KARL ROVE: There will be reasons why conservatives have disagreements with Chris Christie. I don’t think that the tea party is going to seize upon Fort Lee and the George Washington Bridge as their defining difference with Christie. In fact, I think his handling of this -- being straightforward, taking action, saying, 'I'm responsible,' firing th

HOWARD KURTZ: So what about this bully narrative? BRIT HUME: Well, I would have to say that in this sort of feminized atmosphere in which we exist today, guys who are masculine and muscular like that in their private conduct, kind of old-fashioned tough guys, run some risks. LAUREN ASHBURN: Feminized? KURTZ: Feminized. HUME: Atmosphere.

Pat Caddell, Doug Schoen, John LeBoutillier with Harris Faulkner. (via Johnny Dollar)

ROBERT GIBBS: Marlin Fitzwater told me, when I went to see him before I became president -- press secretary, he said, you should not write a book that your boss has to answer to while he's in office. And I wouldn't write a book while he's in office. Look, Gates made his own decision. Let me address the politics of this. I think if you look at every

CHRIS MATTHEWS: When we go back and look at the text of what Gates actually said, he said that Hillary Clinton said her politics, during the campaign against Obama in the caucuses out there in Iowa especially, were driven by politics, that she did think the surge worked. But then it gets to the president. It doesn't say he acknowledged in any way

JOHN HARRIS, POLITICO: Well, there is a classic tension in Washington, I suppose, and everywhere else, between truth and loyalty. Those are two conflicting values. Obviously, Bob Gates made a decision to proceed on the... (CROSSTALK) BOB SCHIEFFER: You know, I do want to talk about this story. I'm not sure it's the big story of the week, but

BOB WOODWARD: On Traffic-gate, or whatever it is -- I mean, what's this about? That's what's so shocking. If you think, there are 200 million Americans with driver's licenses. You get caught in a traffic jam and you go in and you say, oh, there aren't enough roads or there's too much construction or they don't time the lights right. Unthinkable, at

FMR SECRETARY OF DEFENSE ROBERT GATES: It's one thing to tell the troops that you support them. It's another to work at making them believe that you believe as president that their sacrifice is worth it, that the cause is just, that what they are doing was important for the country, and that they must succeed. President Bush did that with the troop

David Gregory hosts Robert Gibbs, Rick Santorum, Jane Harman, Jeffrey Goldberg, and Chris Matthews in a discussion about Chris Christie's bridgegate and Robert Gates' memoir.

Donna Brazile, Matthew Dowd, David Plouffe, and Rep. Adam Kinzinger on the Chris Christie bridge scandal and Robert Gates' new book.

FNC's John Roberts (filling in for Chris Wallace) hosts the panel comprised of George Will, Karl Rove, Juan Williams and Bob Woodward.

RADDATZ: I want to go back to September. Four days, thousands of Ft. Lee residents are stuck on that bridge. Chris Christie is the chief executive of that state. I can't imagine you as New York mayor not saying what the heck is going on over there, forget that traffic study. And yet Chris Christie didn't do that. GIULIANI: You know, Martha, that

Rana Foroohar, Michael Gerson, John Harris, and Gerald Seib discuss former Defense Secretary Robert Gates' new book, the deteriorating situation in Iraq, the new Federal Reserve chair.

Judge Jeanine Pirro rips President Obama over a federal probe of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.