Transcript for March 26

MR. COOK: See, I would argue that minority parties don’t have to be responsible. That’s the one good thing going for them, and when they try to be responsible, they’re just going to dig themselves into a hole. I mean, you’re on—your job is to throw rocks. Once you start offering alternatives, then suddenly you’re playing defense as well. I think Democrats would be crazy, from a political standpoint, to offer up proposals.

MR. RUSSERT: That movie, “Cool Hand Luke,” sometimes nothing’s a real cool hand.

MR. COOK: Exactly.

MR. RUSSERT: Elisabeth, Afghanistan. A very thorny issue for this president who is very open about his Christianity, and now we have the situation where it appears this gentleman who converted to Christianity in Afghanistan has been spared the death penalty, but it’s going to be an ongoing issue as Secretary Rice seemed to indicate, as that democracy in Afghanistan goes through some serious growing pains dealing with religious rights, women’s rights, civil rights, human rights.

MS. BUMILLER: Right. Well, this is what happens when you call for democracy in, in problematic parts of the world. We saw this in the elections in the Palestinian territories. Obviously, what do you do when you call for a democracy and the wrong party wins, in your view? This is also what’s going on in Afghanistan. The president was very—you know, you saw him this week saying this was deeply troubling. I was—it would be interesting to know what was going on behind the scenes and what kind of pressure was put on Afghanistan, our good ally. Obviously, it looks like they got out of this one for now.

MR. RUSSERT: John Harwood, Secretary Rice openly talking about American troop withdrawals. How much are politicians expecting to have significant troop withdrawals before the midterm elections?

MR. HARWOOD: I think Republicans are definitely expecting it, and that could change the political environment. That’s one of the biggest drivers of this wrong-track sentiment that we’ve been talking about this morning. But as David discussed, Democrats don’t exactly have a clear voice. They’re going to try to finesse it this week and have an event drawing together all factions of the party behind—criticizing Bush and calling for some sort of transition without specifying exactly how it’s going to take place. Trying to, to have an umbrella under which those who want to withdraw troops quickly and those who want to go more slowly can all rally behind.

MR. RUSSERT: Isn’t that the Republicans’ hope, David, that by October enough troops have come home the president can then give a speech which says, “You see, we’re making progress. Stay the course, don’t take a chance by going along with these other guys and doing something dangerous”?

MR. BRODER: If that happens, the Republicans would benefit and the country would benefit. And let’s just hope that it’s possible.

MR. RUSSERT: Charlie Cook, politically, will that be enough to deal with people’s anxieties, concerns about Iraq?

MR. COOK: That would help a lot. I mean, your NBC/Wall Street Journal poll showed that Iraq was just a wet blanket over the administration. It was weighing everything down. And these Republican members, one of us—one of them told us he comes in for the Tuesday House Republican Conference lunch, and he can tell who’s just gotten a poll back, that they have this shell-shocked look on their face. Somebody else said “ashen.” One other member says suddenly they start going into fund-raising frenzies because they’re getting polls back in their individual districts that are starting to reflect those national numbers that look so horrible for them.

MR. HARWOOD: It’s March Madness for Congressional Republicans, too, Tim, I’ll tell you that.

MR. RUSSERT: Speaking of March Madness, you’re a Duke man. Who do you like now?

MR. HARWOOD: Boy, I’m rooting for George Mason. That’s the, that’s the underdog pick right now.

MR. RUSSERT: The Patriots. Charlie:

MR. COOK: LSU. I’m from...

MR. RUSSERT: Shreveport.

MR. COOK: ...Shreveport, Louisiana. Georgetown’s out, so I’m for LSU.

MR. RUSSERT: David Broder.

MR. BRODER: Villanova.

MR. RUSSERT: Villanova.

I’ve got my BC hat. I was ready to wear this for the Final Four, but—huh?

I—you know what, you got to go for “Big Baby” Davis.

Elisabeth, you’re the basketball fan.

MS. BUMILLER: Oh, yeah, I got—whatever you say, Tim.

MR. RUSSERT: “Who’s playing?”

MS. BUMILLER: Yeah, I’m better than that.

MR. RUSSERT: All right, you sure are. Elisabeth Bumiller, John Harwood, David Broder, Charlie Cook. We’ll be right back.

(Announcements)

MR. RUSSERT: Don’t forget you can now watch the entire hour of MEET THE PRESS whenever, wherever you want. Our MEET THE PRESS webcast posted each Sunday at 1 p.m. Eastern on our Web site: mtp.msnbc.com.

That’s all for today. We’ll be back next week. If it’s Sunday, it’s MEET THE PRESS.

Print this Email this Blog this  IM this

MORE FROM MEET THE PRESS

Meet the Press Section Front

May 11: Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), Terry McAuliffe, political roundtable May 4: Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) April 27: Howard Dean, political roundtable April 20: David Axelrod, Geoff Garin, political roundtable April 13: James Carville, Bob Shrum, Mary Matalin, Mike Murphy April 6: Sen. Bob Casey, Gov. Ed Rendell, Tom Brokaw, Michael Eric Dyson, Amb. Andrew Young March 30: Gen. Michael Hayden, political roundtable   Slideshow: A look back at 60 years of 'Meet the Press' 60th anniversary party photos Find ‘Meet the Press’ in your area Meet the Press Section Front   Add Meet the Press headlines to your news reader: