announce i'm running for president. >> chris: candidate or not we will grill the bad boy of comedy about liberal media bias, fox news and what he really thinks of president obama. jon stewart in his first appearance ever on a sunday talk show. also the president and congressional democrats pick apart the gop budget without coming up with one of their own. we will ask our sunday group whether playing the waiting game is paying off, all right now on "fox news sunday". >> chris: and hello again from fox news in washington. we have a political odd couple this week. we will talk with comedian jon stewart a little later. first we are honored to sit down with defense secretary robert gates just days before he leaves office, having served presidents bush and obama in his demanding job. mr. secretary, welcome back to "fox news sunday". >> thank you. >> today marks the 90th day of u.s. involvement in libya. critics say it means the administration is officially in violation of the war powers act. if congress pulls us out of libya what do you think are the consequences for the u.s. national security and our standing in the world. >> we have been through this on a new mexico of o number of oce congress has threatened to cut off funding in iraq on several occasions and so on. frankly i think cutting off funding in the middle of a military operation when we have people engaged is always a mistake. by i same token i would say that i was in the white house and the nfc staff not long after the war powers act was passed and i believe that president obama has complied with the -- with the law consist nent a manner with virtually all of his predecessors. i don't think he is breaking any new ground here. >> chris: so therefore you don't think he is in violation of the war powers act? >> no, but i think he had been clear as well that he would welcome the congress passing a resolution of support. >> chris: secretary gates, is the u.s. involved in hostilities in libya? >> the way i like to put it is from our standpoint at the pentagon we are involved in a limit kinetic o operation. if i'm in quadaffi's palace, i suspect i'm at war. >> chris: you dukd the question ably, i might say. president obama told congress this week that the war powers act does not apply to what is going on in libya. the official white house report to congress said u.s. military operations are distinct from the kind of hostilities con contemplated by the war powers act and the president reportedly rejectd the legal opinion of the pentagon's general counsel jay johnson as well as the justice department office of legal counsel. question, are you comfortable with that? >> i think that the president is in a position to take the advice of a variety of people and legal and other matters that he has the opportunity to make his own decisions. i think that -- in fact, i'm confident he would not make a judgment along these lines if he were not confident that he were acting in a constitutional manner. >> chris: i understand that you are saying he is confident and comfortable with the fact that he is operating in a constitutional manner. but someone who sees we are spending, what, $10 million a day, we have drones bombing libya, we have surveillance, we have intel, now is that not hostilities? >> i'm going to defer to the white house and to the president on the legal interpretations. >> chris: you said that getting involved in libya in the first place was the only major disagreement that you have had with this president. do you u agree with the current strategy of letting that i tow the lead of as t is being called leading from behind. is that a strategy for success? >> i think it is absolutely the right strategy. when this operation started, the president we were at war in iraq. still we had 50,000 troops in iraq. we have 100,000 troops in afghanistan. we have 24,000 people engaged in japanese earthquake relief. we have a number of commitments around the world and so the arrangement and the understanding the president had with our key allies from the very beginning was the u.s. would come in heavy at the beginning, establish the no fly zone and then hand off the operation to our allies and that we would reseed int receda support role. >> chris: can this work? can this get quadaffi out of power? >> i think it can over time. >> chris: time meaning? >> talking to various people, the chairman and others, i think we all sense that the quadaffi regime is getting weaker by the day. their military forces are being attritted every day. i think it is a matter of time. i don't know. i can't make a prediction on how long it will take. but they clearly are getting significantly weaker as this effort goes along. >> chris: president obama is now deciding how many troops to pull out of afghanistan as part of the july drawdown that he announced back in december of 2009 when announced the troop surge. the "wall street journal" reports that the military wants him to keep the majority, the vast majority of the 33,000 force there's to the fall of 2012, through two more fighting seasons. is that true? >> well, first of all, the fall of 2012 would be one more fighting season after this one. >> chris: well, right. we are in the middle of one now. >> and the truth is our obligation is to present the president with range of options and the risks attendant to each of those options and then for the commander in chief to make a decision. and he will do that and frankly i don't want to get any further into the process than that krez >> chris: let me ask you this and i understand you don't want to get ahead of the president. you are calling for a modest drawdown. mr. obama keeps talking about a significant drawdown. have you told the president without getting into numbers anything over a specific number jeopardizes the games tha gaine have made in afghanistan? >> absolutely not going go down the road of what i tell the president. >> chris: let me ask it a different way. you look at me like i only have 11 more days and i don't have to put up with these guys any more. how confident are you give been the new debate about the way forward in afghanistan, counter insurgency versus counter terrorism, how county dent are you that the president won't pull troops out of afghanistan to jeopardize the gains we made there. >> i think the president has a good strategy and he decided on that strategy in december of 2009. it has always been a vision with success on the ground that the balance between a combination of counter insurgency and counter terrorism the weight would shift more to counter terrorism over time. we have had a lot of success over the last 15 months in afghanistan. the conditions on the ground are far better than they were a year ago. so far in this fighting season we have not only held on to everything we took from the taliban last year, that we have been able to expand security further and further disrupt the infiltrations coming from from pakistan. i would say whatever decision the president makes it is going to be a decision based on the gains we have made on the ground, success on the ground. >> chris: and that he won't jeopardize those gains? >> i don't think so. >> chris: during the republican debate last week, several candidates talked about in effect heading for the exits in afghanistan and in libya. mitt romney called forgetting our troops out of afghanistan as quickly as possible. let's watch. >> our troops shouldn't go off and try and fight a war of independence for other nations. only the afghanis can win afghan's independence from the taliban. >> and john huntsman talks about reducing forces to 15,000. he said this, the very expensive boots on the ground may be something that is not critical for our national security needs nor is it something we can afford at this point in our economic history. question, do you worry about growing isolationism in the republican party? >> i worry that people whose primary worry and concern is the economy and the deficit will see defense and our engagement around the world as a way to reduce those obligations and that deficit. i believe that -- i believe that misstates the problem. the base defense budget is not part of the deficit problem. our percentage and the base budget not counting the cost of wars, the defense budget is about 3.5% of gdp. that is basically the lowest it has been except for a brief period in the late '90s since before world war ii. we know we have to be a part of the savings. the cost of these wars is coming down dramatically between fiscal 11 and 12. between 12 and 13 it will go down several billion more. i think it is a mistake particularly to koch the question in terms of the cost of the war. my question is what is the cost of failure? what was the cost of 9/11 because we left afghanistan in 1989? how much money have we spent since 9/11 trying to deal with that problem? we are on the right road. we know we are going end our combat role there by the end of 2014, our role, the kind of role we have now. so this isn't an open-ended conflict. and i just ask people to consider the consequences of failure. and by the way, my recollection is that mr. romney also went on to say that the withdrawal should also be based on the recommendations of the commanders in the field. >> chris: he did, however, and you are hearing this from bachman and huntsman, there does seem to be something of a rush for the exits and does seem to be a war of weariness, it is not just the budget. >> of course, there is war of weariness. the country has been at war for ten years. this country has been engaged in two wars every day the four and a half years i have been secondary of defense. i fully appreciate that, believe me. there is nobody more war weary than our troops at this point. but the president's responsibility and i have seen this in his predde predecessors responsibility is to look out for the long-term national security interests of the united states. he has to have a longer view. and frankly, other than the first couple of years of world war ii there has never been a popular war in american history. >> chris: i want to go quickly, i know you don't like the lightning round so i won't call it that. hot spots with you. pakistan, five informants who helped us capture or identify osama bin laden have reportedly been arrested. the head of the pakistani army is under fire for being too proamerican. breach inare we to a wreach in relations with afghanistan. >> i don't know the answer to that. i do know that we need each other and each side restrived that.rce kog thiezrecognizes our relationship has been a complex one for decades and we have to keep working at it. >> chris: a spike in violence in iraq. cia director and secretary of defense nominee di designate, there are a thousand forces in iraq. all forces are supposed to be out by the end of the year. do you think they should stay? >> i think there is an interest and i believe it is in our mutual interest to have some level ofs forces remain and training and equipping and doing counter terrorism. >> chris: beyond the end of 2011? >> beyond the end of 2011. at the same time although there are a number of al-qaeda, al-qaeda in iraq for the most part has been targeting iraqis. this has been their practice. it is one of the reasons why they loss and why they suffered such grievous loss is because the iraqis got fed up with it. of more concern and the direct threat to our troops is more extremist shia groups that are sponsored or have an affiliation with sadr. and so these are the groups right now that constitute the biggest threat it other troops and troops killed over the past several weeks for the most part are being attacked by these affiliate. >> chris: we have about 40,000 troops there now. >> about 47,000. >> chris: how many would you like to see into 2012? >> i think that is a matter for the iraqis to tell us what they would like for us to do and we are begining that dialogue. until we figure out what the mission is h it is hard to figure out how many people you would have there. it would be a fraction of what we have now. >> chris: as you leave office, how much of a disappointment is it to you u that iran still has an active nuclear weapons program? >> i think it is an ongoing problem for the world, not just for the united states. i think iran with a nuke weapon is extremely destablizing. i think it could precipitate a nuclear arms rate in the region. i think we haven't thought through or talked enough about the consequences of iran acquiring nuclear weapons. i think our position that we can't accept that as an outcome is the right position. and my hope is that we can, you know, as the president has -- predecessor said all options are ob the table but my open is that we can find a peaceful way to persuade these guys this isn't in their interest. >> chris: finally, i want to get some big picture reflexes reflections from you. i was looking at your record. 45 years on and off in government service. eight presidents. what is your big takeaway as you leave washington? what is the big lesson? >> that when we have been successful in national security and forn foreign affairs has bn because there has been bipartisan support. and agreement between the president and the congress that the fundamental strategy, maybe not all of the tactics, maybe not a you will of the specific decisions but that the fundamental strategy is the correct one. that is what happened through nine presidencies in the cold war that led to our success because no major international problem can be sostle solved oe president's watch. unless it has bipartisan support, unless it can be extended over a period of time the risks of failure are high. >> chris: when you look ahead to the future, what do you worry about? >> a loss of bipartisanship. >> chris: and with the hyper part sanship in this town on other issues do you see that bleeding into national security? >> i do. >> chris: do you think there is something that can be done? >> i think that -- i'm not sure what can be done quite frankly. i tried to do what i could in terms of a civilized dialogue and a civil dialogue between the executive branch and the congress under both president bush and president obama. and i think that kind of relationships that i have had on the hill show that when individuals make this effort they can make headway. they can make progress in at least having a civil conversation about these issues. >> chris: i want to -- you will hate this -- go through some word association with you. i want you to give me a word, a phrase, a thumbnail sketch for some of the presidents that you served in top jobs. reagan? >> a great president. i think vastly underestimated in terms of how good he was and how important he was. >> chris: bush 41. >> i think that the fact that the cold war -- 1991 was the first time in history that a heavily armed great power collapsed without a war. some day bush will get the credit he deserves for helping bring that about. >> bush 43. >> decisive. a man of stron strong beliefs. >> and obama. >> analytical and divisive. >> chris: i want to talk about the troops. you say that you think of them as your own sons and daughters. you sign the papers that send them into war. you say when you send letters of condolence you like to get a packet of information about them with a picture of them so when you write to their loved ones you know. what has it meant to you to serve with our remarkable fighting men and women? >> the way i would put it is there are many aspects to this job. the only thing that i will miss is the people that i work with and above all the opportunity to interact with the troops. i just spent three days with them in afghanistan a week and a half ago and getting on that plane was very hard. >> chris: because? >> leaving them behind. and still in the fight. and just they are so dedicated and so confident and so capable. they are just extraordinary people. >> chris: secretary robert >> chris: secretary gates we want to thank you for coming in and giving us one last interview as secretary of defense and i know i speak for everyone, for your service to our country. up >> chris: it was last november when jon stewart promised on his show he would come here and answer my questions. after months of evasion, disconnected phone numbers and press agents saying who are you again it appears he finally ran out of excuses and so jon stewart, welcome to "fox news sunday". >> thank you so much, chris. i appreciate it. i just want to say as a viewer i can't tell you how disappointed i am that you would sully a program of this integrity and this quality with the presence such as jon stewart. >> chris: i checked out the mugs. >> they are very nice. >> chris: see what it says on the inside of the mugs. >> can i read it outloud? some what antisemitic. i don't know do dominica you want me to read it. >> chris: fair and balanced. >> interesting that the muggity >> chris: no talking, just drink the water. >> why don't you have a test of this first. >> i'm drinking it it myself. >> we could have different water. >> chris: you shouldn't be scared of this. but and while you are drinking you love to take shots at fox news. >> yes, i do. >> chris: over the years you have called us and we will put this on the screen because this is heavy stuff. a biased organization relentlessly promoting an idea logical agenda under the rued brik. >> i think that was slightly the wrong use of the world rued briked and relentless agenda driven 24 hour news opinion propaganda delivery system. where do you come up with this stuff? >> you have to feel it in your soul. >> chris: here is the deal. are you willing to say the same thing about the mainstream media, about abc, cbs, nbs, washington post, "new york times"? >> no. >> chris: would you say the same things about them in your words they are a propaganda delivery system. >> i wouldn't say that. >> why not? >> msnbc is attempting that. they have looked at your business model and seen the success of it and they are attempting to be a more activist organization. >> chris: you don't think the new york times is a liberal organization pushing a liberal agenda? >> the new york times, no. i think that they are too a certain extent. do i think they are relentlessly activist? no. in a purely liberal partisan way, no, i don't. i think fox is a very special -- >> chris: the shutters to go from your eyes because i will prove it to you in the next few minutes. >> i'm excited about that. can i tell you this? i love to learn. >> chris: even you made fun of the fact that the new york times and the washington post when it document dump of 24,000 e-mails of sarah palin was released and they got so excited about it they asked their readers help us go through the 24,000 documents. how do you explain the fact that they would do that? they would ask the readers to help them go through the palin e-mails inconsequencal as they turned out to be. but they never said help us go through the 2,000 pages of the obama healthcare bill? >> because their bias is towards sensationalism and laziness. i wouldn't say it is towards a liberal agenda. it is lights off so it is absolutely within the wheelhouse. >> if your suggestion is that they are relentlessly partisan then why haven't they gone and backed away from wiener? wienermped into the wooner pool with such delight and such relish because the bias of the -- >> some things are indefensible. >> i'm not saying it is defensible. but the bias of the mainstream media is towards sensationalism, conflict and laziness. >> chris: you take your own shot recently at sarah palin. you compared her video of her one nation bus tour to a certain commercial. let's take a look. >> as the tour rolls on. >> stop in historic places like gettiesburg. >> and then to philadelphia. >> what is cool is the way they have reporters finishing each other sentences. where have i seen that technique before. >> i have again genital herpes. >> and i try to be careful. >> very careful. >> sarah palin and a herpes drug, really? >> yeah, the tec technique fore commercial. you are saying that comparingle the tea technique that she usen her video. >> chris: you are not making a political comment? >> you really think that is a political comment? >> chris: yes. >> you are insane. >> chris: yes. >> here is the deficits ren between you and i. i'm a comedian first. it is formed from a idealogiccal background. the think you will never understand, hollywood they are liberal but that is not their primary motivating force. i'm not an activist. i'm a comedian. >> chris: i want to thank you for saying that because tv critic, david says that is your dodge. stewart has never held accountable in his media criticism is he. when he is wrong he goes into the tap dance of saying he is only a comedian and shouldn't be taken seriously. >> when did i say to you i'm only a comedian. i said i'm a comedian first. that is not only. being a comedian is harder than what you do. what i do is much harder. i put material through a comedy yak process. >> chris: but the comedy has the political -- >> some of it. >> chris: here is the take on gop presidential candidate herman cain. >> only allow small businesses. three pages. have to have time to read it. >> if i'm president treaties will have to fit on the back of a cereal box. the state of the union address will be delivered in the form of a fortune cookie. i am herman cain and i do not plan to read. >> chris: planning a remake of amos and andy? >> show me doing all of the voices for all of the other people that we do. want to see my new york voice and comie niece gu chinese guy? are you suggesting that you and i are the same. what am i at my highest aspiration and what are you at your highest aspiration? >> chris: i think you want to be a political player. >> you are dead wrong. i appreciate what you are saying. do i want my voice heard. absolutely. that is why i got into comedy. am i an activist in your mind? >> chris: yeah. >> i disagree with you. you can't understand because of the world that you live in that there is not a designed idealogiccal agenda on my part to effect partisan change because that is the soup you swim in. i appreciate that and understand that. it reminds me of, you know, an idealogiccal regimes they can't understand that there is free media other places because they receive marching orders. >> chris: how do you explain me? marching orders? >> i think that you are here in some respects to bring a credibility and an integrity to an organization that might not otherwise have it without your presence. so you are here as a counterweight to hannity, let's say. or are you are here as a counterweight to glen beck because otherwise it is pure talk radio and doesn't teab establish thestablish the typef political. >> chris: wait, for you -- this is important. >> no, this is -- >> chris: you are sounding like newt gingrich during the cnn debate. >> am i dodging you by saying. >> no, you are filibustering. >> for what? >> chris: here is the skelter. question. there are plenty of examples. this isn't you. this is the mainstream media. this is diane sawyer leading her program last year announcing the new immigration law. take a look. >> if a strange walking down the street or riding the bus does not seem to be a u.s. citizen is it all right for the police to stop and question them. today the governor of arizona signed a law that requires police to do just that. >> chris: but that isn't what the law requires them to do. the law says the only way that you can stop somebody as part of a lawful enforcement stop, you can't just say hey, you are walking down the street. it has to be because there is a broken tail light or they are loitering or doing sog somethig else. don't you think she should have mentioned that? >> i think you are right. we should have more full context and more of the types of things you are talking about. i don't understand how that is purely a liberal or conservative bias. that is sensationalist and some what lazy. the embarrassment is that i'm given credibility this this world because of the disappointment that the public has in what the news media does. >> chris: i don't think our viewers are the least bit disappointed with us. i think finally they are getting somebody who tells the other side of the story. one more -- >> anded consistently misinformed media viewers. of the most consistently misinformed. fox. fox viewers. consistently. every poll. >> chris: can we talk about your network? >> yes. >> chris: can we talk about comedy central? >> be delighted to. >> case in point. >> how did you physically have sex with tommy lee. he has a huge -- he put that thing from front of my face. i didn't know whether to [ bleep ] or feed it peanuts. >> chris: it is not exactly master piece theater you're working for. >> i think i'm perfectly placed chris you are the counter balance to that. suggesting there is biasher and you only tell part of the story. >> no question i don't tell the full story. i don't not tell the pure story based on a purely idealogiccal part of an agenda. that is my point. >> chris: i think your are agenda is more out there and you are pushing more of an aagain that than you pretend to. >> it is about absurdity anded corruption and that is the aagain da that we push. >> chris: that will -- >> how often do you see your show on my show? my beef isn't with you. but i believe you exist as -- i think mr. ales has brilliantly put you on and i think you are tough interviewer. i think you are a fair interviewer. i think some of the things that -- >> gretchen: kee >> chris: keep going. are you disappointed in barack obama as president? >> yes, i think i am. >> chris: do you think he has lived up to his promise to fix the economy? >> no, i don't know the kind of sway that a president can have on the -- campaign focus and all i see as far as economic stewardship are the guys that got us into this mess in the first place. >> chris: honestly, did you watch any of the cnn debate with the republicans? >> um-h'm. >> chris: did you see anybody on that stage who you could envision voting for against obama? >> i thought that in general their responses to things in terms of tax cuts being the magic bullet as to what it is, so far i haven't heard anything that appeals to my sense of that intrigues me politically or in any way that is different. what intrigued me about obama was is a statement that i thought he understood the corrosiveness of the system that existed and i thought he was going to do more to blow that system up. >> chris: when is the last time you voted for a republican for president? >> for president? h.w. >> chris: against michael due dukakis? >> that's right. >> chris: how come? >> he seemed like a different -- there was an integrity about him that i respected greatly and there is something about tiny people in helmets. i assume that part of this is to delegitimatize criticism against fox by suggesting that it is coming from a place of con trieived political. >> chris: i'm just trying to understand you. >> is that true? >> chris: yes. >> i have existed in this country for areever. there have been people like me who satirize the political process. will rogers said politicians are a joke and comedians are taken seriously. >> chris: where you are wrong and you don't get it is that there is not a single marching order. there is not some kind of command. there is no a taking point memo. i'm. >> chris: that i disagree with. >> i'm sitting here talking to jon stewart and trying to get it. trying to understand you and see whether or not you recognize what i believe is true there is as much bias on the other side as you subscribe to fox and why you seem to go easy on that? >> i think there is probably a liberal bias that exists within the media that is because of the medium in which it exists. the majority of people working in it probably hold liberal view points. i don't think that they are as relentlessly activist as the conservative movement that has risen up over the last 40 years. and that movement has decided that they have been victims of a witchhunt. and to some extent they are right. people on the right are called racist and called things with an ease that i'm uncomfortable with and homophobic and all those other things and i think that is absolutely something that they have a real right to o be angry about and to feel that they have been vilified for those things. i am guilty of doing some of those things myself. >> chris: i accept your apology. i want to thank you for coming on. >> do you get me? >> chris: come back and we will explore this some more and validate. >> still? you are a good man. >> chris: up next, we ask our sunday panel why the democrats are missing in action when it comes to laying out a plan to deal with the nation's debt problem. nationde insurance. what's up ? what's vanishing deducti all about ? guys, it's demonstration time. let's blow carl's mind. okay, let's say i'm your insurance deductible. every year you don't have an accident, $100 vanishes. the next year, another $100. where am i going, carl ? thnext year... th was weird. but awesome ! ♪ nationwide is on your side ♪ >> chris: last week after i interviewed republican pressial candidate tim pawlenty about his economic plans, i had a number of e-mails like this one. matt d. from effingham illinois coat you are ridiculously tough and specific on tim pawlenty, good, that is your job. when have you or any one else ever been equally tough on obama snssments how could you be. obama has no plan. that makes a good point which is why we are going to discuss that now with our panel. bill kristol of the weekly standard. mara liasson from national public radio. former bush press secretary, dan dana pa reno and bil --dand bill burton. >> congressional democrats didn't pass any budget last year and the senate democrats haven't written a budget this year. is that any way to lead the country? >> no. >> i'm asking this tba, no gen, not. >> my answer is no. real aa good way to lead the country to back off our original budget submitted a few months buy it because it so laughably doesn't address the debt and deficit to criticize paul ryan in april and then still not to have sub meted any particulars and the senate which the democrats control has not passed a budget resolution whereas the house republicans stepped up to the plate and passed a budget. >> chris: what do you think that is about? >> the president not showing leadership. we have a bad economy. the first time i remember when there was a bad economy and the president seems almost paralyzed. what is the growth a and debt aden da. >> chris: let me bring in bill burton. the president in not this baath but in the april outline -- in this budget, but in the april outlines talks about cutting a half trillion dollars through medicare and medicaid and talks about reforming the tax code but again not very specific. as we point out. senate democrats haven't even writ and budget this year. is that showing leadership when the country faces a national debt crisis? >> for starters it looks like there will be a senate budget introduced coming soon. i would. >> chris: late in the process. it's june. >> the government hasn't stopped working and what is important here is what are we going to do about jobs? what is the government going to do to try to get jobs going. we can talk about the context. that is not how this election will run. the president has created 2.1 million jobs and the economy is growing and not retracting. what the president wants to do is get trade deals passed to create jobs and there was a series of measures that had republicans allowe allowed it o toward, be it small business or unemployed benefits or offshoring bills we could have created a lot more jobs than we could have otherwise. i will give it to the kopgial republicans yes, there was specificity in the budget that they passed. it is not really a serious document in the sense if you are talking about gutting medicare to turn it into a voucherrized program. that is not something that is going to pass the united states senate and get signed into law by the president. i would say that the president is doing what he can to get jobs created in this country. he has had some success and would like to have more but has not exactly had an able partner in the republicans. >> so the failure of all republicans to be an able partner and how do you explain, bill kind of gives them the pass, the failure to come up with a serious budget. >> it has been 781 days since the democrats have passed a budget. if you want to have power and control of the purse you have to step up. in 781 tays the democrats ran the house and senate and had the executive branch and still at any time do it. interrogatory see democrats try to pin that back on the republicans and in some ways republicans fall for it and they are like well, we do have a plan and they did support a plan that is immediately -- you talk about the bipartisanship, that is something that is earned. it is not just a given. and i think that the executive branch would be smarter to try to co-op some of the republican ideas to put something through. coming up against everything where after two and a half years the communications problems that they have have solidified and it will be increasingly difficult to get something serious done in the next few months. >> i want to go back specifically to this point. no budget, i credit dana with having counted the number of day. it is pretty remarkable. >> but meaningless in the context what is important is are jobs being created. >> chris: i don't mean to -- but part of it is a budget. a country needs a budget to run. forget the jobs for a second. >> but our country is still running. we are doing okay without a budget in the sense that nothing is shutting down. the congress can still pass the jobs measures that the president wants to move forward. congress can move forward in things that can help to create jobs and grow the economy. we had made progress in the jobs. 2.1 million in this recovery. there is a lot more that needs to get done. i don't think the budget is the be all end all as to how it relates to how we will get the economy on the track that will have sustained growth. >> chris: mara? >> the battle cry that the president has no plan and is not leading, that is the republican talking. the white house made a calculated decision it was worth taking the hits on leadership for not having a new scorable budget because the speech you gave in april didn't include a scorable play. he does have the outline of the plan. and now -- over ten years -- 12 years and now both sides are in negotiations and the only thing that is going to pass in this divided government is something that has been negotiated by both sides. debt ceiling talksbl ceiling about. and if they come up with something that raises the debt ceiling but has $2 billion worth of cuts, the presidents have unlimited abilities to run to the front of the parade and grab the flag and that will become barack obama's plan when the negotiations are successful. if they are not successful, it will be really, real by bad because we will detawlt on the debt and our interest rates will go sky high. >> chris: brings us to the negotiations to the big news this weekend where it was serious or just style and that was the golf summit and, yes, we do have pictures of it between president obama and speaker boehner. we don't know if business got done there. from their point of view, i hope they weren't sitting there talking about the debt or the war powers act. first of all, do you think this does any good for them to sit and slap each other's back and spend a few hours doght together in a less formal situation and what do you think are the chances there will be a substantive deal on the debt and the deficit before we run into what treasure asecretary geithner says. >> i have been doubtful there would be a major deal. i have been struck that vice president biden and the house majority leader eric cantor seemed hopeful about a deal. i'm worried about it in the sense i think it could be a weak deal that i think a lot of conservatives in the country could have trouble with. >> chris: are you suggesting that the republicans are going to sell out? >> well, not sellout. you get in the room with the president and get bludgeoned by the treasury secretary with partly phoney threats and then you cut a deal and the politics of both parties and to the country, if i were michele bachmann i would already be writing my speech on the house floor on august 2 denouncing with deep regret, of course, the speech given in sorrow and not in anger denouncing speaker boehner for cutting a bad deal with the president and for not insisting on serious spending cuts and reforms and serious budget cuts in the prospect of a budget in the near future. that would be a powerful speech for michelle barbman t michello give on the floor of the house. >> they are getting calls from the co constituents and big dos saying you better raise the debt ceiling? >> really. >> they have been reassuring wall street that the debt ceiling would go up. i think all of a sudden they reach the debt ceiling i think there will be bad reaction from the markets. the markets think it is going to go up. >> they also reassure wall street that we will cut spending down the road. >> and there will be cuts in spending. >> chris: we are running out of time and i want to touch on one more subject. a little 2012 politics. texas governor rick perry spoke at a republican thing down in -- a republican thing -- down in new orleans this week and this weekend and apparently stole the show. let's watch a clip. >> that that mix of arrogance and audacity that guides the obamae administration is an affront to every freedom loving american and a threat to every private sector job in this country. >> chris: what is your guess, does rick perry get in the race? if he does, how formidable a candidate is he. >> six weeks ago i would have said no. in the last three weeks i have seen him come out. he gave a speech similar to this one in terms of passion in new york last week and it is in some ways people talk about how boring the field is, there is no passion and no emotion and he brings that to the table. and so i think that he is a little bit closer to running and we'll see what happen. >> chris: and if he does do you think he goes right up near the top of the field? >> potentially. i will get criticized for this but you do need to have an organization and an ability to do good fund raising and have people in the states to help you through the first primary states. little bit of time. not a ton of time. i would say he would probably announce by the end of july if he is going to get in or not. >> chris: , bill, do democrats worry about rick perry and how would you go after him. >> as an observer i thought it would be exciting if he got into the race. it would make things pretty exciting. rick perry is a pretty extreme version of george w. bush. he could get the nomination but i think the choice between a guy like president barack obama and a person like rick perry would be -- >> chris: george w. bush extreme in what way? >> he wouldn't be the first candidate for president who thought that secessino was a good policy but probably would be one that ended up losing. >> chris: you would target him as -- >> i think no matter who the candidate is, pawlenty, romney, perry, bachman, this is about the economy. who is better for your family's future. i think this are extreme elements of what rick perry has done in the past besides just -- >> chris: the biggest job producing state in the country. >> but on the bottom on education. on the bottom on the unemployed and a lot of different things. >> chris: we have to leave it there to be continued. thank you pabl, se panel, see l next week. check out panel plus on "fox news sunday >> chris: time for comments you posted the our blog about last week's guest. presidential candidate tim pawlenty. the former governor did well he came across as knowledgeable on our domestic policy. but one disagreed. if cannot answer the questions. then that show they are don't know what they are talking about -- policy. kay anderson from winston clem, north carolina disagreed if they cannot answer your questions in a straightforward way that shows they either do not know what they are talking about or do not want the american people to hear the real answer. and then there was an exchange on the factor over whether tim pawlenty was too bland to run for president. >> chris:, now this program note. next week we continue our series of 2012 one on one interviews with a gop presidential candidate creating the most buzz these days, congresswoman michele bachmann.
Related Keywords
New York , United States , Japan , North Carolina , Texas , Iran , Afghanistan , Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , China , Illinois , Dominica , New Mexico , Washington , District Of Columbia , Pakistan , Arizona , Iraq , Hollywood , California , Libya , Afghan , Chinese , Iraqis , Japanese , American , Pakistani , John Huntsman , Eric Cantor , Dana Perin , Diane Sawyer , Tommy Lee , Rick Perry , Michele Bachmann , Glen Beck , Chris Wallace , Barack Obama , George W Bush , Herman Cain , Sarah Palin , Dan Dana Pa Reno , Jon Stewart , Robert Chris , Tim Pawlenty , Kay Anderson , Winston Clem , Newt Gingrich , Paul Ryan ,
comparemela.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.