Hotline After Dark -- I Do Give a Damn, Next Stop is Afghanistan

"World News" and "Evening News" led with floods in the South. "Nightly News" led with Pres. Obama's global warming policy.

Pols talked Afghanistan on TV 9/22 p.m.

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), on ex-Sec/State Condoleezza Rice's statements: "I mean there is no doubt that al Qaeda would reestablish a base. Taliban, who by the way is not popular, would return and parts of Afghanistan would be under Taliban control. At least parts. I think it's very obvious. If you don't believe that you are ignoring lessons of history" ("Hannity," FNC, 9/22).

Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA), on whether he'd support Obama if he decided to send more troops to Afghanistan: "If it is ... with clear conditions of an exit strategy that is focused not on nation-building, but is focused only on about 30 percent of the 20,000 Taliban that have been al Qaeda-ized and making them irrelevant. That is a requirement for the increase in troops. If he does that, I will do it, because we rely upon the Afghanistan military to build itself up after we let this spiral so far down there" ("Ed Show," MSNBC, 9/22).

Ex-Sen. George Allen (R-VA): "It's not going to be a Jeffersonian democracy but a stable country that is not a haven for terrorists who want to kill as many Americans as possible, as well as destabilize Pakistan. And if you destabilize Pakistan it also could have an impact on India. So this is much bigger than the tactics of whether or not the government takes over health insurance" ("Hannity," FNC, 9/22).

After the jump, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu denies namecalling and health care talk.

(ABBY LIVINGSTON)

NETANYAHU, PRIME MINISTER OF DENIAL

Netanyahu went into the "Situation Room" 9/22 p.m.

Netanyahu, on whether he called members of Obama admin. "self-hating Jews": "No. No. ... I never called them any such thing. And I don't think that. I have known Rahm Emanuel for some time. I just met David Axelrod today, in fact. And I think they're American patriots. They think of what is important for the United States. And they certainly bear no enmity to Israel.

More Netanyahu: "They probably want the best for Israel, too. ... We can have, as we say, occasional differences of opinion. But I never called them those things, and I don't think that, and I'm sorry that anyone has given credence to this kind of nonsense."

Netanyahu reached out to Emanuel and Axelrod on the issue: "We immediately denied it. And, yes, we did reach out to them, of course. ... I didn't personally call them, but I had my aides communicate this to the White House as quickly as we could" (CNN, 9/22).

CAUCUS WITH BAUCUS? EH.

Health care re-emerged as a subject on TV 9/22 p.m.

Newsweek's Fineman, on whether the health care debate is calming down after recess: "No. It means the Republicans are trying to move in for the kill" ("Countdown," MSNBC, 9/22).

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), on how much "division" there is on the Senate Finance Cmte about the public option: "I'm not going to jinx it. I have a feeling that the public option is picking up some support., but I'm not going to jinx it by making anything declarative, even on [the show]. Or especially on [the show]" ("Ed Show," MSNBC, 9/22).

Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN), on the Baucus bill: "I'm not familiar with all the details of Max's original proposal. I'm kind of watching it as it evolves. But one of the virtues was the Congressional Budget Office did say it began to get the deficit down. That's a good thing" ("Your World," FNC, 9/22).

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR): "I think the odds got a lot better today. When you have a prestigious medical organization like Mayo Clinic saying that they could accept a public option if it was like what members of Congress get ... that's a real breakthrough. The Mayo Clinic is saying, categorically, they want to get a good deal for their patients" ("Ed Show," MSNBC, 9/22).

CNN's Borger: "At a certain point, the president is going to have to start taking on these constituencies in his own party. The problem I'm told, is that in his own heart, the president himself wants a larger health reform package" ("Situation Room," CNN, 9/22).

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC): "You have got three proposals, the House bill that was jammed through the House without any Republican support. That's about a trillion dollars of spending, $289 billion to the deficit. Then you have the Baucus bill that literally changes every day. We're making this up as we go dealing with one-sixth of the economy, probably not a good way to do business" ("Your World," FNC, 9/22).