This Week scored the big interviews of the week–the first Sunday interview with John McCain since he announced his bid for the presidency, and the first Sunday interview with Steny Hoyer since his selection as the new House majority leader. McCain led off the show, and faced a series of questions that reaffirmed his status as a social conservative, saying that he does “not believe gay marriage should be legal. But I do believe that people ought to be able to enter into contracts, exchange powers of attorney, other ways that people have relationships can enter into.” He was asked about abortion as well, saying “I do believe it’s very likely or possible that the Supreme Court should overturn Roe v. Wade, which would then return these decisions to the state. . . . I’m a federalist.”
On Iraq, McCain reiterated the points he has been making for years now. “If you’re gonna do what’s necessary to succeed, i.e., the Powell doctrine, then go ahead and do it, but if you’re not going to, then don’t. . . . You can’t have a political solution if you don’t have a military solution. There’s never been one in history.” He also used the opportunity to remind the public of what will happen in Iraq if the military doesn’t succeed. “The consequences of failure are so severe, that I will exhaust every possibility to try and fix this situation, because it’s not the end when American troops leave. The battleground shifts, and we’ll be fighting them again. It’s not just Iraq they’re interested in, it’s the region, and then us.”
Hoyer used his time with George Stephanopoulos to dispel any notion of a rift in the Democratic caucus (despite Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi’s endorsement of Jack Murtha for majority leader) and made sure to praise Pelosi to demonstrate he had no ill feelings. He then rejected the idea that Democrats would cut off funding for the troops: “we met with the president, Nancy and I . . . [we] both made it very clear that we needed to leave the stay the course policy and get a policy for transition. We’re not going to defund the troops in the field, period. We’re going to support the troops in the field.”
George Will kicked off the roundtable with praise for McCain: “What you just saw on this program was leadership. You may not agree with Senator McCain, but he’s taking a position he knows to be deeply unpopular in the country, that is that we need more troops in there. . . . Senator McCain may be the only person still talking about victory.” Fareed Zakaria lamented the fact that the political instability in Iraq may mean victory is impossible, decrying “an Iraqi government that cannot, will not make any of the decisions that will supplement this military position.”
The panel then took on the economic populists headed to Washington, with Will saying “what’s called fair trade, that’s just for protectionists who don’t have the courage of their foolish convictions. It seems to me very clear that they have two ideas: one is the minimum wage, raise the minimum wage. Most poor people are making more than the minimum wage, and most people making the minimum wage are not poor people, they’re students and other part time workers. With regard to free trade, if we know anything at all . . . we know that protectionism makes the world poorer.”
Meet the Press featured one such economic populist in Jim Webb, who asked Tim Russert “What is fair trade in the, in the age of globalization?” He followed this up by calling for “fair trade” instead of free trade, and compared the growing economic power of China to the economic threat of “Japan 20 years ago, but much more dangerous in terms of its size.” Also being interviewed by Russert was incoming freshman Jon Tester, who said that, in regard to Iraq, “We need to work with our allies within–in the region. We also need to talk to our enemies and put diplomatic pressure on them. But we also need to visit with our allies around the world to, to develop a plan to, to make, to make this war come to some sort of conclusion and get our troops home.” Russert didn’t follow up by asking if “some sort of conclusion” included running home with our tail tucked between our legs.
Russert also interviewed two journalists on the topic of Iran. Ted Koppel, whose documentary on Iran premiered Sunday night, seemed ambivalent about the Iranian regime. “Look, all of us have been to totalitarian countries, and, in its own way, Iran is a totalitarian country. But there is a different feel. In some countries, you sort of feel as though all the air has been sucked out of the atmosphere as soon as you walk in. That’s not the way it is with Iranians. Iranians are eager to talk, they will criticize their president, some of them just as savagely and with the same kind of sarcasm that people at–in Georgetown salons in this town criticize President Bush.” Just in case you’re booking a flight to Tehran after reading that (I’m looking your way, Alec Baldwin), Koppel reminded Russert that it’s not all fun and games: “Having said that, if you cross some of these invisible red lines that they have, you can be jailed for the most innocuous things. And you can be brutalized for the most innocuous things. It’s not an easy place to live.”
Robin Wright played the role of Iranian apologist, saying “They are, they are very savvy about us, just as savvy about us as we are ignorant about them.” Koppel then showed a clip from his documentary that dealt with Iranian anti-Americanism: “[In] the indoctrination of the very youngest. The newest generation of Iranians on their first day of school: “Death to America! Death to America!” That’s some savvy.
Face the Nation featured Charles Rangel, who reiterated Democratic claims that tax increases are not on the table, partly because of the increasingly reddish tint to the Democratic House caucus. “But having said that, tax increases are certainly not on the agenda. The Republicans knew it, it’s campaign rhetoric. . . . We’re not only going to have to work with the Republicans, but we may have to work with a lot of new Democrats that were elected in so-called Republican districts.”
Rangel also brought up his own plan to reinstate the draft, noting that “a draft doesn’t necessarily mean that everyone drafted will have to serve in the military. I think at a time when national security is so important, having our young people commit themselves a couple of years in service to this great republic, whether it’s our seaports or airports, in schools, in hospitals.” Lindsay Graham was the next guest, and he brought up a point that is not often discussed in relation to the draft: “The voluntary service represents the country pretty well, in terms of ethnic makeup, economic background. I just think the all-volunteer service, if properly paid, properly benefited, can win this war. They’re re-enlisting in droves; they’re committed to what they’re doing.”
Fox News Sunday started off with an interview with John Kerry. Chris Wallace began the talk with a number of questions about Kerry’s infamous “botched joke,” trying to get the senator to admit he was asked to stop campaigning by the Democratic leadership, and that he was damaged goods headed into 2008. Needless to say, Kerry admitted neither. The interview was interesting mostly for its chippiness, something sorely lacking from the other Sunday morning chat shows.
Newt Gingrich laid out a game plan for conservatives interested in advancing an agenda in the new, Democratic Congress. “When you look at the number of democrats who won in places like North Carolina, Indiana, Arizona, campaigning as centrist, or blue dog, or conservative, depending on where they were, Democrats, there’s the potential then with the right policies and the right choices that you could consistently have floor control for the conservatives in a bipartisan coalition even though you have a very liberal democrat as speaker.” He also told Wallace that he is punting on the question of whether or nor he will run for president until September.
Sonny Bunch is an assistant editor at THE WEEKLY STANDARD.
