Weekend Watchdog

Weekend Watchdog Wrapup

Terrance Heath — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 12:34:14 -0400

Well, it looks like another 0-for-3 weekend for the watchdog, as most of the questions focused less on the economy and more on the presidential race and campaign tactics.

Michigan Governor Jennifer Granhlom — who stood in for Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin during Sen. Joe Biden's debate prep — was asked about that experience on CBS's Face the Nation, rather than how the economic downturn has impacted people in her state.

On NBC's Meet the Press, Paul Begala spent more time fielding questions about campaign tactics than the economy.

And, on Fox News Sunday, Karl Rove was spared any questions about conservative's penchant for deregulation and how it relates to the current economic crisis.

Oh well, maybe next week we'll actually hear about the issues.

Weekend Watchdog

Terrance Heath — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 17:51:54 -0400

It's been a nail-biter of a week, as the nation's attention rocketed between the bailout wranglings on the Hill (Will there or won't there be a bailout package? There is.) and the vice presidential debate (How will the candidates do? Both survived.). But the real question is: Who will be on the Sunday shows, and what questions will the watchdog ask?

For Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm (CBS, Face the Nation): A lot of the economic news this week impacts your state. The most recent news is that 1 in 5 car dealerships may fail in 2009. That's got to mean that fewer people in your state will have jobs at some point. Meanwhile, the auto industry is set to get a $25 billion loan.

While we're bailing out Wall Street and the auto idustry, are workers in Michigan getting left out of the equation? With the McCain campaign leaving Michigan, what message are conservatives sending to workers like the ones in your state?

For Paul Begala (NBC, Meet the Press):

With the bailout vote behind us — to the tune of $700 million taxpayer dollars — we're now facing the worst jobs report in 5 years. Given the considerable anger over the bailout, and the news that most Americans say they've been harmed by the financial crisis, what will it take to satisfy Americans beyond the bailout?

For Karl Rove (Fox, Fox News Sunday):

All week long, people have blamed regulation and de-regulation for the current economic crisis. What do you make of the New York Times report which blames a 2004 rule change — initiated by the Goldman Sachs head Henry Paulson — that allowed banks to pile up the debts and risks taxpayers are now responsible for?

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Weekend Watchdog Wrapup

Terrance Heath — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 11:54:01 -0400

What a weekend it was for the watchdog, and the rest of the country, as we literally watched history unfold from our respective perches. So much history, that it made it kind of hard to keep score, but we're going to call it 2-for-3 for the watchdog this weekend.

On CBS's Face the Nation, Rep. Barney Frank held forth admirably on what ought to be included in the massive bailout propose by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, but when host Bob Schieffer asked the question we hoped he would, it was actually Republican Senator Richard Shelby who answered.

SCHIEFFER: Senator Shelby, once we get past this, or while this is in progress, are we going to have to have an overhaul of the rules and regulations governing all this?

Sen. SHELBY: Absolutely, Bob. I'm going to go back to this briefly. What caused this? What's the root cause of all this, where we are today? Greed and lack of regulatory oversight. Let's be honest, the Federal Reserve and the other institutions overlooking our financial system, they didn't know what was going on in these institutions. If they did, we wouldn't be where we were today. And I remember about a year ago the Fed chairman, with all due respect to Chairman Bernanke, he said basically we had this contained. I fear that this is not contained and we will repeat it again if we don't have massive, tough regulatory reform in the next Congress.

SCHIEFFER: All right. Well, gentlemen, I want to thank you very much for...

Rep. FRANK: Can I just say amen to that?

SCHIEFFER: Yes, and we have 20 seconds here.

Rep. FRANK: All right. Let me just say--being Jewish I don't ordinarily do this on a Sunday morning, but I just want to say an amen to Senator Shelby.

Of course it would have been even better if someone had pointed out who made sure that credit swaps would be unregulated, ensuring the the government wouldn't know and couldn't know what was going on in the firms we're now bailing out.

On NBC's Meet the Press, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg also talked regulations, and included infrastructure on a list of items in what he thought should parallel track in the all-but-inevitable bailout.

But the man of the Hour was Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who put in appearances on every Sunday morning show we watched, talking about the importance of his proposed $700 billion bailout plan. Surprisingly, Chris Wallace of Fox News Sunday asked a question similar to the one we suggested.

WALLACE: I want to get back to the question of protecting the taxpayer. Since we're bailing out these banks and investment firms, do you limit executive salaries?

And do taxpayers — because after you take the bad debt off, these firms are going to become big again and make millions of dollars. Will taxpayers get a piece of the action, get a piece of equity, in firms as they start to make money?

Paulson's answer, though, was basically along the lines of "give me $700 billion with no accountability and no conditions attached, and we'll talk later about the rest."

WALLACE: But the answer is no, you're not going to be eliminating executive salaries.

PAULSON: But the — I want to say it this way, because if we design it so it's punitive and so institutions aren't going to participate, this won't work the way we need it to work.

Let's talk about executive salaries. There have been excesses there. I agree with the American people. Pay should be for performance, not for failure. We've got work to do in that regard. We need to do that work.

But we need this system to work, and so we — the reforms need to come afterwards. And my whole objective with the plan we have is to give us the maximum ability to make it work.

The rest, of course, being foreclosure relief, and accountability for the firms that will be lining up for a cut of that $700 billion.

Weekend Watchdog

Terrance Heath — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 17:37:49 -0400

After an exhausting week of gasps and gaffes, mostly related to the economy, it's time for another weekend watchdog.

All week long, the headlines have been blaring news of bankruptcy, bailouts, and buyouts up and down Wall Street. Most of us probably have more questions about what's happened, why, and what it means for our famlies, our communities, and our country. Fortunately, this Sunday's line-up includes people who may have answers to those questions.

For House Financial Services Chair Barney Frank (CBS. Face the Nation):

After declaring the economy "sound" on Monday and a "total crisis" on Tuesday, Sen. McCain ended the week ready to pin most of the blame on SEC Chairman Christopher Cox. You said Sen. McCain was attempting to make a "scapegoat" of Cox when the "philosophy" of deregulation is really to blame.

How has deregulation in the financial sector brought us to this point, and what do you see as the best way to begin moving out of this crisis and fixing the problems that caused it?

For New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg (NBC, Meet the Press):

Your city is at the epicenter of this week's financial meltdown. New York City's jobless rate shot up in August, and the state stands to lose 40,000 jobs and $3 billion in tax revenues, with the bottom nowhere in sight.

You've said the stimulus is not working, and proposed infrastructure projects to boost the economy. What else do you think it will take to lead your city, and the country, out of this crisis.

For Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson (Fox, Fox News Sunday):

You're currently working with elected leaders and other government officials on what could end up being the biggest bailout in U.S. history. Meanwhile, taxpayers are already footing the bill for more than $600 billion in loans and bailouts to the firms whose names have been all over the news this year, but a second stimulus — to extend jobless benefits and increase heating subsidies for the poor — goes nowhere. And the auto industry is seeking $25 billion to get out of trouble.

With so much of this being absorbed by taxpayer dollars, what will change and what will the government demand on behalf of taxpayers, in the way of accountability and oversight for companies receiving bailouts?

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Remember: always be brief, polite and respectful when contacting the media, so our voices will be taken seriously.

Weekend Watchdog Wrapup

Terrance Heath — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 12:14:48 -0400

The watchdog was 2-for-3 again this week, even with the two presidential candidates (and one vice presidential candidate) in the Sunday line-up. Depending on how you look at it, that is.

I didn't think it would happen, but Fox New Sunday host Chris Wallace did a pretty good job of posing our question to Rick Davis.

WALLACE: Let's get back to your comment last week that I discussed with David Axelrod.

DAVIS: Sure.

WALLACE: And let's put it up on the screen again. "This election is not about issues. This election is about a composite view of what people take away from these candidates."

...

WALLACE: Rick, do you want to focus on personality or a composite view of the candidates, not issues, because of the fact, for instance, that we've got 6.1 percent unemployment, the highest in five years?

DAVIS: No, Chris. And what you didn't — what you didn't show on the screen was the next sentence, which is the composite view is made up of people's values. It's made up of their opinions. It's made up of their judgment and their principles.

And so then I let — then the next sentence says, "And of course, issues will play an important role in people's final decision."

Fair enough on the next sentence. But will the issues play an "important role" or a primary role in people's final decision? Or does that spot belong to the "composite view" Davis emphasized earlier, and does that view consist of much more than whatever Davis hopes voters will project upon his candidate?

On Face the Nation, McCain briefly mentioned creating jobs before jump from that to — of all things — school vouchers. How will he create jobs? He wasn't asked, and didn't say.

And on This Week, no questions for Obama on when he'll present a bold, comprehensive plan that helps working Americans and their families, and no details beyond the middle class tax-cuts he mentioned before.

See you back here next week!

Weekend Watchdog

Terrance Heath — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 17:35:31 -0400

The conventions are behind us, and as the balloons and confetti are swept up, it's time for for the watchdog to make its weekend rounds. The Sunday show line-up particularly interesting this week, both because of the names you see and the names you don't see.

At least one politician who made a big splash this week isn't taking any questions for a while, but there's lots of time to study (and time for tutoring) on the way home for all the questions to come on the campaign trail. In the meantime, we'll have to make do with the line-up we've got.

For McCain campaign manager Rick Davis (Fox, Fox News Sunday):

You recently declared, "This election is not about issues. This election is about a composite view of what people take away from these candidates."

Do you really believe that "a composite view" of the candidates is what people dealing with record inflation, facing part-time-layoffs at work, going into debt to pay for health care, and worrying about how they're going to heat their homes (if they're not in foreclosure) are looking for, rather than answers to these and other challenges facing lots more American families?

For Sen. Barrack Obama (ABC, This Week):

This week's economic news was bookended by one report that American workers are worse off than they've been in years, and the number of Americans seeking jobless benefits is higher than expected.

You responded to the latter by staying that your opponent "is intent on continuing the economic policies that just this year have caused the American economy to lose 605,000 jobs," and promised immediate action if you become president. When will you present a bold, comprehensive plan that addresses the concerns facing working Americans, and those who are out of work?

For Sen. John McCain (CBS, Face the Nation):

In response to the report on jobless claims, you "Washington has failed to act," and promised to create jobs. Can you give specifics on how you plan to create jobs or where those jobs will come from?

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Remember: always be brief, polite and respectful when contacting the media, so our voices will be taken seriously.

Weekend Watchdog Wrapup

Terrance Heath — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:00:36 -0400

It looks like another 0-for-3 weekend for the watchdog, even with an opportunity to ask two questions of Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice.

There was one tantalizing moment on NBC's Meet the Press, when host David Gregory pressed Sec. Rice on the U.S. role in advising Georgia. (Something we'd hoped Fox News Sunday would tackle, but more on that in a second.)

MR. GREGORY: But you--this is a close U.S. ally and you warned them don't provoke the Russians, don't do this.

SEC'Y RICE: David, I...

MR. GREGORY: We have a lot of influence over them.

SEC'Y RICE: David, as I've said, this--you can't just start with, "we told the Georgian's this." We also told the Russians not to engage in certain activities that they were engaging in. This was a zone of conflict, we were trying to do it peacefully. But whatever happened before this, once this broke out in South Ossetia, it could have been confined to South Ossetia. Rather than confine it to that and deal with the facts on the ground there, the Russians decided to go deeper into Georgia, to bomb Georgian ports, to bomb Georgian military installations, to go into the city of Gori. And so it was that escalation that got us to the point that where we're at now. And that...

MR. GREGORY: And give--but given...

SEC'Y RICE: ...fully has been...

MR. GREGORY: ...that escalation, Secretary Rice, do you understand why there are some within the Georgian leadership who feel betrayed by the U.S.? Do they have an unreasonable expectation that the U.S. would come in guns blazing, as it were, to protect them?

SEC'Y RICE: I don't think anybody had an expectation that the United States was going to use military force in this conflict. But we need to keep the focus on the culprit here, and the culprit here is that Russia over-reached, used disproportionate force against a small neighbor and is now paying the price for that, because Russia's reputation as a potential partner in international institutions, diplomatic, political, security, economic, is frankly in tatters.

When President Medvedev gave that very forward-leaning speech just a few weeks ago, saying that Russia was going to be a modern state, it was going to look to Western institutions, it was going to be integrated into the international system, well, if this is what he had in mind, that's a real problem. And I think now that vision that Medvedev put on the table is really in serious doubt, and serious trouble.

Notice how that next-to-last paragraph was uttered with out a hint of irony? That lack of irony carried over to Sec. Rice's interview on Fox New Sunday.

WALLACE: Secretary Rice, if Russia complies with the cease-fire, do relations go back to normal or, as Secretary Gates says, do there have to be consequences for the action that Russia has already taken in the last 10 days?

RICE: Well, I think there's no doubt there will be further consequences. I would note that there have already been significant consequences for Russia.

You know, any notion that Russia was the kind of responsible state, ready to integrate into international institutions of the political, diplomatic, security, economic kind, that this was a different Russia — a Russia, by the way, that President Medvedev himself described about a month ago — this forward-leaning, modern Russia, well, you know, that reputation's, frankly, in tatters, and so that in itself is a significant consequence.

And also, by the way, if the Russians intended this as intimidation, they have done nothing but harden the attitudes of the small states around them, as witnessed by Ukraine's defiance in going to Georgia, Poland, the fact that we are moving forward on missile defense.

I think the Russians have made a significant mistake here.

Meanwhile, the move to bring Georgia into NATO has slowed a little — with the U.S. now advocating that Georgia and the Ukraine become part of a "Membership Action Plan" that's not membership, but a kind of anteroom for "resolving conflicts" first.

So, Secretary Rice went down to Georgia, looking to broker a cease-fire and turn back an invasion that reminded her more of 1968 than 2003, but Russia has only kinda sorta withdrawn.

Tune in on Friday, when the watchdog will once again ask...

Weekend Watchdog

Terrance Heath — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 18:11:29 -0400

Every Friday in our Weekend Watchdog feature, we post suggested questions for scheduled Sunday guests. You can add your own questions in the comment thread. We'll also include contact information for the shows, so we can let them know what their viewers want asked. We'll post a wrap-up here on the blog on Monday.

We, the watchdog and many others, had Georgia on our minds this week. Not my home state, memorably saluted in song by Ray Charles, but former Soviet Republic invaded by Russia — an act that may have had its roots in U.S. policy, and one that we saw coming but were stretched too thin to prevent — after Georgia attacked the tiny region of South Ossetia.

With Russia in the news, and looking like a major player on the world stage, it's no surprise that Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice is making the rounds of the Sunday Shows, fresh from a recent trip to the region, bearing a cease fire agreement and a recommendation that Russia ... uh ... stop the invasion and ... uh ... withdraw from Georgia. (She also stopped to shake hands with a Georgian president who sounded eerily like another president who launched an invasion a while back.)

We've got a rare chance to ask the Secretary two questions, since she's appearing on two different Sunday shows.

For Secretary Rice ( NBC's Meet the Press):

The president has chastised Russia for "bullying and intimidation" in it's military tactics, and you said that Russia had to accept Georgia's sovereignty and respect its territorial integrity. When did invading a country that poses no threat to you become unacceptable in the 21st century?

For Secretary Rice, again (Fox's Fox News Sunday):

As a Russian expert, could anyone have predicted Russia's actions as a response to the U.S. pushing too aggressively to bring Georgia into NATO while the U.S. and Russia were still at odds over security issues? And, in that light, how wise was it to pursue that course when we're too bogged down in Iraq to respond to another crisis.

And for McCain campaign national co-chair Tom Ridge (Fox's, Fox New Sunday):

As former Homeland Security Chief, how much safer are we now given that our own senior terrorism analysts are saying that Al Qaeda has gotten stronger and is more capable of attacking inside the United States, and the Army is now reviewing security measures at our research laboratories while Homeland Security ignores expert evaluations and apparently plays politics with biolab security.

And about this:

It was the type of foreign policy rhetorical blunder that has regularly plagued the McCain campaign and could have diplomatic ripples as well. Certainly the comment was meant in innocence. But for those predisposed to the notion that the U.S. is an increasingly arrogant international actor, the suggestion by a presidential candidate that, in this day and age, countries don't invade one another -- when the U.S. is occupying two foreign nations -- does little to alleviate that negative perception.

Really?

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Remember: always be brief, polite and respectful when contacting the media, so our voices will be taken seriously.

Weekend Watchdog Wrapup

Terrance Heath — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 12:16:06 -0400

It was almost a 1-in-3 weekend for the watchdog, in which — once again — a question that wasn't asked was very nearly answered.

On ABC's This Week, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger praised John McCain's take on the economy, urging voters to look at the Senators voting record and not "soundbites from the campaign trail." But it was the source of those "soundbites" that caused Carly Fiorina to engage in some fancy footwork on NBC's Meet the Press.

Actually, it was more like fancy footwork with a dash of wishful thinking, the first step being a not-so-artful dodge about a certain economic adviser to the McCain Campaign.

MS. CARLY FIORINA: Well, John McCain, after making the statement that you just played, was asked directly whether Senator Gramm would have a position in his Cabinet, and his response was, "Well, perhaps he'd make a good ambassador to Belarus, but I'm not sure the citizens of Minsk would welcome him." I think John McCain's been real clear that Phil Gramm wasn't speaking for him and, in fact, John McCain has said now for many months that he believes the economy is in a recession. It's clear Americans are hurting. It's--they're hurting when they fill up their car with gas; they're hurting when they go to the grocery store.

MR. BROKAW: But the question is will Senator Gramm continue to have a role in the campaign? Will he be listed on the letterhead and will he be in the meetings in which they discuss the economy?

MS. FIORINA: I don't think Senator Gramm will any longer be speaking for John McCain, and I think John McCain was crystal clear about that this week. And I think...

But the wishful thinking is somethign that must be seen to be believed.

In response to Phil Gramm calling American's a nation of "whiners," the best reponse Fiorina can come up with is that nobody's paying attention to what people like her are saying when they campaign for John McCain?

I guess there's no harm in hoping that they aren't. Depending on who you ask...

Weekend Watchdog

Terrance Heath — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 17:59:50 -0400

It's watchdog time again, and here's what we've got:

For California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (ABC, This Week): You're a McCain supporter, but you recently parted ways with the McCain campaign on offshore drilling.

Your state is one of the hardest hit by the subprime mortgage crisis — with foreclosures up 77% over last year, matched by an increase in homeless students. You've signed legislation to help homeowners facing foreclosure.

What do you think about Phil Gramm — who some say helped make the subprime crisis possible — remarking Americans have become "a nation of whiners" in the face of the Bush economy?

For T. Boone Pickens (Fox, Fox News Sunday): You called $100 oil a crazy idea. Now it's getting close to $150 per barrel, and many Americans are paying over $100 to fill up their gas tanks.

Saudia Arabia's oil production promises are looking like a pipe dream, and experts predicting a third global "oil shock." You've come forward witn an ambitious plan to develop an alternative energy source. What do you know about reducing dependency on foreign oil that the McCain campaign doesn't?

For Carly Fiorina (NBC, Meet the press): In a recent interview you blamed our economic crisis on "greed on Wall Street" and "a lack of transparency around a new set of financial instruments."

Who made sure that "new set of financial instruments" were unregulated? Care to give us a name?

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