If it’s Sunday, it’s Meet the Press… and Fox News Sunday… and Face the Nation… and This Week…
The White House sent David Axelrod and U.N. ambassador Susan Rice to the studios this weekend, and both made an effort to downplay the emerging narrative that Hamid Karzai thinks the U.S. mission in Afghanistan is hopeless. Here’s Axelrod on Meet the Press. The discussion of the NYT Karzai story starts around the 1:50 mark:
Susan Rice expressed similar sentiments regarding the NYT’s reporting on Fox News Sunday, calling it “fallacious.” But considering her supposed behind-the-scenes push for a United Nations inquiry into the Gaza flotilla incident, her choicest comments might have been those regarding that investigation. As summarized by host Chris Wallace on his blog:
Ambassador Rice reaffirmed the US’s postition on Israel’s investigation into the deadly flotilla incident, stating that “We’ve said from the outset that we believe Israel has the will and the capacity to conduct such a credible and impartial investigation.”
“We think that an international component would strengthen the investigation and certainly buttress its credibility,” Rice said, adding that Israel has the right “to conduct a national investigation of any event that affects their national security.”
Hard to tell if Rice’s statements lend credence to the White House’s denial of Bill Kristol’s reporting that the U.S. would push hard next week for an independent international commission to look into the issue or if she’s equivocating.
The ongoing oil spill crisis in the Gulf dominated much of the Sunday show coverage. During Axelrod’s Meet the Press interview, he revealed that President Obama plans to address the nation this Tuesday night. And on CBS’s Face the Nation, Helen Thomas graduation-speech-fill-in Bob Schieffer focused mainly on the disaster. Schieffer interviewed Admiral Thad Allen, who gave some details of the government’s plan for dealing with claims to be paid by BP:
It’s not clear to us that there’s the right of transparency involved concerning the data, how long it takes to pay claims. We’ll be talking about an independent third party that can administer a fund to make sure it happens quicker.
Schieffer also convened a panel of Gulf state governors including Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, an insiders’ dark horse pick for the GOP presidential nomination in 2012. Here’s Barbour discussing claims payments and his view that a drilling moratorium would be the worst thing possible for the Gulf and the nation:
Over on ABC’s This Week, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer made a joint appearance with House Minority Leader John Boehner, and the two found common ground on the issue of BP’s shielding from claims by liability caps:
Oh, and Carly Fiorina booked her first Sunday TV appearances as the California GOP’s Senate nominee, stopping by the sets at Fox and NBC. Wait… She was on both Fox News Sunday and Meet the Press? Both? Really? That’s just so bizarre. It boggles the mind… Also: what was with David Gregory’s hair during that roundtable? Sooo yesterday. Seriously, though, he is NOT an easy interview.
Carly, we love you, but you might want to avoid overexposure. Just saying.