dionne, presidential historian doris kearns goodwin and president of the national urban league, marc morial. captions paid for by nbc-universal television first some news. in a statement released this morning the commander of u.s. forces in afghanistan general david petraeus condemns the burning of the holy koran by florida pastor terry jones last month. the incident has sparked deadly anti-american protests throughout afghanistan undermining u. undermining u.s. efforts there as the focus is on the jobless rate with the threat of shutting down the government looms. if these budget negotiations break down, we could end up having to shut down the government. just at a time when the government is starting to recover. all this as republicans ready a long-term budget plan that
region fight for liberty so that these governments are less hostile toward the united states. there are so many reasons for us to be here and show leadership and i argue republicans and democrats ought to stand together with the president to make sure this thing ends well for the united states. are we in a conflict that has at its core a vital u.s. interest. i pose that question to secretary of defense on this program last week. this is what he said. is libya in our vital interest as a country? no, i don t think it s vital interest for the united states. but we clearly have interests there and it s part of the region which is a vital interest for the united states. part of that interest as the president outlined in a speech that a lot of people thought was about libya but about something of obama doctrine was humanitarian. you read the papers this morning about 800 civilians killed. how do we warm a policy around when we intervene and whether we don t if this is not a war that
what this reminds me of is 88. they were called the serve dwarves. it wasn t fair. it caught on. i think what you see are decent enough candidates with tim pawlenty in the world due caucus. they have a problem. i think mitch daniels if he runs could be an interesting candidate. i m not sure he s running. i think what will be interesting is to see whether serious republicans bypass the race in 12 thinking toward 16 number one and number two, whether or not the republicans shift to stepping back to say let s nominate the person who would have the best general election chances against president obama. it s going to be fascinating. what s interesting is it s taken a long time for people to sort of get to the starting gate and say i m going to run.
the foreign minister has defected. they are treating him well. he s providing valuable information to the british and the united states and to the rebels. at this point just by the fact he s cooperating and being treated well, more defections that will follow is adding pressure. you heard senator durbin talk about pressure on the regime. the wall street journal argued for a robust unified voice from republicans saying republicans ought to prod president obama to push for a faster resolution that ends with toppling of gadhafi and his sons from power. it represents a divided libya short of that. if there is any leader whose terrorist nature the american people understand it is gadhafi. should that be the view of the republican party to topple him? is that realistic? i do think gadhafi remaining in power is not an option. it s not an option.
medicare and then he goes to the state of the union that could be coming. paul ryan will be here next sunday. that includes vouchers for medicare, cutting medicaid, some serious attempts to deal with entitlements. it also involves an effort to really, really put a lot of pain on important constituents of the president. the key is that the president has to work to change the discussion so the discussion is not just cutting domestic discretionary spending but putting it all on the table. it s got to be across the board or there won t be a serious plan. this is how it s different this time. nothing clarifies the mind like hanging in the morning and the crisis we face behind closed doors is a serious matter. you see the beginning of a big fight. republicans will be for painful spending cuts. democrats will easily demagogue that. they are hitting taxes which is