Sunday Snapshot -- Three's Company

It was an exciting Sunday with John McCain, Barack Obama and Joe Biden all making appearances.

McCain appeared on "Face the Nation" from Colorado Springs, CO, marking his 65th appearance on the show.

CBS' Schieffer: "Senator McCain, you have now appeared on 'Face the Nation' more than any other person. Over the last year, you passed the previous record-holder, who was Bob Dole."

McCain: "Well, it's an honor to follow in the footsteps of a great American. And that does say, also, a comment about the number of years that you have been doing this program in, obviously, in outstanding fashion."

Schieffer: "You did something really extraordinary at that convention. I've never been at a political convention where I heard a candidate get up and not only go after the other party but go after your own party. ... You're saying it was your party that was part of the problem and that you can be the agent of change. How do you convince people of that?"

McCain: "I think we have to show them my record. I think we have to show them that I took on the big spenders that did campaign finance reform. I reached across the aisle to Democrats. And, obviously, I was very unpopular in some parts of my own party, whether it be on the issue of climate change or against Rumsfeld's strategy and the president's strategy in Iraq, or whether it be on campaign finance reform or a number of other issues that I fought against the, quote, 'special interests.'"

Much more after the jump.

(KATHERINE LEHR)

McCain, asked if he is going to have Dems within his admin.: "You have to. Look at the approval rating of both Republicans and Democrats now. Look at the loss of trust and confidence. When we do all the town hall meetings and people, say I've lost all trust and confidence in government, they don't say, I've lost confidence in Republicans, Democrats. They've lost confidence in everybody. The way you restore it is obviously to have a very bipartisan approach."

McCain, asked if he will have Dems in his cabinet: "Yes, of course."

Schieffer: "How many?"

McCain: "Well, I don't know how many. But I can tell you, in all due respect to previous administrations, it's not going to be a single, you know, well, we have a Democrat now; it's going to be the best people in America, the smartest people in America. ... And I'll tell you, some of them I'll ask them to work for a dollar a year. They've made enough money."

McCain, on critics saying Sarah Palin is not ready to be POTUS at a moment's notice: "In respect to many of the critics -- and I understand that criticism, it's part of the business -- but I also would like to say that she's not only excited our base that you pointed out, she's excited Americans all over this country. ... And again, in all due respect to any critic, I think being mayor is a very important job nowadays, especially the way America is hurting. ... So all I can say is, I think that her experience and her background not only qualifies her, but brings to Washington a kind of an energy and a fresh wind that maybe is necessary in our nation's capital."

Schieffer: "When will you let her out to campaign on her own? When will she start having news conferences? When will she start doing interviews?"

McCain: "Well, as you know, we just finished the convention. But within the next few days, and I'm strongly recommending that she come on 'Face the Nation' with Bob Schieffer. And that will be the first of her 65 appearances."

McCain, on the gov't taking over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac: "I think it has to be done. I think that we've got to keep people in their homes. There's got to be restructuring. There's got to be reorganization. And there's got to be some confidence that we've stopped this downward spiral. It's hard. It's tough. But it's also the classic example of why we need change in Washington. It's an example of cronyism, special interest, lobbyists. A quasi-governmental organization, where the executives were making hundreds of some billion dollars a year, while things were going downhill, going to hell in a handbasket. This is the kind of cronyism and corruption that has made people so justifiably angered."

McCain, on GOPers attacking Obama for being a community organizer: "I admire and respect all public service. I think what happened was it was a reaction to the Obama campaign saying -- and denigrating the fact that she had been mayor of a small town. Now, that was an attack that immediately was launched against her, which I, obviously, the fact that she's the most popular governor in America and knows more about energy than anyone else at that level in America, at that level, in my view, but -- so I think it was a reaction to the denigration of her role as mayor. But I know that she shares my respect for all people -- and appreciation for all people who serve their community and their nation. And, as you know, she's got a son who's doing that."

Schieffer: "So you do not think that it's a negative that Barack Obama was a community organizer?"

McCain: "I do not. I do not think it's a negative. I think it's very honorable."

Schieffer, on the composition of the convo: "There were 36 African-American delegates out of 2,300- plus delegates there. How can you survive as a party if you become just the party of white people?"

McCain: "We can't. We can't. I saw a bit of information the other day that I've forgotten; don't hold me to it -- 2042, or something like that, white Americans will be in a minority in the population of this country. We can't. We've got to reach out. We've got to do a better job. We have to have the Hispanic as well as African-American voters. I've traveled all over this country. I've been to places where there are literally no Republican votes. I have to convince them that I'll be the president of everybody. And the Republican Party has a job to do. And, frankly, it's a job that also spills over into other areas. You've seen the generic ballot."

Schieffer: "Were you kind of surprised at all that ... to see that statistic come up?"

McCain: "No. I was obviously disappointed. But we need to prove to Americans that this is the party of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan. We're the party of Abraham Lincoln."

McCain, on the economy: "Americans are hurting in a way that they have not hurt for a long time. I will probably argue to you that on the 65 appearances -- I hate to keep bringing that up -- that we probably -- you and I have never had a conversation when our economy was in greater difficulty than it is today."

Schieffer: "You think it is? Because you have said you think it's fundamentally sound."

McCain: "Because I have great confidence and faith in America, in our innovation and our capabilities ... but these are tough times now. But, oh, listen, America's best days are ahead of us. But, you know, we've got a very tough sledding to go through."

McCain, on his upcoming appearance with Obama at Ground Zero on 9/11: "Well, I think it's a good idea for us to do that. I think it's a time of solidarity with Americans. It's a time and tragedy that we can never forget. America was attacked on our soil in a way that was unprecedented in history. Thousands of innocent lives were lost. So I think it's a very appropriate thing to do. And as I said in my convention speech, I admire and respect Senator Obama and I admire what he's achieved, but we're going to win this election" (CBS, 9/7).

HORSING AROUND

Meanwhile, ABC's Stephanopoulos caught up with Obama in IN.

Obama, asked if he will go through with his tax increase even if the U.S. is in a recession in Jan. '09: "No, no, no, no, no, no. What I've said is that, even if we're still in a recession, I'm going to go through with my tax cuts. That's my priority."

Stephanopoulos: "But not the increases?"

Obama: "I think we've got to take a look and see where the economy is. I mean, the economy is weak right now. The news with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, I think, along with the unemployment numbers, indicates that we're fragile. I want to accelerate those tax cuts through a second stimulus
package, get more money into the pockets of ordinary Americans, see if we can stabilize the housing market. And then we're going to have to
reevaluate at the beginning of the year to see what kind of hole we're in."

Obama, on Sarah Palin: "I think she's a skilled politician. She wouldn't be governor of Alaska if she wasn't a skilled politician, and I think her performance at the convention showed what a skilled politician she is."

Obama, on what it says about John McCain that he picked Palin to be his running mate: "It tells me that he chose somebody who may be even more aligned with George Bush -- or Dick Cheney, or the politics we've seen over the last eight years -- than John McCain himself is."

Obama, on McCain saying Palin has more nat'l security experience because AK is next to Russia and she is the commander of the AK Nat'l Guard: "You know, I actually knew that Russia was next to Alaska, as well. I saw it on a map."

Stephanopoulos: "It's not a qualification."

Obama: "I don't think it is."

Stephanopoulos: "But how about the National Guard executive experience?"

Obama: "You know, I know that John McCain was offended -- or at least his campaign was -- when she was asked, or one of his representatives was asked, what decisions did she make while she was heading up the National Guard? And they didn't have a response. ... As somebody who's served on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and passed legislation on critical issues like nuclear proliferation, as somebody who's been working on these issues for a long time and somebody who selected Joe Biden as vice president, who is the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, I'm going to be happy to have a substantive debate with John McCain about foreign policy."

Obama, on GOPers attacking his early career as a community organizer at their convo: "It's curious to me that they would mock that, when I
at least think that that's exactly what young people should be doing. ... For folks who suddenly have tried to grab the change banner, you know, they've got a very traditional view of what service means."

Obama, asked if he ever considered joining the armed forces: "You know, I actually did. ... I had to sign up for Selective Service when I graduated from high school. And I was growing up in Hawaii, and I have friends whose parents were in the military. There are a lot of Army, military bases there. And I actually always thought of the military as an ennobling and, you know, honorable option. But keep in mind -- I graduated in 1979. The Vietnam War had come to an end. We weren't engaged in an active military conflict at that point. And so, it's not an option that I ever decided to pursue."

Stephanopoulos: "You had a lot of fun with the idea of John McCain as a change agent out there today. ... But, you voted with the Democrats in Congress -- 2005, 97 percent of the time; 2006, 96 percent of the time; 2007, 97 percent of the time."

Obama: "Well, I think you're conflating two arguments, right. I mean, one argument is bipartisanship; one argument has to do with change. I don't think you can dispute that I haven't voted with George Bush 90 percent of the time."

Stephanopoulos: "But that's not breaking with your party."

Obama: "Well, I tell you what. You can get testimony from Republicans during my Illinois Senate days and my U.S. Senate days who say, this is somebody who we work with, who listens to us, and who brings a different tone to politics. And for John McCain to say that he wanted to reduce the rancor in Washington, as I said in there, it sounds to me like he didn't listen to the first two days of his convention."

Stephanopoulos: "That's part of the campaign, though, isn't it?"

Obama: "How you campaign, I think, foreshadows how you're going to govern."

Obama, asked to name three changes he'd make as POTUS that would be unpopular with cong. Dems: "Number one, I think that, on education, we do have to improve accountability. And I've not only supported charter schools, which the teachers' unions have opposed, but I've also said ... we should look at pay-for- performance. ... I've said that we need to increase the size of our military, which politically, if it got to the floor, probably would pass. ... And on health care, I think that it is important for us to figure out how to reduce litigation costs."

Stephanopoulos: "You took some heat at the convention for the answer you gave to Rick Warren out at Saddleback about abortion [on screen: clip of Obama saying it is above his paygrade to answer at what point a baby gets human rights]. Was that phrase too flip?"

Obama: "Probably. Yes. I mean, what I intended to say is that, as a Christian, I have a lot of humility about understanding when does the soul enter into..."

Stephanopoulos: "It goes back to Augustine."

Obama: "It does. It's a pretty tough question. And so, all I meant to communicate was that I don't presume to be able to answer these kinds of theological questions. What I do know is that abortion is a moral issue, that it's one that families struggle with all the time, and that in wrestling with those issues, I don't think that the government criminalizing the choices that families make is the best answer for reducing abortions."

Stephanopoulos: "Sixty days to go, just about. What's the single most important thing you need to do?"

Obama: "I have to make the choice clear to the American people about what is at stake in this election. The American people know we're in a bad place. They understand that the country is off track. They know the economy is not working for them. And what they have to, I think, be persuaded of is that there is a real difference between the parties, because they've grown cynical. They look at Washington and they say, 'Ah! A plague on both your houses.' And what I've got to say is, you know what? There is a real difference here."

Obama, asked if he would go one-on-one with Palin: "I would play her a game of horse. She looks like she's got some game. She played in high school. You know, I know she's a sharpshooter. ... I probably wouldn't do target practice with her. I think she'd be a better shot than me. But on the basketball court, I think I'd stand up pretty well" ("This Week," ABC, 9/7).

REDEMPTION SONG

In his first Sunday morning interview as the Dem VP nominee, Biden appeared on "Meet the Press."

Biden, on Palin saying "being a mayor is like being a community organizer except you have actual responsibilities": "It was a great line. ... She had a number of good ones. Look, she's a smart, tough politician, and so I think she's going to be very formidable. But, you know, eventually she's going to have to sit in front of you like I'm doing and have done. Eventually she's going to have to answer questions and not be sequestered. Eventually she's going to have to answer questions about her record."

Biden, asked who he called first after seeing Palin's speech: "I didn't see her speech, I saw part of it. We were flying from Florida to Virginia, and I caught the tail end of it. ... I called my wife. ... She thought she was tough and she was a good politician. And so, you know, but who knows where this is going to go. You know, it's early in the process and the voters are going to make judgments about Sarah Palin and Joe Biden, but the truth is they're mostly going to make judgments about Barack Obama and John McCain. Vice presidents are useful, but we're not determinative."

NBC's Brokaw: "Already people are saying no one has a tougher job in the base than Joe Biden. He has to go up against this woman and she has been teed up, in many ways, by the Republican Party as someone that you just can't go after in conventional terms. Make it tougher debating her than it would, say, Mitt Romney or Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania?"

Biden: "Well, in the sense I know Mitt Romney and know his positions, and I know Tom Ridge and I really respect them. But, you know, I've debated an awful lot of tough, smart women. A woman who's a judge here in our superior court was one of my toughest opponents ever for the Senate. And there's a lot of very tough, smart women in the United States Senate I debate every day. So in that sense it's not new. But what is new is I have no idea what her policies are. I assume they're the same as John's. I just don't know."

Brokaw: "She's already so familiar to women that they're using her first name, Sarah. Does that give your ticket a problem, because there was a dust-up obviously between the Hillary Clinton supporters and the Obama campaign?"

Biden: "Well, look, I live with a lot of smart women. ... I think it's kind of demeaning to suggest that all women are going to vote for a woman just because she's a woman even when she's diametrically opposed to everything Hillary stands for. ... So far I haven't heard one single policy position, one single position that she has in common with Hillary."

Biden, asked if the camp will send Clinton into the working-class states she won in the primaries: "I hope I'll be campaigning with her in some of those states, particularly in Pennsylvania and Ohio. She's indicated she's prepared to do it. Bill Clinton's indicated to me he's prepared to go anywhere and campaign with us. That's a process being worked out now, how to mechanically do that."

Biden, asked why Obama won't participate in town halls with McCain: "Well, that's a little above my pay grade, to use the phrase. I mean, it's a decision the campaign made before I got on the campaign, before I was picked. ... I think those debates that are going to take place, the three critical debates between the two nominees, are going to be the most watched debates in the history of American politics, and I think people are going to get everything they need out of those debates."

Biden, asked if the surge in Iraq helped make the timeline possible: "Well, it did help make it possible. It did help. But it's not the reason. ... They say the reason why there's such success against the insurgency is because of now small, very well trained counterinsurgency units. ... The bottom line is, we can argue about whether the surge was good, bad or indifferent. Let's assume it was all good. The truth of the matter is, what do we do now? What's John McCain going to do when he's president? He says he will not sign on to a timeline, number one. Number two, he has no, no idea, no suggestion how he's going to deal with the neighbors. He has no idea how he's going to deal with Iraq. He has no idea how he's going to deal with Syria. He has no idea how he's going to deal with Turkey. We have laid out a clear plan."

Brokaw: "Five years from now, do you think Iraq will have relative stability and democratic principles in a central government?"

Biden: "If there is an Obama-Biden administration, yeah. If there is a John McCain administration and Sarah Palin, I think it's probably not going to happen, because John does not view this in terms of the region. I never heard him speak about how he's going to integrate Iraq into the region where you have these competing interests that exist. ... John may have an idea. I've never heard it."

Biden, on the gov't taking over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac: "There's three principles that have to play here for this to work, in my view. One, you have to make sure that you help homeowners and stabilize, at the same time, financial institutions. Secondly, you got to make sure that you're not bailing out shareholders vs. the taxpayers. And the third thing you got to do is make sure that they're still in a position to be able to continue to lend, because there is a need for them to continue to have this elasticity of being able to deal with the market. ... I want to wait till I see all the details, but if it meets those three principles, then I think it has a great chance of succeeding. And as I understand it, whatever proposal Secretary Paulson is going to make is a proposal to get us over this hump of instability and uncertainty. It's not an official reorganization. It will be left to the next administration and the Congress to make those judgments."

Biden, asked if it was inappropriate to have his son collecting money from MBNA while he was on the floor protecting its interests: "Absolutely not. My son graduated from Yale Law School. The starting salary in Wall Street is $140,000 a year if you want to lawyer. Options he had. He came home to work for a bank. Surprise, surprise, number one. Number two, this is the second largest employer in the state. All the contributions added up make up less than 2 percent of the contributions I've received. Number three, I blocked the first three bankruptcy bills that the credit card companies wanted. I would not support a bankruptcy bill until they did three things. They put women and children first. Every single social welfare agency relating to alimony and child support supported this bill. Eight-five senators supported this bill. So try as people might to make to this out."

More Biden: "You want to know whether or not I am in the pocket of the corporate lobbyists, which makes it apply -- sounds like it's right here. Ask the people in the industry here how happy they are. How happy the DuPont company is with me and the Hercules Corporation that I would not sign on the asbestos bill. ... The fact of the matter is, that I have had an entire career that no one has every questioned whether or not anybody has influenced me, number one. No group has ever, ever been involved with contributing more than 2 percent to my campaign. I'm listed as the 98th or 99th of the 100 poorest guy in the Senate in terms of net worth. I have a 35-year career of actually, of being viewed, at least in my state, as being independent. And so you can take individual votes and you can talk about them, but they're totally out of context."

Biden, asked what the Obama/Biden admin. would do about K Street and lobbyists: "What they would do is they'd stop them from writing the bills. They wouldn't be sitting like Cheney was with lobbyists, writing an energy policy. They'd get to have their voice. Look, there is a thing called free speech. They get to petition their government. But in terms of their ability to be able to set the agenda, write legislation ... it [would be] just a total different atmosphere. A totally different atmosphere, just like it was 25 years ago when it didn't become such a growth industry."

Brokaw: "If Senator Obama comes to you and says, 'When does life begin? Help me out here, Joe,' as a Roman Catholic, what would you say to him?"

Biden: "I'd say, 'Look, I know when it begins for me.' It's a personal and private issue. For me, as a Roman Catholic, I'm prepared to accept the teachings of my church. But let me tell you. There are an awful lot of people of great confessional faiths -- Protestants, Jews, Muslims and others -- who have a different view. They believe in God as strongly as I do. They're intensely as religious as I am religious. ... I'm prepared as a matter of faith to accept that life begins at the moment of conception. But that is my judgment. For me to impose that judgment on everyone else who is equally and maybe even more devout than I am seems to me is inappropriate in a pluralistic society. And I know you get the push back, 'Well, what about fascism?' Everybody, you know, you going to say fascism's all right? Fascism isn't a matter of faith. No decent religious person thinks fascism is a good idea."

Brokaw: "But if you believe that life begins at conception, and you've also voted for abortion rights..."

Biden: "No, what a voted against curtailing the right, criminalizing abortion. I voted against telling everyone else in the country that they have to accept my religiously based view that it's a moment of conception. ... I don't support public funding. I don't, because that flips the burden. That's then telling me I have to accept a different view. This is a matter between a person's God, however they believe in God, their doctor and themselves in what is always and what we're going to be spending our time doing is making sure that we reduce considerably the amount of abortions that take place by providing the care, the assistance and the encouragement for people to be able to carry to term and to raise their children."

Biden, asked if Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) should be welcomed back in the Dem caucus: "Hey, look, we Catholics believe in redemption."

Brokaw: "You also believe in trying to have a filibuster-proof Senate."

Biden: "Well, that's true. And look, Joe's been my friend for years. Our children are friends, his daughter-in-law was in my son's wedding, we go back a long way. Every time I see Joe these days, I walk up and I say, 'Say it ain't so, Joe. Say it ain't so.' And look, Joe's made a judgment. Joe's going to have to make a tougher judgment when this election is over."

Biden, on McCain and Palin talking about change: "Tell me one single thing they're going to do on the economy, foreign policy, taxes, that is going to be change. Name me one. This is such malarkey. Ninety percent of the time, John votes with the president. ... Tell me where the change is. My goodness. He may change on how he deals with a lobbyist, but the idea on the economy, healthcare, education, same outfit, same deal, no change" (NBC, 9/7).

A LEVEL OF COMFORT

Even with three of the four candidates making Sunday appearances, there was still a lot of talk about Palin.

Obama strategist David Axelrod was on "Fox News Sunday," and he was asked if the camp is going to counter Palin.

Axelrod: "Well, look, this ultimately isn't a race between us and Sarah Palin. It's a race between Barack Obama and John McCain. They're the candidates for president."

Axelrod, asked if Obama really believes that he has more executive experience than Palin: "Well, look. We'll let the voters sort through the experience issue. ... You don't know as much as you should about her, and neither do we, because she was basically an unknown. John McCain, we're told, wanted to pick Joe Lieberman, wanted to pick Tom Ridge. The right wing of his party ran him off of that. And she came in late in the game and no one really knows. She hasn't sat down with you or any interviewer to answer any substantive questions. All she's done is read a couple of speeches. So there's a lot to be learned about this ethics investigation in Alaska, about why she told us she was for the -- against the 'bridge to nowhere' when she campaigned for it, why she said she was against lobbyists and earmarks when she hired a lobbyist to go and get earmarks. I mean, there are a lot of questions to be asked, and hopefully she'll sit down with you soon."

Fox's Wallace: "Well, from your lips to the McCain campaign's ears. But I asked you a simple question. Does Senator Obama really believe he has more executive experience than Governor Palin?"

Axelrod: "I think Senator Obama believes that he has the experience to be president of the United States, the broad experience that's necessary to lead this country forward and bring the change that we need, and we'll let the voters decide about that. We're not running against Governor Palin."

Wallace: "Yeah, but we keep hearing that you're going to put out Hillary Clinton and a lot of the female Democratic governors this week to try to counter Palin. What's their line of attack going to be?"

Axelrod: "Well, look. We are going to have both men and women out campaigning for us, because our party believes that we need change in this country."

Wallace: "McCain and Palin do have records of going up against their own parties. When has Barack Obama ever gone up against the Democratic Party in the U.S. Senate?"

Axelrod: "Senator McCain on the biggest decision that he'll ever make in public life, which is the choice of a vice presidential nominee, decided not to go up against his own party, was told he couldn't pick the person he apparently thought was the best choice, and he went with Governor Palin instead. So I think that's important to note. ... One of the first things that Senator Obama did when he came to the U.S. Senate was push for the most far-reaching ethics reforms that we've seen since Watergate. That didn't please people on either side of the aisle, and he has done that consistently in his career. He's reached across party lines to find consensus, and he's taken on his own party on issues like ethics reform" (9/7).

McCain mgr. Rick Davis appeared separately on "Fox News Sunday," and he asked when Palin is going to agree to an interview.

Davis: "She'll agree to an interview when we think it's time and when she feels comfortable doing it. ... It's not like there's no information out there about Sarah Palin, the governor, the mother, the agent for change. There's plenty out there."

Wallace: "Why is she scared to answer questions?"

Davis: "I don't think our campaign is the campaign that has not given immense amount of access to the press. That's the Obama campaign. ... She's not scared to answer questions. But you know what? We run our campaign, not the news media. And we'll do things on our timetable. And honestly, this last week was not an exemplary moment for the news media. ... And so why would we want to throw Sarah Palin into a cycle of piranhas called the news media that have nothing better to ask questions about than her personal life and her children?"

Wallace: "There are legitimate questions about is she or is she not ready to be commander in chief. If last week didn't work, why not this week?"

Davis: "Sarah Palin will have the opportunity to speak to the American people. She just gave a speech to 40 million Americans in her convention."

Wallace: "But that was reading a script. She's not answering questions."

Davis: "She's in the process of, you know, getting to know people out on the campaign trail, and she will do interviews, but she'll do them on the terms and conditions of which the campaign decides that it's ready to do it. And, Chris, all due respect, I mean, you know, the information that the news media has been putting out on Sarah Palin is not what I would call objective journalism. So until at which point in time we feel like the news media is going to treat her with some level of respect and deference, I think it would be foolhardy to put her out into that kind of environment. ... She will be available to the news media when and if we decide that that is going to be the case" (9/7).

Obama comm. dir. Robert Gibbs: "Sarah Palin doesn't think climate change is man made. Both John McCain and Sarah Palin want to outlaw abortion, even in the case of rape and incest. I'll let you decide who you think is extreme, but you've got a candidate in Sarah Palin who says she's against the bridge for nowhere, but she campaigned on it. She says she's against lobbyists getting pork for her state when she hired a lobbyist to get pork for her state. And now she stands in the way of an ethics investigation to look into her actions that was approved by the Republican legislature. ... She's going to fit in just great at Washington because that's what happening right now" ("Late Edition," CNN, 9/7).

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), on the argument that Palin has more executive experience than the entire Dem ticket combined: "What they're basically saying, then, is that John McCain has no experience either. That's ridiculous. The question is, what have you dedicated your life to? The national issues, large state issues, or a small town mayor, which is great. Look, I started out as a county supervisor. That was great. But I wasn't yet ready to be a vice president. So the issue, really, goes beyond this. That's just foolish on its face. The issue is, who is Sarah Palin? Why isn't she on television telling people what she believes in without a script in front of her? ... And when you look at her record, it's extremist. It's more of the same. Someone who's under investigation who says she wants to shake up Washington. ... I take her at her word that she's a pit bull with lipstick, but we don't need more fights. ... We have gridlock in Washington. We need people who can reach across party aisles" ("Late Edition," CNN, 9/7).

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), asked if the argument that Palin has more executive experience than the entire Dem ticket combined also undermines McCain: "No. ... Senator McCain has been a powerhouse in the United States Senate. He knows foreign policy. He's very well traveled in the world, and he also has a military background that gives him a huge advantage in understanding what it takes to make the military effective. He is the nominee for president and he does have the experience with federal issues. But I think that we're getting off track, here, when we don't just acknowledge that there are executives with state experience who do a great job. And we have elected governors to president. In the last 25 years, most of them have been governors. That's executive" ("Late Edition," CNN, 9/7).

FLATTERY GETS YOU NOWHERE

During his apperance on "Fox News Sunday," Davis was also asked about saying the election is not about issues, but about a composite view of what people take away from these candidates.

Davis: "What you didn't show on the screen was the next sentence, which is the composite view is made up of people's values. It's made up of their opinions. It's made up of their judgment and their principles. ... The next sentence says, 'And of course, issues will play an important role in people's final decision.' So I respect the fact that the Obama campaign has some kind of a -- you know, obsession about Rick Davis. I've been the focus of their advertising, and now their candidate seems to be, you know, wanting to attack me more than anybody else. That's fine. The water is warm. I'm happy to go toe to toe. But to insinuate yesterday on the stump that somehow those comments implied that I was going to, you know, indicate that he was going to have these Muslim connections or that he had these radical relationships is absolutely out of control. I mean, what is this guy trying to do?"

Davis, on Obama: "He said this is what they're saying by saying that it's about personalities. I didn't even say personalities. He's not correct in the way he's quoting me. And he tries to use that to try and scare you. He says, 'They're going to tell you that we're going to scare people. They're going to tell you that, you know -- that I've got Muslim connections.' Well, this is the same construct he's done before. He's trying to play victim, and I just don't think it's very flattering on his part."

Wallace: "You're willing to concede that [McCain's] starting out point is very similar to George W. Bush's on all of these bread-and-butter issues, but that the difference will be the approach in how he deals with Congress?"

Davis: "Oh, I think there are lots of differences in some of these bread-and-butter issues. I think our approach on taxes and trade, even though as a Republican are very similar to George Bush -- we have different proposals today. ... Most importantly, we have different proposals than Barack Obama."

Davis, on what the convos exemplified: "Our convention focused on putting your country first. John McCain has always put his country first throughout his career -- and willing to sacrifice his own political interests for the country at large. The Obama convention -- it was all 'me first.' I mean, Barack Obama has put himself ahead of the Democratic Party, ahead of the country's interests and ahead of his party's interests" (9/7).

BOILING POINTS

Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) appeared together on "Late Edition," where the issue of McCain's temper came up:

Hutchison, on McCain: "Barbara, you know how well he works across the aisle with the people in the Democratic Party to effect real change and ... he can really make a difference."

Boxer: "Well, I can speak to that. I've seen John work with others. I've seen him get very angry and hostile towards others. So I think his temperament doesn't quite match what you're saying."

Hutchison: "You, sort of, whiffed over the fact that he has reached across the aisle. Barbara, who doesn't have a temper in the United States Senate? It's just ridiculous to say he doesn't have the temperament. I mean, everybody gets upset at some point."

Boxer, asked why she raised the temperament issue: "I raised it because John McCain said he has the temperament to be president. Just listen to what some of his Republican friends have said about him. ... I don't agree with Kay Bailey that everybody loses their temper like that. And I think we've all seen it happen. It's not rational when it happens. And because John McCain raised the issue -- he actually raised it and said he has the temperament, you know, I think it should be on the table" (CNN, 9/7).

ROUNDTABLE ROUNDUP

And what does the future hold for Lieberman?

Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ), on Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) saying he'd like to see Lieberman vote with GOPers in Sept.: "Well, it would be a great idea, and as a matter of fact, it would enable us to at least do one thing which is to get some offshore drilling, which is one thing we've been pushing very hard and we don't get if the Democrats are in control, so it would be great if Joe would join us. I know there are complicated factors as to why he might or might not, but I would agree with Senator Specter, it would be a great thing if he could."

Kyl, asked if he has spoken to Lieberman about it?: "I have not, no."

CNN's Blitzer: "But I suspect you might."

Kyl: "Well, I might" ("Late Edition," CNN, 9/7).

ROUNDTABLE ROUNDUP

The "This Week" roundtable discussed the convos, WH '08 and Palin.

New York Times' Brooks, on Palin: "I think he chose her because he thought she was a maverick. What it allowed McCain to do is
cease a bit of the change mantle. Now we have a debate of two bits of change. There's two definitions of it. There is policy change, which Barack Obama just gave us in the first half of this show, and tehn there's systematic change, the whole system is screwed up. ... Barack Obama owns policy change. ... McCain grabbed a little systematic change."

George Will: "It also indicates that he is making a wager, that she can do something no vice president nominee has ever done, which is move not just a state, but an entire demographic nationally. Call it working women, call it Reagan Democrats, whatever. There's no precedent for that. The future is always pretty much like the past right up until it isn't. Their wager is that it isn't this year" (ABC, 9/7).

The "Fox News Sunday" roundtable discussed the convos, WH '08 and Palin.

NPR's Liasson, asked how the Obama camp should handle Palin: "I don't think they've quite figured that out yet. ... They've tried out some different tacks. The first focus was all about her tenure as mayor. She's the governor of a state. I mean, they seem to kind of forget about that. And also, you know, deciding who's going to go after her -- is it going to be Biden? Is it going to be Hillary? Is it going to be Obama himself, which I think would be a mistake. I mean, why would the presidential candidate argue against the vice presidential candidate?"

Fox's Hume, on the Obama camp: "They ought to stop talking about Sarah Palin. I don't think talking about Sarah Palin helps them at all. ... If you raise the experience issue against her, it underlines the issue about Obama himself. It's foolish to do that" (9/7).

The "Late Edition" roundtable discussed the convos, WH '08 and Palin.

CNN's Bash, on the Bush admin. being rarely mentioned at the convo: "They ran an entire video about 9/11 commemorating 9/11 and you didn't see one picture of George Bush. I mean, that's almost unthinkable at a Republican Convention."

CNN's Henry, on the McCain speech attracting more viewers than the Obama speech: "There's only one conclusion. John McCain is now the biggest celebrity in the world. I'm just kidding. That ad about Obama and the big crowds, it's a double edged sword for McCain because as that is pointing out, as Sarah Palin lifts up John McCain's crowds, they might regret that celebrity ad now a little bit because the fact of the matter is now all of the sudden there is some energy on the Republican side. It doesn't mean that alone is going to win it, but there is some energy" (9/7).