Hotmail
'Meet the Press' transcript for March 29, 2009
Broadcast videos, highlights |
 Netcast The economic crisis and the President's plan to shore up the banking system: In his first live Sunday morning interview, we speak with the man charged with heading up the effort, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. Plus, an exclusive interview on the economy and foreign policy with President Obama's former rival for the White House, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). |
Exclusively on msnbc.com |
SEN. McCAIN: The same way as in Iraq. You have a governing place where al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations cannot base attacks on the United States and other--and our allies. You have a government that functions ineffectively, but--I mean, with some effect. You have an economy that's growing. You have normal trappings of emerging democracies as they move forward the difficult path towards a free and prosperous nation. And this is complicated by Pakistan.
MR. GREGORY: Mm-hmm.
SEN. McCAIN: On the issue of Pakistan, we have to have a policy that's oriented to Pakistan, not Afghanistan. Pakistan's a nuclear-armed country. It's a huge country. It's an important country no matter what. And we can--we need to work with Pakistan as much as possible, cooperate in those border areas in the problems and issues we all know about. But the fact that we may not get as much help from Pakistan as we want because of their internal dynamics does not mean, necessarily, we don't achieve success in Afghanistan. It does not mean that. It mean--we can still succeed in Afghanistan and still have some of the difficulties that have in Pakistan.
MR. GREGORY: It's been suggested that the Taliban, which is now reconstituting itself primarily in Pakistan...
SEN. McCAIN: Yes.
MR. GREGORY: ...to launch attacks into Afghanistan, that one of the ways to deal with them is to start negotiating with them...
SEN. McCAIN: Mm-hmm.
MR. GREGORY: ...with those elements who are not as hard-core as, as other elements. The vice president suggested this, the president alluded to this and Hamid Karzai is saying that that should be done.
SEN. McCAIN: Mm-hmm.
MR. GREGORY: Is that the smart thing to do?
SEN. McCAIN: Well, it's a smart thing to do as long as you--as these people believe that you're not leaving and that you are not abandoning your goals as articulated by the president. And by the way, we have problems with--in, in Iraq, and still do from Iran, from Syria. And we didn't invade those countries. We were, we were able to achieve a strategy of success with those problems remaining. And there's no direct analogies. There's always difference in circumstances. But I believe that we can succeed. And the issue of Pakistan is vital not only because of Afghanistan, but because Pakistan is a nuclear-armed nation we--with tensions with India, with all of the, the, the problems with democracy and corruption that they have there as well. I think that Karzai's comments about the president's policy can be helpful.
MR. GREGORY: I want to move on to a couple of other topics, including one that hits very close to home for you as an Arizona senator, and that's this drug violence on the border with Mexico. What is your assessment of the threat, and what should the United States be doing about it?
SEN. McCAIN: I think it's an existential threat to the government of Mexico. I applaud President Calderon. He is the first president of Mexico to really take on the drug cartels. The corruption level is very high there. The violence will spill over into the United States of America. It already has to some small degree. The Merida Initiative of working and helping the Mexican government and law enforcement has been succeeding, but it's a huge problem. It is--my hometown of Phoenix, Arizona, is now the kidnapping capital. That's got all to do with the drug cartels. These coyotes, these smugglers of illegal immigrants. And it, it argues for us to work as closely as we can with the Mexicans, and that job is to secure our borders.
MR. GREGORY: Does that mean U.S. troops if necessary, National Guard troops? What?
SEN. McCAIN: Both the, both the governor of Texas and the governor of Arizona have asked for National Guard troops on the border. I think we need them.
MR. GREGORY: And what would they do?
SEN. McCAIN: I think they would help with enforcement. We simply don't have enough now of boots on the ground. I think they would help with the enforcement. And obviously that would require additional training, but we could give it to them.
MR. GREGORY: I want to, in our couple minutes left, ask you about, as you look back on your 2008 campaign and think about the Republican Party, the future of the party. Mike Murphy, who of course worked for you in 2000 as a Republican strategist...
SEN. McCAIN: Mm-hmm.
MR. GREGORY: ...was on the program on March 1st, and he talked about what has to happen for the party. Listen to this.
(Videotape, March 1, 2009)
MR. MIKE MURPHY: At the end of the day, here's the one statistic we all got to remember: The country's changing. Ronald Reagan won in 1980 with 51 percent of the vote. We all worship Ronald Reagan. But if that election had been held with the current demographics of America today, Ronald Reagan would have gotten 47 percent of the vote. The math is changing. Anglo vote's 74 percent now, not 89. And if we don't modernize conservatism, we're going to have a party of 25 percent of the vote going to Limbaugh rallies, enjoying every, every applause line, ripping the furniture up. We're going to be in permanent minority status.
(End videotape)
MR. GREGORY: Given that, assuming you agree, how does conservatism modernize itself? How does the party get back to power?
SEN. McCAIN: The party of ideas, party of inclusiveness, outreach to other ethnic aspects of the American electorate; in my part of the country especially, Hispanic voters. We have to recruit and elect Hispanics to office. We have to welcome new ideas. And there are--you know, a lot of people complain about divisions within the Republican Party. That's good right now. Let's let a thousand flowers bloom. Let's have different clashes of ideas, sharing the same principles and goals. Look, if we were having this show in 1982, Republican Party was dead. 1994, the Democratic Party was dead. Right now--there's, there's a great resilience in American politics, and I have--I'm very optimistic about the future of the Republican Party if we do the right things.
MR. GREGORY: Speaking about the Hispanic vote, would you like to work on immigration policy with this president?
SEN. McCAIN: At any time I stand ready, but the president has to lead. The, the administration has to lead with a proposal.
MR. GREGORY: Do you think they have that proposal, want to do that?
SEN. McCAIN: They have not come forward with one yet. They said that they are going to--I understand the president met with the Hispanic Caucus and he said he would have some forums and, and other things.
MR. GREGORY: Right.
SEN. McCAIN: But they have not come forward with a proposal.
MR. GREGORY: In terms of future leaders of the Republican Party, would you like to see Sarah Palin become president?
SEN. McCAIN: I'd like to see her compete. I think we've got some very good candidates: Jon Huntsman and--the problem when I run down these names, I always leave, leave out a, a name--Bobby Jindal, Tim Pawlenty. There's, there's so many. There's a lot of good, fresh talent out there.
MR. GREGORY: But would you support Palin?
SEN. McCAIN: Oh, I'd have to see who the candidates are and, and what the situation is at the time. But have no doubt of my respect, admiration and love for Sarah and her family.
MR. GREGORY: This is your 54th appearance on MEET THE PRESS. Now, I know you're a competitive guy. Bob Dole still holds the record at 63. And so we've been doing the calculations here. We think we can make this up, maybe within a year's time.
SEN. McCAIN: I'd love...
MR. GREGORY: If you're game for that.
SEN. McCAIN: I'd love to try. Thank you, David.
MR. GREGORY: Senator McCain, thank you very much for being here.
We're going to continue our discussion online and ask Senator McCain some questions that our viewers submitted via e-mail and Twitter, where he's very popular. Watch our MEET THE PRESS Take Two Web extra. It's up this afternoon on our Web site. Plus, look for updates from me throughout the week, all at mtp.msnbc.com.
And we'll be right back.
(Announcements)
MR. GREGORY: As we leave this morning, we remember Irving R. Levine, the bow-tied pioneer in network news coverage of economic issues; the first person to ever cover that beat full-time for television. During his more than 40 years with NBC News he appeared on this program 106 times. Here's one of his first appearances on MEET THE PRESS in 1971, interviewing a very familiar face.
(Videotape, December 19, 1971)
MR. IRVING R. LEVINE: Mr. Rumsfeld, the dollar has just been devalued by about 8 percent. As director of the Cost of Living Council, which has a responsibility for keeping the cost of living down, what effect do you think the devaluation will have on the cost of living of the average American?
MR. DONALD RUMSFELD: I think the major effect that we'll see over a period of time from the decisions that have been made recently are jobs in this country. It seems clear to me that the fact that goods coming into this country will cost more and goods leaving this country will be more competitive with foreign-made products, that we will see, oh, it's estimated any, anywhere from a half a million jobs to close to two-thirds of a million jobs result from the decisions have, that have been made recently.
(End videotape)
MR. GREGORY: Irving R. Levine died Friday at the age of 86. His family is in our thoughts and our prayers.
That is all for today. We'll be back next Sunday. If it's Sunday, it's MEET THE PRESS.
- Discuss Story On Newsvine
-
Rate Story:
View popularLowHigh - Instant Message
MORE FROM MEET THE PRESS |
 Meet the Press Section Front |
| Add Meet the Press headlines to your news reader: |
Sponsored links
Resource guide