Reporter certainly. That will be a challenge for some of them especially in districts where the president is very popular. If members did not side with him on this. I think the big question right now is will it get to the floor . Thats a decision that Doesnt Reside in the white house. Its really a decision for the majority leaders of the republicans, Kevin Mccarthy a long with the speaker, they run the floor. If they believe it is sort of a doomed bill, theyve got to make a calculation about tip typically you could see them not put it on the floor with that political exposure for each and every member to be recorded on something that went nowhere. Thats typically how this goes. We saw the president saying he wanted a vote. That was a point of leverage. In the time weve been talking about this and when weve been updating our own whip counts and describing the mood and the atmosphere, i can assure you, if there were people in leadership who thought we had that wrong, they would be callin
reason, and that is very likely the reason. i mean this is not a coincidence that it just happened here. that s correct. it s also not a coincidence, not to jump on the president too much, that he has come here largely and quietly unwelcome in the past, in february of this year to talk about his purported wall. people didn t miss that. they understood that he was coming here to sort of stick a finger in the eye of a largely hispanic city to make his point for his base, which doesn t reside anywhere near here. do you think do you think he should come tomorrow? no, i really don t. i think i think the president would have been wiser to wait first, because even politicians like the governor of texas, greg abbott, has said we have these funerals and memorials to observe. that s accurate, that s true. but the only reason the
reporter: certainly. that will be a challenge for some of them especially in districts where the president is very popular. if members did not side with him on this. i think the big question right now is will it get to the floor? that s a decision that doesn t reside in the white house. it s really a decision for the majority leaders of the republicans, kevin mccarthy a long with the speaker, they run the floor. if they believe it is sort of a doomed bill, they ve got to make a calculation about tip typically you could see them not put it on the floor with that political exposure for each and every member to be recorded on something that went nowhere. that s typically how this goes. we saw the president saying he wanted a vote. that was a point of leverage. in the time we ve been talking about this and when we ve been updating our own whip counts and describing the mood and the atmosphere, i can assure you, if there were people in leadership who thought we had that wrong, they woul
because i don t think that attacking assad militarily will make it more stable. the president think it adds stability, i think it adds instability and makes the chemical weapons fall in the hands of the extremists, more likely, not less likely if we attack assad. so do you believe the way the president s administration has handled this has hurt the u.s. credibility around the world? i think u.s. credibility doesn t reside in one person. i think it has made it difficult for the president to lead this country, because i think he has been a little bit here, there and everywhere, without a clear, precise idea of what our objectives are. so i think in that way, yes, but the question of credibility is more than just one man. it is our whole history as americans. you saw, that america, responding to any of our enemies anywhere in the world, we ll respond with overwhelming force. we ll respond with victory to wipe out anybody who would attack us.
line. that because assad used chemical weapons, americans must act or lose credibility. i would react that america s credibility doesn t reside in one man. if others need to know if america will defend themselves, let them look at 9/11. when attacked we responded with military force and with the military objective with complete objectives. reagan s defense secretary spelled out a systemic approach. first, the american people must be supportive. overwhelmingly supportive. but most importantly, our mission must be to win. there is no clearly defined mission in syria. no clearly defined american interest. in fact, the obama administration has specifically stated that no military solution exists. they have said that the war will be unbelievably small and limited. to me, that sounds like they are pre-announcing that the military