Sunday Snapshot

Talk of Gen. Petraeus' 9/10 scheduled report to Congress on the situation in Iraq led the Sunday shows this weekend:

John McCain: "Everything I know about General Petraeus is that he has been candid and forthcoming in his views. And if we start disparaging the men and women who are serving in uniform and their honor, then I think we've reached a sad place in American politics."

More McCain: "The complaint used to be, 'You're not making any progress militarily.' Now, we don't hear that anymore" ("This Week," ABC, 9/9).

Mike Huckabee: "I wish we were out of there tomorrow. I wish every last American could come home if not tomorrow, today. I don't want to see another life lost. But on the other hand, I don't want the long-term safety of the United States and our security compromised, nor do I want the credibility of this nation lost for generations because we've simply decided that people were ready for us to come out, whether or not we had finished the task we went there to do. Even our own Senate sent General Petraeus over there this summer with full confidence and told him he would have until this week to be able to bring a report back. He had barely landed on the ground before they were already on the Senate floor saying we had failed, saying we had lost" ("Late Edition," CNN, 9/9).

Joe Biden, when asked if he expectsPetraeus to say progress is being made: "I expect him to say that. And I really respect him. And I think he's dead flat wrong. ... The only way there's any possibility of dealing with the sectarian violence is you've got to separate the parties, give them some breathing room, give them local control. If you don't do that, you think we're going to get there in any way with this present government? And can anybody envision a central government made up of Sunni, Shia and Kurds that's going to gain the trust and respect of 27 million Iraqis? It's not going to happen" ("Meet The Press," NBC, 9/9).

Sen. John Kerry (D-MA): "I think the general will present the facts with respect to the statistics and the tactical successes or situations as he sees them. But none of us should be fooled -- not the American people, not you in the media, not us in Congress -- we should not be fooled into this tactical success debate. That's not what this is about" ("This Week," ABC, 9/9).

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC): "I am absolutely, totally, 100 percent against a political redeployment or a political management of how you use the troops. I'm going to leave it up to Petraeus because I trust him. He has delivered. And I think it would be foolhardy for this Congress to take away from him the ability to manage this war and to deploy and withdraw. ... If we pull back now any troops based on politics, you're going to allow an enemy to get off the map that's on the map and you're going to break the hearts of the troops that have brought about this success. They believe they're winning. Let them win."

Graham, on some Senate Dems' attempts to discredit Petraeus: "Very upset, because he's coming because we passed a law telling him he had to come. Now, this idea that he and Ambassador Crocker are going to cook numbers to continue a war where people are going to get hurt and killed because they have a political agenda is ridiculous. It's offensive" ("Fox News Sunday," FNC, 9/9).

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA): "I don't think General Petraeus has an independent view. ... Petraeus is there to succeed. He may say the progress is uneven. He may say it's substantial. I don't know what he will say. You can be sure we'll listen to it. But I don't think he's an independent evaluator" ("Fox News Sunday," FNC, 9/9).

Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA): "This a cockamamie policy. We have been a crutch for too long. We have been the survival blanket for the Iraqi government and the only way they're going to make the tough decisions in judgment is start bringing those troops home. ... I'm going to support all activities in the United States Senate that are going to bring our troops home to end the war. ... General Petraeus is going to give a report on how good General Petraeus has done over there" ("Face the Nation," CBS, 9/9).

Ex-NSA Brent Scowcroft, asked if he is as optimistic as Bush and Petraeus seem to be: "I don't know whether I'm optimistic, pessimistic or just mystic. ... I think progress is being made. And the first thing that has to be made is military progress. I think it is the political process will have to go on its own bottom, and we can't control it" ("Face the Nation," CBS, 9/9).

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), asked if Petraeus has the credibility to convince the Senate that they know what they're doing: "Notwithstanding the fact that he may have been wrong in the past, General Petraeus has a very strong reputation and I think he does have credibility. But we're going to look behind the generalizations that General Petraeus or anybody gives us and probe the very hard facts to see exactly what the situation is. As I've said in the past, unless we see some light at the end of the tunnel here, very closely examining what General Petraeus and others have to say, I think there's a general sense that there needs to be a new policy. General Petraeus himself in the last couple of days has said that he's prepared to see the withdrawal of some troops, talked about a brigade, so let's see specifically what develops" ("Late Edition," CNN, 9/9).

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA): "I will have the chance to question him on Tuesday in front of the Foreign Relations Committee. ... I don't know what he's going to say. But let me tell you what I do know. I do know what has happened since the surge. There has been no political reconciliation. We have had the deadliest ... summer ever in the war in Iraq in terms of the loss of our troops. We have 78 percent of the Iraqi people saying, please leave the country. ... So I intend to question General Petraeus about it. But the last point I'd make is, General Petraeus is really the messenger. The policy comes from President Bush" ("Late Edition," CNN, 9/9).

McCain and Biden were also asked about MoveOn.org's ad in the New York Times calling Petraeus "General Betray Us":

McCain "Just makes me sad. Makes me very sad. ... He served his country with honor and distinction, and if we have to sink to that level to besmirch the reputation of a very fine and wonderful American, then I lament the level of dialogue. I hope that my Democrat friends will not be guided by moveon.org" ("This Week," ABC, 9/9).

Biden: "I don't buy into that. This is an honorable guy. He's telling the truth. ... I disagree with what his recommendation is likely to be, but I don't think he is cooking the books. He's stating the part that he believes is true" ("Meet The Press," NBC, 9/9).

Meanwhile, Gen. James Jones and ex-DC police chief Charles Ramsey, members of the Independent Commission on the Security Forces of Iraq, were on "Meet The Press" to discuss their report:

Jones, asked if there is a need for US troops on the ground in Iraq for at least three to four years: "I think that's probably reasonable. There's no magic formula here. It depends on the rate of progress, it depends on the international ability to convince Iran and Syria to help rather than hinder the recovery in Iraq, and that's not happening right now."

Ramsey, asked the most surprising thing he found while in Iraq for the last three weeks: "One was the widespread dislike of the national police. But the most encouraging thing was the level of training. When we visited training centers for the Iraqi police service, I was very impressed. And the quality of the people that we have brought to train and the Iraqi instructors was really, really good. So there's a lot of potential there" (NBC, 9/9).

BACK IN ACTION

During his interview on "This Week," McCain was also asked about Fred Thompson saying Osama bin Laden is "more of a symbolism than he is anything else."

McCain: "I think that Fred should appreciate the fact that when this guy uses cyberspace the way that he's able to use it, and motivate and to increase the radical Islamic extremism and enthusiasm, he is a great danger. He continues to communicate, he continues to lead and he continues to be a symbol for them of leadership in this radical hatred and evil radical Islamic extremism. ... I'll get him. I'll get him. And we've got to get him."

On reports that the "old" McCain is back: "Well, there's ups and downs in campaigns. And there'll be other ups and downs. It's fun. It's exciting. It is a great challenge" (ABC, 9/9).<

TALK IS CHEAP?

More from Huckabee's interview on "Late Edition":

Huckabee, on Fred Thompson's official entrance into WH '08: I don't know where Fred stands on a lot of issues. That's why I think we were disappointed he didn't show up for the debate, because then he would have had to have defended his record and his positions, just like the rest of us have in the first five debates that we've already participated in. But Fred did say that he wanted Lincoln/Douglas style debates. He said he would participate in those. I've taken him up on his offer and suggested that he and I go to it, maybe in New Hampshire. And I hope he'll honor what he said on the Jay Leno show and be serious about that because I think it would be great for the American people."

On Mitt Romney saying Huckabee will become a front-tier candidate if he raises $20M this quarter: "Well, with all due respect, I appreciate his budget advice but we're not spending money like he is. We don't have to raise it, and we're getting where we're going by being frugal just like I would want to be with the Federal Treasury. I would be worried if I were a voter if a person is spending millions and millions of dollars to barely be in double digits. I'd be beginning to think I don't want that person in charge of the Federal Treasury. So we don't really let Governor Romney decide our campaign budget and neither do we let him decide our campaign message. But I appreciate the advice that he's offered to us" (CNN, 9/9).

ROUNDTABLE ROUNDUP

Most of the Sunday show roundtables focused on Thompson's entrance into WH '08 and his decision not to participate in the NH debate:

Wall Street Journal's Harwood: "I think Fred Thompson did quite well that night by being on 'Leno,' getting a very nice ride, in a publicity sense, having all the other candidates talk about him in the debate, which the substance of the debate didn't get all that much attention, much less than, than about Fred Thompson. But look, Thompson does not have a lot of time. ... The other candidates are in the stretch run of the pennant race, and Fred Thompson hasn't been through spring training yet. He's got to get up to speed very quickly" ("Meet The Press," NBC, 9/9).

FNC's Hume: "I think he did get away with it. Obviously, it remains to be seen whether New Hampshire voters were much offended by the fact that he didn't attend what is, after all, still a fairly early debate. I thought he did well on 'The Tonight Show.' And I thought his first day on the campaign trail was certainly a better performance than he had been giving in what had been a kind of random and somewhat wandering series of speeches that he had given before" ("Fox News Sunday," 9/9).

CNN's Henry: "At some point, he's going to have to get in and actually mix it up with the other candidates if he really wants to gain" ("Late Edition," 9/9) [KATHERINE LEHR].