McConnell: GOP supports extending unemployment benefits; Cornyn: Americans are nostalgic for Bush; NAACP head faces off with Tea Party

Jul 18, 2010 — Washington Post

Matt DeLong and Aaron Blake

By Matt DeLong and Aaron Blake

Sunday Rundown: A quick roundup of the Sunday talk shows.

CNN: STATE OF THE UNION - McConnell: GOP supports extending unemployment benefits

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-Ky.) appearance was a study in not answering questions, as the senator hewed closely to his talking points at all times. McConnell insisted that Republicans support extending unemployment benefits, but Congress should find the money to pay for it. "If we can't pay for a program like extension of unemployment insurance that virtually every member of the Senate supports ... then what are we going to pay for?" When asked if Americans could trust Republicans after they ran huge deficits when they controlled Congress, McConnell ducked. "Well, the issue is not whether the public thought Republicans spent more than they should have," McConnell said. "The issue is when do we stop doing this?" McConnell again dodged the question when host Candy Crowley followed up by asking if Republicans did, in fact, spend more than they should have. Crowley repeatedly asked McConnell if he would ever consider raising taxes to address the deficit after the recession ends. McConnell answered repeatedly that he opposes raising taxes in the middle of a recession.

Turning to the upcoming midterm elections, McConnell said the "environment is very good for a good year." He added that "if the election were today, we would have a good day." McConnell dismissed the notion that the GOP is simply the "party of no," and countered that Republicans support President Obama on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and would support him if he were to take action on expanding nuclear power and clean coal technology. But he chided the president for "seizing on the spill in the Gulf to try to pass a national energy tax." While he said BP was at fault for the spill, the ensuing disaster was "mainly a failure of the administration." McConnell declined to weigh in on the the NAACP's resolution condemning what it calls racism within the tea party movement.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) argued that Democrats are also concerned about deficits, and said this fall they would "focus on ... not returning to the failed Bush policies that brought us to this point." Hoyer said there are "some individuals who have tried to exacerbate racial tensions in this country" within the tea party movement. "I have seen some virulent flyers that have been directed at our members, clearly referencing race, the president's race and race generally," Hoyer said.

New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu said the White House moratorium on new deepwater oil drilling "adds insult to injury," but he said he knows the administration is "working hard on it."

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CSPAN: NEWSMAKERS - Cornyn: People are nostalgic for Bush

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), the head of Republicans' efforts to win back the Senate this year, said that effort may actually take another cycle and suggested his party is looking ahead to 2012. "I think it's going to be a two-cycle process," he said, noting that there are more than twice as many Democratic seats up next cycle than Republican ones. "We have a structural opportunity to turn the corner there." This cycle, Cornyn estimated his party is winning or tied in races for eight seats currently held by Democrats, which would be just shy of the 10 they need to retake the Senate. He also suggested he may see that takeover through and stay on as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) for another cycle. "I'm open to that possibility," he said.

Cornyn said he has encouraged donors to give to his committee, rather than the embattled Republican National Committee. "It's no secret that RNC's had some problems this time, and frankly we've reached out to major donors and said, this cycle, we'd encourage you to contribute to the Senate committee because of the structure of the Senate and the importance of 41 votes," Cornyn said.

Of controversies over comments by new GOP Senate candidates like Rand Paul and Sharron Angle, Cornyn said there is a learning curve for those candidates. "The role of being a candidate and running for office is different, I think, than some of them might have imagined - particularly the scrutiny that they're going to get," Cornyn said. Cornyn also defended Democrats' attempts to make former President Bush an issue in the 2010 election. "I think President Bush's stock has gone up a lot since he left office," Cornyn said, citing Bush's response to Sept. 11. "I think a lot people are looking back with more fondness on President Bush's administration, and I think history will treat him well."

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CBS: FACE THE NATION - NAACP head faces off with Tea Party

Gov. Bill Richardson (D-N.M.) and former Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R-Ariz.), who is challenging Sen. John McCain for his seat, appeared to debate Arizona's controversial new immigration law. Hayworth dismissed the idea that the law mandates racial profiling. "There is no effort at ethnic profiling," Hayworth said. "The law itself says that the civil rights of all persons will be respected." Richardson countered that law enforcement officials will only apply the law to Hispanics. "They're not going to ask somebody that is not -- that looks like J.D. Hayworth," Richardson said. "They're going to ask somebody that looks like me. And that's the problem with this law. It's unworkable. It's discriminatory." Richardson predicted that if the Arizona law is allowed to take effect, other states will follow. "What you're going to see is potentially a constitutional crisis, with so many states taking what should be a federal responsibility," Richardson said.

NAACP President Ben Jealous faced off against David Webb of the National Tea Party Federation to discuss the NAACP's recent resolution condemning what it calls tea party racism. Webb said Mark Williams, the former chairman and spokesman of Tea Party Express who came under fire last week for writing a satirical letter in which he called slavery a "great gig," had been expelled from the National Tea Party Federation. Webb blasted the NAACP's "selective condemnation of racism," which he attributed to "fringe elements" within the tea party movement, and called on Jealous to denounce members of the New Black Panther Party for saying they want to "kill cracker babies."

"We absolutely denounce the New Black Panther Party," Jealous said, adding that the NBPP is a very small organization. "But they aren't in our group. These folks are in your groups." Webb and Jealous agreed to make joint appearances to discuss race relations and other issues.

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FOX NEWS SUNDAY - Vitter: Obama playing politics with spill

Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) said that even if no more oil leaks into the Gulf of Mexico, Louisiana still has years to deal with the effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. A top critic of President Obama, Vitter noted that the president hasn't been to the state in more than a month, and he accused him of turning his back on the situation. "I'm afraid he's decided to deal with this issue, at least politically, by not coming back here and trying to move it off the front page rather than dealing with the situation forcefully," Vitter said. "That's personally disappointing to me." Vitter estimated that the Obama Administration's deepwater drilling moratorium could cost the area more than 140,000 jobs.

Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) said the Obama administration is guilty of "an absence of leadership" and that Democrats would pay the price in November's elections.

House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said Democrats have moved beyond their anger over White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs's controversial comments last Sunday that their party could lose the House. He said the recent special House election in Pennsylvania's 12th district, where the Democrat won what was supposed to be a tight race by eight points, is evidence that Republicans are overly optimistic. Clyburn said to Pence: "I think you are misreading the tea leaves here - and I do mean that as an intended pun.

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ABC: THIS WEEK - Biden: Dems will hold both Houses

Vice President Joe Biden said he doesn't think Democratic losses in the midterms "will be bad at all." "We're going to win the House," Biden predicted. "We're going to win the Senate. We're not going to lose either one of those bodies." Biden said the administration's policy in Afghanistan will succeed, but he modified earlier reported comments that large numbers of U.S. troops could begin leaving Afghanistan after July 2011. "It could be as few as a couple thousand troops," Biden said. "It could be more. But there will be a transition." The vice president said he didn't take Gen. Stanley McChrystal's disparaging comments about him personally. "Compared to what happens in politics, that was a piece of cake," Biden said, adding that the president made the right decision in firing McChrystal. While Biden said that the tea party "is not a racist organization," he added that "the truth is that at least elements that were involved in some of the tea party folks expressed racist views."

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NBC: MEET THE PRESS - Pete Sessions: 'People had jobs' during Bush years

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), the head of House Democrats' campaigns this year, said President Obama is an asset, rather than a liability, on the campaign trail, and that the commander in chief would campaign across the country this fall. "He's absolutely an asset," Van Hollen said. "He's an asset, and he's also very clearly drawing distinctions here." Van Hollen said members of his party have moved past White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs's controversial remark on last week's Meet the Press that Republicans could take the House in November. Gibbs's remark was seen as unhelpful by party leaders and led to an intra-party backlash. "The Democrats are on the same page now," Van Hollen said. "The Democratic leadership in the House had a great meeting with the president; it was positive."

Responding the Van Hollen's criticism that Republican ideas would lose out in a choice election, National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Pete Sessions (R-Texas) said that idea is "not truthful." "People had jobs when Republicans were not only in charge, but when George Bush was there. We doubled the size of the economy over 12 years. We did things that empowered the free enterprise system."

Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), who leads the Democrats' Senate campaigns, said the 2010 election would not be a referendum on President Obama, as many midterms are under new presidents. "November is a choice election," Menendez said. Both Menendez and Van Hollen predicted Democrats would hold their majorities in the House and Senate. NRSC Chairman John Cornyn (R-Texas) wouldn't predict a Senate takeover, which would require taking 10 Democratic seats, but Sessions predicted his party would take the House, where they need 39 seats. "I think we're going to be slightly over 40," Sessions said.