Live Blogging JK on Fox News Sunday - UPDATED
JK is going to be on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace today. For many of us that comes on at 10 am eastern, so be here ready to live blog then.
What’s the subject? Fox News puts it this way:
Four years after the Iraq war began the country watches to see whether the U.S. troop surge in Iraq will work. The Senate Republicans have just defeated the Democratic plan to begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq by March 31, 2008, but the debate over withdrawal could begin again during debate on the Iraq supplemental spending bill. We’ll talk about the next push to create a deadline for withdrawal with Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.
Need to check the schedule for your local Fox affiliate? Click here for airtimes.
And if you haven’t finished your cup of coffee (as I hadn’t when I first looked), you’re looking for the local Fox affiliate station, not the Fox News cable station.
See you at 10 am eastern!
UPDATE: The transcript is now available here
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My .02.
The Senate Republicans didn’t defeat the Democrats. What they did is failed the troops. They failed the troops because they opted to keep with the same old politics instead of joining hands with the Democrats to work out the fastest way to bring the troops home.
It’s time for the Republicans to stop the spin and their fake war games and instead they must act and vote as if their own children were actually in Fallujah fighting in the Civil War.
I agree, Tia. This isn’t about politics, it’s about lives. And yet those voting against the deadline don’t seem to have a clue, much less a viable alternative.
“Wait and see” is not an exit strategy. The people have spoken, but for some reason, not enough in Congress are listening. They need to hear from their constituents.
I called my Republican senator. It doesn’t matter his political affiliation, he still works for me. Perhaps if enough of them hear from enough of us, something can be done.
This IS a battle worth fighting.
Tia and GV, I agree. This is really about saving lives.
The progress is clear, though. From 13 Senators supporting a deadline nine months ago to 48 now.
It’s time to focus on the holdouts, the remaining Democrats (2) and the Republicans.
OK. Looks like Sen Kerry is up after the break.
OK. JK up now. Hey, nice green tie. :-)
He’s wearing the green, very nice.
Talking about the attys and how they were removed for political reasons.
You don’t own US attorneys, this is POLITICAL.
Two wrongs don’t make a right. There’s a cloud over this atty general.
Atty. Gen. does nt have the crdibility not just on this, but Guantanamo, Patriot Act, etc.
He is so right on what is happening with this escalation.
This isn’t a precipitous withdrawal. It’s a year from now.
Fox is for the first time listing JK’s credentials! That’s amazing!
This is what the msn should have done since 04 for all the candidates.
Chris says 12 votes short, but JK corrected him. We’re actually 19 votes short of overcoming the veto.
“You have to keep fighting, keep trying.”
Setting Wallace straight on the K/F vote. You and others in the media twist what this plan.
It’s good to see JK not only correcting Wallace on his vote counts (need 67 to override a veto, not just 60 to pass bill) and on the characterization of his proposal as “precipitous,” which it’s not—no acrimony, just insistence on getting the facts right. More interestingly, Wallace isn’t pushing back against being corrected. This is a very solid interview, lots of meat on the bones with little or no fat sizzling on the side.
Pointed out the 67 votes needed.
Get em John.
Chris changing the subject to the 2008 election.
Who knew?
Need 12 more votes and seven for security. In other words, 67.
Says he didn’t run because everything he would be fighting for would be clouded by a political prism.
JFK actually did quite a good job. I’m surprised. He is the only one who has made it crystal clear to me why the Republican claim that Democrats want to cut and run is completely false.
Talked about talking with a soldier yesterday who’s deploying who volunteered after his son-in-law was blown up by an IED, so that another family would not have to go through the pain that their family has dealt with.
Re ‘08, JK didn’t want the fight for Iraq withdrawal to be clouded by a political campaign. Bringing it back to the issue at hand.
Way to control the interview, JK!
JK again having to explain his decision to withdraw from the ‘08 race specifically to focus on the most critical issue of ending the war in Iraq—says it wasn’t a political withdrawal because he couldn’t win the nomination, he came from behind in ‘04 and he knows how to do it again, but that jockeying for campaign position at this time would be a major distraction from focusing on ending the war and that’s why he didn’t want to split his efforts.
“Senator make sure that 20 years from now that this was all worth it.”
Wallace got put in place again by JK.
Good interview indeed. Had it been about JK the ‘08 candidate, the whole thing would have been about campaign politics and it would have sucked all the attention away from the real issues at hand. Looks like it was the correct decision not to run this time, if that allows him to stay so strongly on message like he was able to do with Wallace this morning.
Look at the media…now that they know he’s not running, they’re finally having real meaty interviews with him instead of barbed-spin jabs at him.
The difference in dynamics between Wallace and JK with this interview as opposed to their one form a few weeks back is quite evident. With the RW-spin points about JK-the-candidate off the table, Wallace was respectful and asked questions about the real issues at hand, not digressing into ad hominem stuff.
Posted by fedup | March 18, 2007 10:32 AM
Huh? Explain please!
Senator Kerry certainly has been speaking out without the political trappings of a presidential campaign. Ending the war is too important to leave to spin and phony promises. People are dying for real and the debate should be honest, taking into consideration the realities on the ground in Iraq.
Posted by Tia | March 18, 2007 10:35 AM
Senator Kerry was telling what a Captain had said to him in Iraq.
Tia, agree. Soon they can stop asking him why he chose not to run. That will leave more time for meaty questions. :-)
Mr. Smith, I agree, except I’m not surprised in the least. Sen Kerry has been very clear and very consistent on this issue.
What surprises me is that those who called Kerry/Feingold ‘precipitous’ last June are jumping on the bandwagon now. It’s basically the same plan.
It’s a welcome surprise, though, to be sure. I don’t care where the votes come from at this point, the more the better. From 13 last June to 48 now is good progress.
Next time, we get the couple Dem holdouts and some reasonable Republicans and we get 67.
JK made Chris Wallace apologize for not getting the facts straight. Way to go, JK! He was totally in control of that interview. Facts and substance reigned. It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood.. : )
Posted by GV | March 18, 2007 10:39 AM
We need to target the Republicans with faxes and emails. It’s time to stop giving Bush and his floudering three-stooges a blank check for endless war.
Posted by Tia | March 18, 2007 10:45 AM
Well, Tia, I think I may have a shot with Specter, although he has a habit of acting the rebel, then backing down when push comes to shove.
IMO, we need to focus on those who are up for election in ‘08. A pretty decent majority of Americans do not want this war. The people have spoken, and, just as in ‘06, they will make their displeasure with the Republicans known at the ballot box.
Let’s hope the pressure causes the Republicans in Congress to rethink their support of this immoral war sooner rather than later.
Did anyone see photos of the protests yesterday. These are from AP, but check out the Nebraska (think Senators Hagel and Nelson) protest here (link is to DU). I also think VA Sen. Warner could be brought around.
Posted by GV | March 18, 2007 10:52 AM
Spector always backs down. But as you said…we need to make sure those up for re-election in 08 know that their vote matters.
Posted by ProSense | March 18, 2007 10:59 AM
I think Warner could be brought around too.
I need to find out what Stabenaw and Levin did. Stabenaw because she’s a corporatist and Levin since it’s his bill that wasn’t picked in this round.
What’s up with Hagel, ProSense, any idea? I thought he was a pretty strong opponent of this war.
Did he make a statement about his vote?
GV, not that I know of. It will be interesting to see if Sen. Hagel continues his pre-vote rhetoric about Iraq.
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/03/18/iglesias-political-hit
Iglesias: My Firing Was A ‘Political Hit’
Tia, that’s an interesting interview. Thanks for the link. There is also an article in the NYT with more details about Iglesias and McKay.
Thanks, everyone for the great posts. For some of us out here on the West Coast, this won’t air until 3:00 this afternoon. (I’m a Time-Warner Cable customer.) The schedule said 8:00 a.m., but they just had a tease…and I’ve been up since 6:30 PDT watching for this. :(
Keeping timely access to such a great interview from the Los Angeles community really could mute JK’s positive support…don’t you think? There sure are a LOT of people in LA. :)
I’d be interested to hear from any other West Coast people about whether they had access to this interview at 8:00 a.m. Anyone????
In case you missed this program, it’s repeated at 6 pm on Fox News CABLE channel, at least on east coast. .
Good job one and all. It is a great idea to do these live blogs.
Oh, and of course, Senator Kerry did well. He actually looked better and younger than I have seen him look recently.
Nice job live blogging everyone! Been in and out of the loop, and thanks for the recap!
Thanks for the update, as I’ve been mostly unavailable and out of network all week
I agree with comments here on his youthful and rested appearance. Does he take time to rest?
What Kerry said was equally crisp, animated, taking control of the points and arguments. I wish more media allowed him the forum.
Good job, Senator.
Chris Wallace and Faux News Sunday are on at 8 am on the greater Seattle market? Who knew?
The senator gave a good interview - do wish he would have reminded Wallace about the revision in the updated Patriot Act about revoking the right of the Senate to review these US Attorneys; but hey when words are flying, sometimes it’s hard to remember.
Otherwise, good job JK.
senator kerry, i believe that fox news has done you a disservice.
fox transcript:
(hat tip to beachmom @ dailykos for this catch.)