“President Musharraf still has extremely important steps to take beyond the ones that he talked about–he needs to make sure these elections go forward, he needs to lift the state of emergency–but we’re standing with democratic principle in Pakistan when we say there have to be free and fair elections; we’re standing with principles of moderation when we try to bring moderate forces together; we’re standing with principles of fighting extremism when we help allies create forces that can beat back these very violent people who have tried to kill president Musharraf, who took the Red Mosque and killed many Pakistanis.”
In domestic news, the presidential election marches on. Barack Obama was interviewed for the entire hour by Tim Russert on pretty much every topic imaginable. It’s worth taking the time to check out the transcript and take a look at the only candidate with a realistic shot at derailing the Clinton campaign from the Democratic side. (Also see Kristol on Obama’s performance here). Mike Huckabee showed up on Face the Nation to talk about his resurgent candidacy and the all-important martial arts movie star endorsement.
“Well, we like to think that maybe the Chuck Norris endorsement–people are now afraid not to vote for me. But whatever the reason, I can tell you this, Bob, it’s on fire. And in Iowa earlier this week, we would have two and three times–sometimes four times the size of crowds we were anticipating or prepared for. In New Hampshire it’s been the same thing. And these are not just people who kind of come casually. These are folks who are ready to sign up, and who are ready to walk through eight feet of snow to get to the polls. We’ve had to upgrade our Web server three times in one week. We’ve had to hire people to answer the phones and come in and open the mail. So something’s working. I don’t know all to explain it myself. I think it’s a combination of a lot of people praying and a lot of people working, but it’s really happening, and it’s pretty exciting for us.”
Also notable, John McCain discussed his shock at the news that a key leader of the Christian right was endorsing Rudy Giuliani during his interview with Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday.
“As I said about Pat Robertson’s endorsement of Mayor Giuliani, I’m not often rendered speechless, but I was at this event. … I’m still, I’m still surprised by it, and I’ll probably be surprised by it for as long as I live. [Why?] Look, for obvious reasons; Pat Robertson has usually advocated support for people that have a strong pro-life position, among other [issues]. I wasn’t the only person who was surprised in America.”
