This evening were taking a closer look at challenges ahead for carter and the u. S. Military. We begin with mike viqueira. Hes at the white house for us. Mike . Reporter tony, it was a rarest of occurrenses. Ashton carter contradicted the president on a key issue. President obama had said that arming the Ukrainian Army in their fight against russian rebels in Eastern Ukraine could never work because no matter how much arms you give to the Ukrainian Army, they will never be a match to the russian army. Ashton carter in his hearing said that that is actually a good idea. I think we need to support the ukrainians in defending themselves. The nature of those arms, i havent conferred with our military or ukrainian leaders but i incline in the direction of providing with arms, including to getting what im sure your question is, lethal arms. Now administration spokesmen spent the day back pedaling saying there is no change in u. S. Policy and they would not be sending arms to ukraine any time
Action. Just think, if the election had gone the other way the rich would be basking in the best tax protection known to man, a reallife, genuine mandate to leave them and their money alone. But a funny thing happened on the way to the white house. People voted for tax fairness. They voted to make the rich pay their share, specifically voted that way for one thing because the republicans kept warning them not to. And so it came to pass today that president obama said just that at his press conference. Give the middle class their tax cuts, speaker boehner. Cut it loose so they can go christmas shopping, senator mcconnell. Its what the people voted for. Thats why they voted for me. Thats the president talking. We are joined now by nbcs chief White House Correspondent chuck todd. Thanks for joining us tonight. This was a hot Pressure Cooker press conference and you were in the middle. Lets talk about the president s tactic. It looks like hes got one. Here he is sticking out his message of
Marching to iran. Just think selfdeportation would be the name of the game for immigration. Voter suppression would be the toast of the town, or certain parts of town. The extinction of health care would be hr1, up there on the front burner for congressional action. Just think, if the election had gone the other way the rich would be basking in the best tax protection known to man, a reallife, genuine mandate to leave them and their money alone. But a funny thing happened on the way to the white house. People voted for tax fairness. They voted to make the rich pay their share, specifically voted that way for one thing because the republicans kept warning them not to. And so it came to pass today that president obama said just that at his press conference. Give the middle class their tax cuts, speaker boehner. Cut it loose so they can go christmas shopping, senator mcconnell. Its what the people voted for. Thats why they voted for me. Thats the president talking. We are joined now by nb
Politics. I believe democracy works. I believe good people can come to agreement and stop taking cheap, stupid shots at each other. Okay, didnt work once. It took us to civil war. But that was about a real disagreement. Slavery. It was regional, it was economic, it was historical. It was, after all we came to know, moral. This is a over a law the congress passed, that the Supreme Court of the United States declared constitutional. Its isnt a sign of weakness for boehner to say when he gets up in the morning were going back to the original system . Sorry crazies, were going to go back to the law and move on. Jonathan martin, youre chuckling, but its so sad. Its so sad because all he has to do is say regular order, ladies and gentlemen, were going to do what weve always done. Enforce a law we wrote and the president signed. And he would probably invite a challenge to his speakership if he was to do that. I think the more likely scenario, chris, at this point given were a few days into th
Darn it, i have faith in politics. I believe democracy works. I believe good people can come to agreement and stop taking cheap, stupid shots at each other. Okay, didnt work once. It took us to civil war. But that was about a real disagreement. Slavery. It was regional, it was economic, it was historical. It was, after all we came to know, moral. This is a over a law the congress passed, that the president of the United States signed, the Supreme Court of the United States declared constitutional. Its isnt a sign of weakness for boehner to say when he gets up in the morning were going back to the original system . Sorry crazies, were going to go back to the law and move on. Jonathan martin, youre chuckling, but its so sad. Its so sad because all he has to do is say regular order, ladies and gentlemen, were going to do what weve always done. Enforce a law we wrote and the president signed. And he would probably invite a challenge to his speakership if he was to do that. I think the more