graham says in a statement. mileta m military tribunals are the best way to protect our nation from a vicious enemy. late today the aclu said in a statement the president s involvement may be a sign the administration is waivering in the commitment to federal trials for the 9/11 suspects. bret: things change quickly. three months. bret: thank you. new criticism today about handling of the recent terror attempt here in the u.s. white house correspondent wendell goler has that story. still under fire for the decision to charge the christmas day bombing suspect as criminal defendant, the white house denied they missed an opportunity to interrogate umar farouk abdulmutallab by not putting him before military commission. military commissions are not a venue for interrogation. they re a venue for adjudicating justice. former bush administration attorney genre michael
actually two props. one is the democrats 2,000 page health care bill and the other is what i would say the republican idea, would be about this thick and you say, mr. president, here are ideas, you sign on right here i can guarantee you 150 republican votes in the house. bret: charles, you still thereof? yeah. do you want the right answer? [ laughter ] bret: yeah, bring it. the right answer is c a trick. here is what you do. you show up and designate one guy who knows a lot about all this health care stuff. a spokesman. you don t have people raising hands and shouting questions. you pick paul ryan who knows this stuff up and down. he is your david. you give him a slingshot and send him up there. bret: listen. we don t want you to get in trouble there on the road. we will send you along your way. are you going to come in here or are you going back home? what s happening? i m going to camp out here and i will make a fire and steak for the evening. bret: thanks for getting
considering a military commission for ksm? there are a series of things that are being looked at, most appropriately the security and logistical concerns of those in new york as a decision is being made. that s what the president is focused on. but has it ruled out the other option? focused on the decision at hand. bret: s white house secretary not pinned down on the question of whether the decision will be to move civilian trials back to military commissions for the trial of khalid sheikh mohammed. it all stems around a the washington post quote from the attorney general. here it is. attorney general eric holder told the post, quote.
bret: okay. welcome back, it s a friday lightning round, your choice online. we had the vote and the pick was charles krauthammer s wild card pick. we have a live shot, i think, of one of the roads around downtown washington. you can see the traffic barely moving there. it s even worse when you get downtown. i think on the phone we have the man. charles krauthammer. charles? yeah. hi, how are you? bret: you haven t moved for like an hour and a half? no. i haven t moved. i m in downtown hell, which is what washington is after a snow storm. it turns out it freezes over the day after the storm when people are trying to get home. bret: all right. so we had to get you on the phone because you won overwhelmingly. your choice online. so what s the question? again, i remain humbled by their confidence of the voters. here is my question. the president has invited the president to a summit on health care at the end of the month. you are a republican strategist. do you boycott purely
single part of the budget has to be part of the solution. it has happened before. remember this? read my lips. no new taxes. [ applause ] part of a budget deal with democrats the first president bush raised taxes three years later. in 1992, candidate bill clinton promised this america on which middle class income, not middle class taxes are going up. one year later president clinton raised middle class taxes on gasoline and social security benefits and raised income taxes on families earning more than $140,000 a year. this white house says president obama has been consistent, cutting taxes last year and middle class tax cuts going forward. the real flip-flopping, the white house says, the republicans who once backed a debt and deficit commission and then voted against it. bret? bret: more on this in the panel. major garrett live on the north lawn. thank you. retail sales posted gain of