Meet the Press Archives
February 05, 2012Rachel Maddow: "Republican Party Is Waging War On Contraception"
"The idea that the Catholic Church is being forced to do something that as a church it does not want to do is a misnomer," Rachel Maddow said on "Meet the Press" this morning. "The initial exception in here is that the Catholic Church , somebody that is providing the service of being a church, operating as a church, they are already exempt from this."
"The question is, as the Congressman says, when you want to become a health insurance provider, you must follow the rules of providing health insurance. And in this country that means that you have to cover contraception. And 80% of Americans agree with that," the MSNBC host said on MTP's during the panel segment in the program.
"You guys only want to make it about religion, but listen, Mitt Romney is campaigning saying that he would like to end all family planning support at the federal level. He would like to eliminate federal -- Title X (Title 10). Rick Santorum says he would like states to be able to make contraception illegal," she added.
You can try to make this an issue of 'oh, Democrats hate religion," but the fact is churches were exempt from this from the beginning. This is about providing health insurance and the Republican Party is waging war on contraception at this point in the way [unintelligible] that's where the discussion is," Maddow said. 
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Newt Gingrich: Romney's Policies Are "Timid" And Like Obama's
"My goal over the next few weeks is to draw a very sharp distinction between Romney's positions, which are very - the Wall Street Journal described them as timid, and in terms of tax policies, being like Obama," Newt Gingrich told NBC's "Meet the Press."
Gingrich believes he will be "very competitive" in the March primaries. Send to a Friend | Permalink
"Meet The Press" Roundtable On Contraception, GOP Nomination Fight
Rep. Xavier Becerra, The New York Times’ David Brooks, GOP strategist Alex Castellanos and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow discuss the state of the 2012 race and the charge that there’s a “war on religion” being waged in the United States. Send to a Friend | Permalink
| Meet the Press - Sunday February 5th, 2012 | Send to a Friend
Axelrod Asked About Solyndra, Responds With Job Growth Talking Point
MR. GREGORY, "Meet The Press" moderator: But you--a lot of people hear you and think that you are somehow, you know, casting dispersions on venture capital. How is that different than the federal government under this president investing in clean energy companies like Solyndra that failed, costing the taxpayers a great deal of money and yet the president said in the State of the Union, you know, we're going to double down. We're not going to turn our back on clean energy. What's the difference in those kind of moves? It's kind of the government acting as venture capitalists?
MR. AXELROD: First of all, leveraged buyouts of the sort that Governor Romney profited off of are quite different, where you buy a company, load it down with debt, strip it down, let it go bankrupt and then make money off of fees on the bankruptcy. That's quite different. That's a different approach.
MR. GREGORY: Well, it is capitalism making countries stronger, a lot of people would argue.
MR. AXELROD: Yes, you--yes, yes, yes. Yes, yes. And by the way, you raise that point, I don't hear Governor Romney saying, yeah, I applaud the president for doing things that try and encourage clean energy in this country, which we area doing. We're going to double renewable energy use in this country over the course of four years. On jobs, 22 straight months of private sector job growth. Quite a contrast to the six months before we took office when Governor Romney said the policies were in place that we're shoring up the economy. Send to a Friend | Permalink
McCain: "We've Got To Stop The Debates"
MR. GREGORY: Can Newt Gingrich beat President Obama?
SEN. McCAIN: I think any of our candidates can, but you just showed the numbers up there. We've got to stop the debates. Enough with the debates because they are driving up our candidates, all of them, unfavorabilities. We've had enough of that. They've turned into mud wrestling instead of exposition of the candidates' views on the issues. We've had enough of that and it's time to recognize who the real adversary is and that's not each other. Send to a Friend | Permalink
Axelrod: "I've Always Thought That Romney Was A Weak Front-Runner"
"I've always thought that Governor Romney was a weak front-runner. I still think he's a weak front-runner. He's overpowered Gingrich in Florida with, you know, five-to-one spending advantage and a very negative campaign. But the nature of the process is you have to accumulate the delegates necessary to win. And I, I believe this will go on for a while," senior Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod said on NBC's "Meet the Press" today.
"The thing that's unusual, though, is, you know, when we had a long primary process with Senator Clinton and it strengthened us. We didn't see our numbers erode the way Governor Romney's numbers have eroded. Independent voters are fleeing Governor Romney now and his numbers are falling. He's underwater nationally," he continued.
"This process is not helping him because he's so intent on pandering to those forces on, on the right of his party to try and win this nomination and he's been so mercurial in his positions," he said.
"I always say, you know, he has his own version of states' rights. He thinks he has the right to change his position in every state he campaigns in. In Iowa, he was very--he ran to the right of Gingrich on immigration. In Florida, he's tried to run in a different direction. And on every single issue, including, by the way, whether he would release his tax returns, he's been all over the lot," Axelrod said. Send to a Friend | Permalink
"Meet The Press" Roundtable On Florida, GOP National Race
NBC political director Chuck Todd, “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough and presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin discuss the politics of the week with David Gregory. Send to a Friend | Permalink
Fred Thompson: "Some Old Score Settling Going On" With Newt's Rivals
MR. GREGORY: Let's talk about some of the dynamics here. You have the establishment of the Republican Party saying Newt Gingrich cannot be the nominee. We were talking before we came on about Bob Dole, former Senator Bob Dole, and he issued a pretty tough statement this week. We'll put a portion of it on the screen. He said this, "I haven't been critical of Gingrich, but now it's time to take a stand before it's too late. If Gingrich is the nominee, it will have an adverse impact on Republican candidates running for county, state and federal offices. Hardly anyone who served with Newt in Congress has endorsed him and that fact speaks for itself. He was a one-man-band who rarely took advice. It was his way or the highway." Senator Thompson, you know Gingrich well, served with him.
FMR. SEN. THOMPSON: Yeah.
MR. GREGORY: This is the view, that if he is the nominee, it helps President Obama.
FMR. SEN. THOMPSON: Well, of course I served with him, so I'm one of those people that have endorsed him and there's several others who have served with him, too. But, you know, there's some old score settling going on. Newt, Newt had some run-ins with some, with some people of his own party. But, you know, a lot of them, I'm not talking about Bob Dole who I love, but, but, but a lot of them were holding Newt's coat back when he conceived of a way for the Republicans to take over and have a first Republican House Speaker in 50 years. When they balanced the budget, when he held Bill Clinton's feet to the fire, and finally got welfare reform passed and we were winning elections. And his personality and his leadership skills and all that didn't seem to be a big problem back then, but when those poll numbers dropped off and we started losing some elections we should've won and so forth, everything changed. Send to a Friend | Permalink
| Meet the Press - Sunday January 29th, 2012 | Send to a Friend
"Meet The Press" Roundtable On SC, Chances Of Brokered Convention
Joe Scarborough, Chuck Todd, Mike Murphy and Katty Kay talk about South Carolina, the possibility of a brokered GOP convention and Gingrich's chances in Florida. Send to a Friend | Permalink
Gov. Christie: "Newt Gingrich Has Embarrassed The Party"
"I think Newt Gingrich has embarrassed the party over time," Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) said on NBC's "Meet the Press" this morning. "Whether he'll do again in the future, I don't know. But Gov. Romney never has." Send to a Friend | Permalink
| Meet the Press - Sunday January 22nd, 2012 | Send to a Friend
Harry Reid: "Tea Party Dying Out As The Economy Is Getting Better"
MR. GREGORY: Well, almost a year ago, I talked to you. You thought the tea party would die out as the economy got better. You, you weren't right about that.
SEN. REID: Well, I think the tea party's dying out as the economy's getting better slowly.
MR. GREGORY: You do think that?
SEN. REID: Oh, sure, no question about it. And, and, and you--and, and you...
MR. GREGORY: Well, we just talked about their, their muscular impact on the process.
SEN. REID: Well, but that's during the past year. I would hope that the two Republican leaders have learned what took place in the previous year. And, you know, what we have to focus on this year is rebuilding the economy. We have to, and the only way to do that is to create jobs and that's why the agenda that I'm moving forward on, I hope with some cooperation from the Republicans this time, is to do something about creating jobs. Our surface transportation bill, it'll save a million jobs, create a lot more jobs, Federal Aviation Administration, that's more than 200,000 jobs. We're having a very important piece of legislation, important to this network right here, IP, and that's of course dealing with informational--with, with making sure that we have intellectual property that's protected and we need to do that. And that--that's also job saving. So that's what we need to work on, things that create jobs and protect the American economy. Send to a Friend | Permalink
Harry Reid: "We've Had Obstructionism On Steroids"
"First of all, I understand the frustration of the American people. I feel the same way. But understand that we've had obstructionism on steroids. The Republican leader, my counterpart, Mitch McConnell, said his number one goal at the beginning of this Congress was to defeat President Obama, not have him re-elected, and that's how they've legislated. We've spent months on things that used to happen just matter of factly; raising the debt ceiling, we did it for President Reagan 18 times and we spent two and a half months doing that. So the number one goal, and I hope the Republicans have learned a lesson, as extending the payroll tax. That was a disaster for them. Can you imagine Republicans, as reported in The Wall Street Journal, were opposed to lowering taxes? So I would hope that they understand that everything doesn't have to be a fight. Legislation's the art of working together, building consensus, compromise, and I hope that the tea party doesn't have the influence in this next year they had in the previous year. That--because it has been really bad for this country. And I understand, I repeat, why the American people feel the way they do," Sen. Harry Reid said on NBC's "Meet the Press." Send to a Friend | Permalink
| Meet the Press - Sunday January 15th, 2012 | Send to a Friend
Gingrich Slams Romney Over Political History: "Stop With Pious Baloney"
Gingrich knocks Romney for his reason to not run for a second term as Governor of Massachusetts. Santorum also gets a dig in when he asked if Romney wouldn't run for a second term if elected president due to the same reasons he gave for not seeking another term as Governor.
"I-- I went to Massachusetts to make it different. I didn't go there to begin a political career, running time and time again. I-- I made a difference. I put in place the things I wanted to do. I listed out the accomplishments we wanted to pursue in our administration. There were 100 things we wanted to do. Those things I pursued aggressively. Some we won. Some we didn't," Romney said about his tenure as Massachusetts Governor.
"Run again? That would be about me," he said. "I was tryin' to help get the state in best shape as I possibly could. Left the-- the world of politics, went back into business. Now I have the opportunity, I believe, to use the experience I have-- you-- you got-- a surprised look on your face."
This led Santorum to question Romney if he wouldn't want another term as president if he felt that he accomplished most of what he wanted to get done in his first term.
"Yeah, what I'm gonna tell you is I-- this-- this for me, politics, is not a career. For me my career was being in business and starting a business and making it success," Romney said.
"I long for a day where instead of having people to go to Washington for 20 and 30 years who get elected and then when they lose office they stay there and make money as lobbyists or connecting to businesses, I think it stinks. I think we oughta have people go to Washington and serve Washington. And-- and go-- serve as-- as their-- the people of their-- of their nation and go home. I'd like to see term limits in Washington," he added.
When it was Gingrich's turn to respond to Romney, he let loose.
"Oh yeah. I mean I-- I realize the red light doesn't mean anything to you because you're the front runner. But-- but can we drop a little bit of the pious baloney? The fact is you ran in '94 and lost. That's why you weren't serving in the Senate with-- Rick Santorum," he said.
"The fact is you had a very bad reelection rating. You dropped out of office. You had been out of state for something like 200 days preparing to run for president," Gingrich said. "You then promptly reentered politics. You happened to lose to McCain as you had lost to Kennedy. Now you're back running. You've been running consistently for years and years and years. So this idea that suddenly citizenship showed up in your mind, just level with the American people. You've been running for-- so at least since the 1990s." Send to a Friend | Permalink
| Meet the Press - Monday January 9th, 2012 | Send to a Friend
