Hotline After Dark -- Debate And Conquer

"World News," "Evening News" and "Nightly News" each led with the health care summit.

Talk of the summit dominated TV last night.

WH sr. adviser David Axelrod made the CNN rounds 2/25 p.m.

Axelrod, on whether the summit was "just political theater," or "something substantive": "I think anytime Republicans and Democrats sit down in Washington and have a substantive discussion on a serious issue, that's progress rather than just shooting lines across on cable television, trying to score political points. There was a little of that in this meeting. But I also thought there were some substantive exchanges. And one thing that came across loud and clear is that we have a big problem in health care in this country and with health insurance, that it's getting worse and not better, and that we need to do something about it."

Axelrod, on whether the WH is "demanding" GOPers "only come forward with amendments to the comprehensive bill" but that there will be "no starting over": "Starting over, in my mind, is a code for delay and obstruction. We've had a lengthy debate. And one thing should be clear today, as both Republicans and Democrats have given this an awful lot of thought. All the ideas are out there. There's not going to be an epiphany some time in the next month or two or three. And what we don't want to do is get into a stalling game with a mind towards stopping any action because someone believes that they can score political points by keeping us from moving forward on a serious problem."

More Axelrod: "But to the extent people want to cooperate and share ideas, we've embraced many, including the idea of a pool for small businesses and people who don't have insurance to buy insurance at a competitive price, where they have choice and competition. That's something we both agree on, we want to move forward on. Let's focus on the fact that there's many, many areas of agreement and let's get something done" ("Situation Room," CNN, 2/25).

After the jump, more from Axelrod and others on the summit.

Axelrod, on whether there was a "concrete breakthrough" at the summit: "First of all, just people sitting down and talking in the same room in a serious way about this issue was a breakthrough, rather than shooting salvos across, frankly, cable TV."

Axelrod, on whether the admin. believes they will get people to "cross over" and pass reform in the time frame they're aiming for: "The president's proposal itself very much mirrors one that was offered by Senator Bob Dole, hardly a raving Democrat. I believe that there is reason believe that we can get support for it. And [Obama]'s willing to move on some issues."

Axelrod, on whether Dems using reconciliation would be bad for them politically: "I think the American people believe in the principle, as was articulated by many Republicans on many issues along the way, in majority rule. All they want is an up-or-down vote. And they want to move on. Let's have a vote. Let's finish this debate. Let's have an up- or-down vote. Let's not use procedural blocks to keep us from having an up-or-down vote. I think the American people say, you know what, let the vote be held. Let the majority rule and let's move on" ("Campbell Brown," CNN, 2/25).

TO SUMMIT ALL UP...

House Maj. Whip James Clyburn went on "Hardball" 2/25 p.m. to discuss the summit.

Clyburn, on the summit: "I was particularly struck by the substance that came from people like Sen. [Tom] Coburn [R-OK]. I think he just was right on with his understanding of what we are confronted with and with the reasonable proposals he laid on the table. ... Sen. [Mike] Enzi [R-WY] ... I thought he was just absolutely good with his comments and proposals. I really believe
that there was a good spirit in that room."

Clyburn, on whether a bill is "doable": "Yes, it is doable. And I think it's very important for us to understand that the will is in the House to get this done. Now, this whole question that's floating around as to who goes first -- that's not important. What's important is to make sure that the final product does not have those special deals in there that the House finds so offensive" (MSNBC, 2/25).

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) went on "Campbell Brown" 2/25 p.m.

Ryan, on the summit: "I thought it was worthwhile. And what we accomplished is, you have to understand, we have been frozen out of this process all session long. So, this is really the first time we got a chance to air our concerns and offer our alternatives. ... So, we got to say, here's what we have wrong with this bill. Here is what we would do differently. And we also got agreement on basically the problem, but we crystallized the differences in how we would solve that problem essentially is what we got out of that today, I thought."

Ryan, on RNC chair Michael Steele's statement calling the summit a "PR event" for Obama: "I don't look at like that. Look, we got a chance to get together to talk about one of the bigger issues of the day. We have huge problems with this particular bill. I think they are fully intending on jamming this thing through. I think that's what we got out of this. But at least the American people and the president of the United States and the Democratic leaders have heard our ideas and our alternatives and our concerns about this thing, because you have got to understand, we have been frozen out of this process all session long."

More Ryan: "My expectations were not that high" (CNN, 2/25).

Rep. Michele Bachmann: "I think the take away today is that we accomplished more at the White House beer summit than we accomplished today at the White House health care summit" ("O'Reilly Factor," FNC, 2/25).

ALL'S FAIR IN LOVE AND POLITICS

Additionally, pundits offered their take on the summit.

FNC's O'Reilly: "Let's be fair. The American people, if you could slog through this ... did see a civil discussion. They did see a lot of points put on the table by both sides. I thought it was fair and balanced. I thought the president did a good job moderating" ("O'Reilly Factor," 2/25).

NPR's Liasson: "I think it was a big risk for the president in that he ... had [Republicans] on the same stage as him. It was different than when he went to Baltimore and was talking from a podium. I think that the Republicans made their arguments very well" ("Special Report," FNC, 2/25).

Washington Post's Klein, on what Obama's goal was and whether he met it: "I think the president accomplished the goal two or three weeks ago. ... And it gave Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid time to start getting their people back in line. Figuring out what reconciliation will look like. Democrats are a lot further along now than they were then. And I think it's substantially due to the space they were given by the summit" ("Hardball," MSNBC, 2/25).