well, that s it for this edition of reliable sources. i m howard kurtz. we re off next sunday when cnn will be providing live coverage of the dedication of the martin luther king memorial on the mall in washington. we re back the following week with another critical look at the media. state of the union with candy crowley begins right now. an august of angst, at the battle of 2012 erode the president s support. today, the summer slump with obama senior campaign strategist david axelrod and then job creation in uncertain times with governors o malley of maryland and mcdonnell of virginia. and congressman elijah cummings, former chair of the black caucus, and analysis from greg ip, an economic editor of the economist, and chrystia freeland, editor of thomson reuters digital. i am candy crowley, and this is state of the union. what a difference a year makes, or not so much. last year at this time, president obama was vacationing on martha s vineyard, and that s where he
congress should put the bill on his desk. you have just compared, sir, the decision over policy, don t ask/don t tell, with the president who s also commander in chief under our constitution, has made a policy judgment to get rid of it, and he s supported business his cabinet and joint chiefs. you re comparing that to an objective statement that we face default if we don t pass the debt ceiling. that s a screwy comparison. no, your listeners understand that. your listeners understand it and so do the people that i m dealing with. they know. who are you dealing with? the american citizens, who will elect the next president of the united states np who elected the house of representatives, that s who. you re polls in your district to find out whether the united states goes into default or not at the end of this month. it s your district that s telling you this information? they know what s going to happen here s another thing. i know this is a revelation, but i have an indep
will not service the debt. it should not be his discretion. congress should put the bill on his desk. you have just compared, sir, the decision over policy, don t ask/don t tell, with the president who s also commander in chief under our constitution, has made a policy judgment to get rid of it, and he s supported business his cabinet and joint chiefs. you re comparing that to an objective statement that we face default if we don t pass the debt ceiling. that s a screwy comparison. no, your listeners understand that. your listeners understand it and so do the people that i m dealing with. they know. who are you dealing with? the american citizens, who will elect the next president of the united states np who elected the house of representatives, that s who. you re polls in your district to find out whether the united states goes into default or not at the end of this month. it s your district that s telling you this information? they know what s going to happen here s ano
and control structure in pakistan and in afghanistan of people who have made no hesitation to say they are wanting to plot activity against the united states. there s a policy judgment to be made about how much you want to risk the loss of life of civilians or noncombatants. how careful you ought to be. those are decisions about the lawfulness, not the use of, military force. david gergen s been right at the center of those operational decisions in the oval office with multiple presidents when these decisions are made. first, does the president when he s determining what to do here, do you consider the legality or do you just say we re going to get osama bin laden, we ll worry about the legal mess after, call the lawyers in once we re done? sure, clinton, first thing he would have said is call walter dellinger, ask him, he s the guy that will know. that s the right answer. walter, solicitor general, wonderful constitutional
i m referring, of course, to the administration s pattern of rushing to a policy judgment and then subsequently studying the problem that the policy decision was intended to address. but despite the opposition robert gibbs said the white house is confident the senate will ratify the start treaty before leaving town. i guess they are hoping for a christmas miracle. joining me now with reaction is the sanest man in hollywood jon voight. john, this whole thing seems like something from another era, the idea of so much being attached to getting a treaty with russia over a nuclear weapons. is it even relevant to the world we are living in today? well, there is a lot to say about that. but, let me just say, this mark. first of all, it s very nice to be meeting you in this way. i have great respect for you and your intelligence and your passion have lifted my spirits over the last years. mark: that s great. i will take that compliment. okay. and you, too, by the way.