Hotline After Dark -- Profile Is Courage?
"World News" led with changes in breast cancer screenings. "Evening News" led with and "Nightly News" led with changes in breast cancer screenings and featured interviews with Pres. Obama and HHS Sec. Kathleen Sebelius.
Ex-AK Gov. Sarah Palin (R) continued her book tour last p.m. on "Hannity."
Palin, on whether Ft. Hood was "an act of terrorism": "I certainly do, and I think that there were massive warning flags that were missed all over the place. And I think it was quite unfortunate that, to me, it was a fear of being politically incorrect, to not -- I'm going to use the word -- profile this guy, profile in the sense of finding out what his radical beliefs were. Simple things like looking at the business card that had the secret code word for who it was."
More Palin: "Now because I used the word 'profile,' I'm going to get clobbered tomorrow morning. The liberals, their heads are just going to be spinning. They're going to say, 'She is radical. She is extreme.' But I think profiling in the context of doing whatever we can to save innocent American lives, I'm all for it then."
Palin, on her future: "You're going to hear a lot from me. So you know, the haters are going to have a whole lot of material. Tina Fey, she may have a whole lot of material coming up" (FNC, 11/18).
After the jump, a reaction to Palin, the latest in health care and FNC interviews Obama.
(RACHELLE DOUILLARD-PROULX & ABBY LIVINGSTON)
Dem strategist James Carville, on Palin saying Hasan should have been "profiled": "My head hasn't exploded, but I think a lot of people in the military's heads exploded. They actually are trying to recruit Muslim soldiers or sailors or Marines or airmen. And there are over 3,000 Muslims in the Army. ... And if you're a Muslim, or whatever you are, you're a Marine first. I think that the military community ... heads are going to be spinning a lot more than any liberals right now" ("AC 360," CNN, 11/17).
OH, C-SNAP!
Pols discussed health care reform 11/18 p.m.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), on lack of GOP involvement: "No Republican has seen the bill. This is what candidate Obama said in November 2007, 'We're going to have a big table and everybody's going to be invited -- labor, employers, doctors, nurses, hospital administrators, patient advocates, the drug and insurance companies. They'll get a seat at the table, and we're going to work on this process publicly. It will be on C-Span.'"
More Graham: "Well, I haven't watched C-Span lately, but these negotiations were done by Democrats, among Democrats without any Republican input. The ink on the bill is not dry yet, and we're going to vote on this thing Friday. Now, this is what's wrong with the government" ("On The Record," FNC, 11/18).
Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), on whether the Dems have cloture: "To put it in baseball terms, we rounded third and we're heading to home. And I've got to tell you: no member of our caucus is going to want to be the one person that stops this from getting to home plate. We've all had our input. We've all had our debates. But I believe, now, the team is together. And our team is going to hold together and we'll have those 60 votes to move ahead."
More Harkin: "We don't have to go to reconciliation. We are going to have 60 votes. ... Including Joe Lieberman. We're going to have the 60 votes." ("Rachel Maddow Show," MSNBC, 11/18).
ARMISTICE DAY
FNC's Garrett and Obama exchanged pleasantries during Garrett's interview, which aired on "Special Report," 11/18 p.m.
Garrett: "Mr. President, the Fox News Channel is very happy to see you."
Obama: "Good to see you."
Garrett: "And on behalf of the news channel, let me wish you, Michelle, Sasha and Malia, a very happy and joyous 2009 holiday season."
Obama: "That's so nice. I appreciate it. To the Fox family, let me say the same" (FNC, 11/18)
UPDATE, 12:25 PM
Last p.m. Palin slipped up, twice, mixing up "Iran" and "Iraq" when discussing foreign policy on "Hannity."
FNC's Hannity asked, "How do we prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons?"
Palin answered: "We have allies who are as concerned about Ahmadinejad's actions as we are. We need to be working closer with France and with Britain and start, not just considering but seriously taking steps towards the sanctions that we hear all about but we never see any actions towards. Cutting off the imports into Iraq of their refined petroleum products. They're reliant -- 45 percent of their energy supply is reliant on those imports. We have some control over there. And some of the beneficial international monetary deals that Iraq benefits from, we can start implementing some sanctions there and start really shaking things up and telling Ahmadinejad nobody is going to stand for this."
However, Palin later used the word "Iranian" in a follow up answer when asked how she'd handle Iran: "There again, in working with our allies, there are other countries that need to start putting pressure on them, like Russia and make sure that Russia is recognizing, too, that we're not going to put up this with those threats of this Iranian regime that is so threatening and so controlling" (FNC, 11/18).
(ABBY LIVINGSTON)
