it "will give this civilian government a boost." He does not want a "date certain for withdrawal," because he always assumed that his opponent was smart enough to know that if he gave a date certain for departure, the opponent would wait it out without joining the political process.

He again stressed that we CANNOT lose in Afghanistan. Losing Afghanistan, he said, would bring back the Taliban and al Qaeda. (Losing in Iraq would bring… what? Who would you rather have as a potential global neighbor, Clinton: Mullah Omar or Abu Musab al Zarqawi?)

His motto for 2008: "Get the country back, move forward again."

He could have made me nostalgic for the 1990s as a time when we were united, singing non-sectarian hymns of togetherness, prosperous, and at peace with the world. Folks, it never existed. It's an invention, one he didn't try so much with Russert. He could do it with the Clinton-compliant Stephanopoulos, though.

VITTER AND PENCE ON TW. Steph next aired the GOP's division over Katrina, hosting a debate between Senator David Vitter (Louisiana) and Congressman Mike Pence (Indiana). You could almost know that sparks would fly, blood would be drawn, and the deep and irreparable divisions within the Republican would become apparent; after all, Vitter is from a State-in-need while Pence is an uempathetic free-marketer.

Vitter said that he will introduce his own recovery plan which will not increase taxes. Such increases, he said, would "negate everything we're trying to do" to get Louisiana growing again. There are no spending cuts in his "Louisiana Package," but he's willing to look for them.

Pence argued that "we simply cannot break the bank of the federal budget." He talked of cutting "big ticket items," which the House GOP will list next week. He's going to propose cutting much of the Highway Bill and delaying the Medicare prescription drugs changes. He admitted that the Republican Congress "has not been disciplined enough" to get spending in line. Steph said that Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma said that he won't go with continuing the President's tax cuts unless there are concomitant spending cuts, and there he found a difference. Pence insisted that taxes had to be cut.

Pence reacted to Tom DeLay's notion that there are no spending cuts left in the federal budget, saying that he saw is as a challenge to the House to find offsets. He promised to do it.

Steph asked Vitter about when people can return to New Orleans: Nagin vrs. Allen. The Senator said that the folks on the ground had to make the decision. He didn't have the info, and he's sure that they'll come to an agreement. He added that the relief "is not charity for Louisiana," pointing out that the rest of the country needs that region.

~~~~~

That's it for this week. I'm sorry for "letting Clinton go on" like that, but I thought it best to cover the whole thing with Steph. It struck me as sad, watching an impeached former President struggling to find some sort of positive legacy after even his own party has rejected his slogans, his DLC, and the "Third Way" he shared with the more principled Tony Blair.

No mention of Cindy Sheehan this week, which was a disappointment. Here movement has been discredited, but like they say of Hurricane Katrina, Cindy has revealed some systemic problems with our nation's political discourse.

Have at it.