Sunday Snapshot Category Archives
The release of CIA torture memos and Pres. Obama's decision not to prosecute agents for harsh interrogation techniques dominated the Sunday shows. Ex-CIA Dir. Michael Hayden spoke about the issue during an appearance on "Fox News Sunday."
Fox's Wallace: "The White House says that four former CIA directors, including you, all advised against the release of these so-called torture memos. Specifically, what were you asked and what did you say?"
Hayden: "I wasn't asked. We weren't asked. We were informed as a courtesy by the agency that this was a pending decision, and all of us self-initiated, voluntarily, to call the White House and express our views. I should add, too, that the current director, Director [Leon] Panetta, shared our views."
More Hayden: "If you look at the documents that have been made public, it says top secret at the top. The definition of top secret is information which, if revealed, would cause grave harm to U.S. security."
After the jump, the Summit of Americas, Obama's first 90 days and the economy.
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Continue reading "Sunday Snapshot -- Making Political Hay-den?" »
Pres. Obama sr. advisor David Axelrod, currently traveling with the POTUS, appeared via satellite from Prague to discuss the North Korea missile launch, as well as how Obama's European trip has been going.
Axelrod, on Obama eventually wanting all nukes eliminated, and whether having the "major powers" disarm runs the risk of a "rogue state" that gets a nuke "suddenly" having the power: "We need to involve the entire world in this regimen, but it's hard to do that if you don't lead by example. We're not going to disarm and leave America vulnerable, but we want to set ourselves on a path so when the president met with President Medvedev last week in London, they agreed to begin talks to reinitiating the START treaty to reduce nuclear warheads."
More Axelrod: "He wants in the next four years to lock up the loose nuclear weapons that are scattered around Eastern Europe that could fall into the hands of terrorists. And of course, that is the big threat. That's why we have to step up the pace. This represents an existential threat, and we need to meet it" ("Fox News Sunday," Fox, 4/5).
CNN's J. King: "Is President Obama's goal a legacy of a world free of nuclear weapons?"
Axelrod: "There's no question about it. And he said that during the campaign. He believes that now. He is acting on that. Obviously, we live in a dangerous world and we can't unilaterally disarm but we can lead the movement to corral these nuclear weapons and begin that process of reduction. And that would be the goal to remove this scourge from the face of the earth and take away that threat that hangs over us now" ("State of the Union," CNN, 4/5).
After the jump, more with Axelrod, as well as an update on the state of the economy from Treasury Sec. Timothy Geithner.
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Continue reading "Sunday Snapshot -- The Over-Shadowing Of The Economy" »
Despite the economic crisis, CBS' Schieffer opened his interview with Pres. Obama with questions about his new strategy in Afghanistan.
Schieffer: "This is a hugely ambitious plan. 22,000 more troops. You're gonna increase spending by 60 percent. You said in your announcement we must defeat al-Qaeda. ... This has really now become your war, hasn't it?"
Obama: "I think it's America's war. And it's the same war that we initiated after 9/11. ... The focus over the last seven years I think has been lost. What we want to do is to refocus attention on al-Qaeda."
Obama, asked if he's given U.S. commanders in Afghanistan a green light to go after people in safe havens in Pakistan: "I haven't changed my approach. If we have a high-value target within our sights, after consulting with Pakistan, we're going after them. But our main thrust has to be to help Pakistan defeat these extremists. ... Our plan does not change the recognition of Pakistan as a sovereign government. ... But we have to hold them much more accountable. And we have to recognize that part of our task in working with Pakistan is not just military."
After the jump, more Afghanistan, the economy and a look at WH '12.
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Continue reading "Sunday Snapshot -- War: What It's Good For" »
The CBO predicted Pres. Obama's budget will produce $9.3T in debt over the next ten years, $2.3T worse than the WH budget anticipated. Admin. officials made the Sunday rounds to assure the public they are more optimistic.
WH Council of Economic Advisers chair Christina Romer: "There are actually some questions about the numbers, right? When you actually say, 'Why are the Congressional Budget Office numbers different from ours,' a big part of that is their estimates of long-run growth. When you get out five, 10 years, they're assuming that real GDP is only going to grow about 2.2 or 2.3 percent a year, and that's just lower than private forecasters. It's lower than the Federal Reserve. And we think it's just too pessimistic. So I think a big part of why they're getting such different numbers are just some of these technical issues."
More Romer: "On the bigger issue, though, I think in some sense, the president is addressing this. ... He absolutely said he's going to cut the deficit that we inherited in half, and that is a commitment that is as strong as it ever was. The other thing is taking on health care. One of the biggest things that he's taking on is something I would guess the Congressional Budget Office is our biggest fan, because they have said for the last many years that the thing that is going to bankrupt us, that's going to make that deficit get bigger and bigger, is the fact that health care costs are rising very, very quickly" ("Fox News Sunday," 3/22).
Romer, asked what the tough choices will be if CBO is right: "There is a question whether CBO is right" ("State of the Union," CNN, 3/22).
More after the jump, including the House bonus tax bill and the banking plan.
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Continue reading "Sunday Snapshot -- Don't Worry, Be Happy" »
The economy was the main focus of the Sunday shows, with guests discussing AIG, the budget and banks. During appearances on "Face the Nation" and "This Week," NEC Chair Lawrence Summers was asked about the news that AIG, which has received $170B taxpayer dollars, will start paying out $165M in employee bonuses.
Summers, asked why the gov't can't do much about the bonuses: "It is outrageous. The whole situation at AIG is outrageous. What taxpayers are being forced to do is outrageous. But as the president said in his State of the Union address, you can't govern out of anger. And if we simply throw up our hands, refuse to deal with any of this, well, we'll have the kind of financial catastrophe that we saw after what happened at Lehman Brothers."
More Summers: "Now, it's a very complicated situation, but the essence of it is this. Secretary Geithner has negotiated very forcefully with AIG. And he has done everything that is legally permissible for the government to do to limit the payment of bonuses. But where there are contracts, binding contracts that were entered into long before the government put any money into AIG -- we're not a country where contracts just get abrogated willy-nilly. And if we were to start doing that, there would be potentially very, very destabilizing consequences."
After the jump, more economy and VP Cheney's first TV interview since leaving office.
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Continue reading "Sunday Snapshot -- Law And Order?" »
Pols, military leaders and WH officials made the rounds to debate economic and foreign policies. In his first Sunday show appearance, OMB Dir. Peter Orszag was on "This Week."
Orszag, asked if the stimulus will actually be enough to get the kind of growth that Pres. Obama is calling for: "Our forecast is entirely in line with, for example, the Congressional Budget Office's, once you include the effects of the recovery act ... which is why it's a good thing we acted so quickly on the recovery act. Going out over time, we have to get these out-year deficits down, and that's what we're intended to do."
ABC's Stephanopoulos: "But looking at this year ... your whole deficit reduction strategy hinges on the economy growing at the rate you say it's going to grow. It is still realistic to think your numbers are going to be met?"
Orszag: "I think so. And, again, the deficit reduction doesn't just come from the economy recovering. And by 2013 or 2014, let's all hope that the economy is back on its feet. That's what we're trying to do through all the changes that we're making. But we have $2 trillion in deficit reduction contained in the budget. We've got both spending constraints and additional revenue, as the economy recovers. That's where a lot of the deficit reduction comes from."
More after the jump.
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Continue reading "Sunday Snapshot -- Handle With Care" »
The NGA meeting must be in town because the Sunday shows were packed with govs. debating the economy. LA Gov. Bobby Jindal (R), who will deliver his party's response to Pres. Obama's 2/24 address to Congress, appeared on "Meet the Press" to talk about why he is considering not accepting stimulus money.
Jindal, asked why he would turn the money down: "Well, let's be clear. The best thing that Washington could do to help Louisiana and all of our states with our budgets is to get this economy moving again. I think we just have a fundamental disagreement here. I don't think the best way to do that is for the government to tax and borrow more money. ... What would be more helpful from Washington is less unnecessary spending."
NBC's Gregory: "Why would you turn down $100 million for federal unemployment assistance for your state?"
Jindal: "Well, let's look at the programs we turned down. You're talking about temporary federal money that would require a permanent change in state law. ... The $100 million we turned down was temporary federal dollars that would require us to change our unemployment laws. That would've actually raised taxes on Louisiana businesses. We as a state would've been responsible for paying for those benefits after the federal money disappeared."
More after the jump, including the housing rescue plan, nationalizing the banks, future political plans and the state of the GOP.
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Continue reading "Sunday Snapshot -- Let's Agree To Disagree" »
The economic stimulus plan dominated the Sunday shows, with Nat'l Economic Council dir. Lawrence Summers stopping by "This Week" and "Fox News Sunday."
ABC's Stephanopoulos: "I know that, when the president was meeting with these moderate Republican senators this week, including Senator Susan Collins of Maine, he told them he endorsed their efforts to scrub the bill of what they called excessive spending. Does that mean the president prefers the Senate version to the House version?"
Summers: "No, the president feels that, above all, we need a major program enacted very quickly that will create 3 million to 4 million jobs. He believes we need to perfect it in every way we can. If there are programs that aren't going to serve important purposes, they should be eliminated. He certainly believes that. He's open to good ideas from both sides. But we're going to have to look at both these bills, assuming the Senate bill passes, as most people expect at this juncture, and craft the best possible approach going forward."
Summers, on whether the Senate bill will produce fewer jobs: "There's no question what we've got to do is go after support for education. And there are huge problems facing state and local governments, and that could lead to a vicious cycle of layoffs, falling home values, lower property taxes, more layoffs. And we've got to prevent that. So we're going to have to try to come together in the conference. And the president is certainly going to be active in sharing his views as that process ... goes on."
Stephanopoulos, on Pres. Obama: "Is he going to be saying, 'Wait a second. Move this more to the House side, because I don't want this education and state spending cut, or move it more to the Senate side'?"
Summers: "George, I don't think this is about the House bill or the Senate bill. It's about the best bill for America."
More with Summers, along with extended debate about the stimulus package, after the jump.
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Continue reading "Sunday Snapshot -- Stymieing The Stimulus" »
Plenty of games were played across the dial this Super Sunday. A majority of guests were asked about HHS Sec.-designate Tom Daschle's failure to pay his taxes on time, with many of them responding that they needed more information from the well-respected ex-Senate Maj. Leader.
Senate Min. Leader Mitch McConnell: "Let me first say that Tom Daschle is very popular in the Senate. He's been a great public servant for a long time. And all of us know him very well, obviously. ... The Senate Finance Committee is meeting tomorrow to go over this and to come up with recommendations for the rest of us. And I think I'm going to just wait until they give me their opinion. But it was a surprise."
McConnell, asked if it puts sens. like him in a hard place: "Well it does raise some questions about the vetting process. This is now the second time that we've had a similar incident; first with the nominee for secretary of the Treasury and now with Senator Daschle. I think the administration ought to take a look at its vetting process" ("Face the Nation," CBS, 2/1).
After the jump, Gregg as commerce sec., the stimulus bill's chances in the Senate, Wall Street bonuses and new RNC Chair Steele's goals.
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Continue reading "Sunday Snapshot -- A Healthy Dose Of Questions" »
The Sunday shows mainly concentrated on the stimulus package/TARP funds and Pres. Obama's executive order to close the Guantanamo Bay prison within a year.
During an appearance on "This Week," Speaker Nancy Pelosi discussed a bipartisan approach to the stimulus package.
ABC's Stephanopoulos: "The president has made it pretty clear he wants this to be a real bipartisan effort. Yet House Republicans have said they have been shut out of this process. There were no Republican votes in the appropriations Committee, no Republican votes in the Ways and Means Committee. Is this the bipartisan effort President Obama has called for?"
Pelosi: "Well, because the Republicans don't vote for it doesn't mean they didn't have an opportunity to. The Republicans asked for a couple things. One that related to process that you described, that there would be an open process where they could present their amendments. They didn't vote for the final bill but we voted for some of their amendments in the committees that had the markups the day before yesterday and this week. Secondly ... some ideas that were put on the table by the Republicans at that time were contained in the bills that we wrote. And now this morning they had some more suggestions which we will review and see if they create jobs, turn the economy around and to do so in a cost-effective way."
More after the jump, including the exception to Obama's lobbying rules, NY SEN and Biden on his new role.
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Continue reading "Sunday Snapshot -- I'm Only A Bill. And I'm Sitting Here On Capitol Hill." »
Incoming Obama staffers made the TV rounds to discuss Pres.-elect Obama's inauguration and the goals of the new admin. In its first broadcast, "State of the Union" hosted Obama sr. adviser David Axelrod.
Axelrod, on what this moment means to him: "You can't help but be here this weekend and not be moved by the magnitude of this. And mostly, I'm thrilled because I really believe in him. I think this country needs an extraordinary president right now, and I think he'll be one."
Axelrod, asked what Obama's very first act as POTUS will be: "I think it's telling that his first acts happened before he was president. He came to town two weeks early to begin working on an economic recovery package. ... And so he is going to continue to work on that. And, you know, he's going to follow through on some of his other commitments. He will be meeting with the Joint Chiefs of Staff to begin an orderly and responsible withdrawal from Iraq."
More after the jump, including an interview with Obama and Pelosi/Summers on the stimulus.
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Continue reading "Sunday Snapshot -- Great Speech? Or The Greatest Speech?" »
