Links: Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4

Meet The Press: Robert Gibbs, Jordanian King Abdullah II, Meacham and Goodwin.

CBS News’ Face The Nation: Senator John McCain, Senator Patrick Leahy, Tina Brown and Bob Woodward.

Watch CBS Videos Online

Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace: Lawrence Summers, Senator Carl Levin and Senator Kit Bond.

Links: Clip 1 – Clip 2

CNN’s State of the Union with John King: Senior White House Adviser Valerie Jarrett, Senator Dianne Feinstein, Senator Joe Lieberman and Sen. Lindsey Graham plus Mary Matalin and James Carville.

Overall Winner: ‘This Week’ by a mile… the interview with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was very watchable. George took him to task on a few things and, even though he gave up on the holocaust question, it was a good back-and-forth. This is the second win in as many weeks for ABC News.

This Week on ABC News was the best of the bunch this Sunday. George Stephanopoulos had an engaging back-and-forth with President Obama’s Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. Topics ranged from health care to the economy and they even hit on the possible prosecution of former Bush administration officials (Rahm says ‘no’). Check out the video here.

Over on the dying-by-the-week Meet the Press on NBC, David Gregory had an exclusive with White House National Economic Council Director Larry Summers. The man with the longest title in the world had quite a bit to say about the current state of our economy. If you missed it, you can watch the interview here.

Face the Nation on CBS had a decent lineup this week. Bob Schieffer chatted with Senior White House Advisor David Axlerod and Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell. There was also and interesting discussion with Wayne LaPierre, Executive Vice President of the National Rifle Association. Catch up with Face the Nation here.

The most interesting segment of Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace this week didn’t even make it to air. The FNS after show, Panel Plus, had a great give-and-take about the release of detainee interrogation documents by the Obama administration. I’ll embed the video below.

Finally, on CNN’s epically long (the show runs from 9AM to 1PM ET) State of the Union, John King interviewed Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano about a controversial DHS report on ‘right wing extremist threats’ in the United States that was widely viewed as disparaging to war veterans. Video of that interview should be up shortly on SOTU’s CNN website.

The vast new left-wing conspiracy sets its tone every morning at 8:45 a.m., when officials from more than 20 labor, environmental and other Democratic-leaning groups dial into a private conference call hosted by two left-leaning Washington organizations.

The “8:45 A.M. call,” as it’s referred to by members, began three weeks ago, and it marks a new level in coordination by the White House’s allies at a time when the conservative opposition is struggling for a toe-hold and major agenda items like health care reform appear closer than ever to passage.
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The call is hosted by Progressive Media, a project of the CAP Action Fund and the Media Matters Action Fund. The project began last year as a launching pad for attacks on John McCain, but failed to raise money for television advertisements, and served in the later days of the presidential campaign as a platform for disseminating opposition research critical of his policy plans. White House officials do not take part in the calls.

Hot Air points out a bevy of similar deals on the Left…

Truthfully, I don’t think the folks on this call have the power they are pretending to wield. I’m much more disturbed by the fact that Carville (CNN), Stephanopoulos (ABC), Begala (CNN) and Rahm Emanuel (no network… he’s simply the President’s Chief of Staff) join in on calls to coordinate and share information on a daily basis.

The never-ending campaign rolls on…

Conspiracy? Probably not… Discomforting? For sure.

ABCNEWS: CIA Spy Boss Allegedly Drugged Muslim Women, Made Secret Sex Videos… station chief in Algeria under investigation…

More:

The discovery of more than a dozen videotapes showing the CIA officer engaged in sex acts with other women has led the Justice Department to broaden its investigation to include at least one other Arab country, Egypt, where the CIA officer had been posted earlier in his career, according to law enforcement officials.

The ABC News report is now live on their website…

Emanuel appeared “beet-red,” according to an ABC News cameraman who was invited inside by Emmanuel to use his bathroom this morning.

“I’m getting regular death threats. You’ve put my home address on national television. I’m pissed at the networks. You’ve intruded too much, ” Emanuel said, according to the cameraman.

Is it because he has something to hide in the Blagojevich case?

Sarah Palin on Hillary Clinton:

GIBSON: I saw you quoted somewhere as speaking rather admiringly of Mrs. Clinton, Senator Clinton, during the primary campaign. Do you think Obama should’ve picked her?

PALIN: I think he’s regretting not picking her now, I do. What, what determination, and grit, and even grace through some tough shots that were fired her way, she handled those well.

Update: Video added after the cut…

More excerpts after the cut…

Sarah Palin on ‘Bridge to Nowhere’:

GIBSON: You have said continually, since he chose you as his vice-presidential nominee, that I said to Congress, thanks but not thanks. If we’re going to build that bridge, we’ll build it ourselves.

PALIN: Right.

GIBSON: But it’s now pretty clearly documented. You supported that bridge before you opposed it. You were wearing a t-shirt in the 2006 campaign, showed your support for the bridge to nowhere.

PALIN: I was wearing a t-shirt with the zip code of the community that was asking for that bridge. Not all the people in that community even were asking for a $400 million or $300 million bridge.

GIBSON: But you turned against it after Congress had basically pulled the plug on it; after it became apparent that the state was going to have to pay for it, not the Congress; and after it became a national embarrassment to the state of Alaska. So do you want to revise and extend your remarks.

PALIN: It has always been an embarrassment that abuse of the ear form — earmark process has been accepted in Congress. And that’s what John McCain has fought. And that’s what I joined him in fighting. It’s been an embarrassment, not just Alaska’s projects. But McCain gives example after example after example. I mean, every state has their embarrassment.

GIBSON: But you were for it before you were against it. You were solidly for it for quite some period of time…

PALIN: I was…

GIBSON: … until Congress pulled the plug.

PALIN: I was for infrastructure being built in the state. And it’s not inappropriate for a mayor or for a governor to request and to work with their Congress and their congressmen, their congresswomen, to plug into the federal budget along with every other state a share of the federal budget for infrastructure.

GIBSON: Right.

PALIN: What I supported was the link between a community and its airport. And we have found that link now.
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Sarah Palin on Congressional Spending:

GIBSON: The state of Alaska, under OMB figures in 2008, got $155 million in earmarks for a population of 670,000. That’s $231 per person in Alaska. The state of Illinois, Obama’s state, got $22 per person. You got ten times per person as much. How does that square with your reforms?

PALIN: We have drastically, drastically reduced our earmark request since I came into office.

GIBSON: But you still have multiple of any other state.

PALIN: We sure are — and this is what — you go out and you ask any Alaskan this. This is what I’ve been telling Alaskans for these years that I’ve been in office, is no more.

GIBSON: Governor, this year, requested $3.2 million for researching the genetics of harbor seals, money to study the mating habits of crabs. Isn’t that exactly the kind of thing that John McCain is objecting to?

PALIN: Those requests, through our research divisions and fish and game and our wildlife departments and our universities, those research requests did come through that system, but wanting it to be in the light of day, not behind closed doors, with lobbyists making deals with Congress to stick things in there under the public radar. That’s the abuse that we’re going to stop. That’s what John McCain has promised over and over for these years and that’s what I’m joining him, also, saying, you’re right, the abuse of earmarks, it’s un-American, it’s undemocratic, and it’s not going to be accepted in a McCain-Palin administration. Earmark abuse will stop.

Sarah Palin on Hillary Clinton:

GIBSON: I saw you quoted somewhere as speaking rather admiringly of Mrs. Clinton, Senator Clinton, during the primary campaign. Do you think Obama should’ve picked her?

PALIN: I think he’s regretting not picking her now, I do. What, what determination, and grit, and even grace through some tough shots that were fired her way, she handled those well.

In her first of three interviews with ABC News’ Charles Gibson and the only interview since being picked by Sen. John McCain as his Republican vice presidential nominee, Palin categorized the Russian invasion of Georgia as “unacceptable” and warned of the threats from Islamic terrorists and a nuclear Iran.

I’ve made a point of being honest, whether for good or bad, on this site. That said, I have to tell you, that was bad. To be fair, I can count more than two dozen rough cuts and it’s certainly possible that ABC News just edited Sarah Palin into oblivion but the end product was embarassing. She seemed incredibly nervous and the fact that she could make a major gaff (which, for the most part, she didn’t) at any minute seemed to be weighing heavily on her. Sources within the McCain campaign have made it clear that Sarah Palin’s major focus in the cabinet will be energy independence — something she knows quite a bit about. This is good news as it’s quite obvious she doesn’t know all that much about politics on a global scale.

Her answers were very unfocused and, though you could attribute much of that to sloppy edits, it’s hard to defend her generic answer on Pakistan. Strangely enough, it seemed like Charlie Gibson was being quite fair with her. Sure, he didn’t press Obama nearly as hard and he let him run off at the mouth with long, obtruse answers but he wasn’t that bad. The good news is she’s sharp as a tack on domestic issues and this was the only portion of the million-part interview that will focus on international issues. Still, I thought it was sub-par. Your thoughts?

Update: I just rewatched the whole thing and I may have been a bit too harsh in my critique. It’s so hard to get a feel for it because of the edits but it certainly could have been better.

Sarah Palin on Experience:

GIBSON: Governor, let me start by asking you a question that I asked John McCain about you, and it is really the central question. Can you look the country in the eye and say “I have the experience and I have the ability to be not just vice president, but perhaps president of the United States of America?”

PALIN: I do, Charlie, and on January 20, when John McCain and I are sworn in, if we are so privileged to be elected to serve this country, will be ready. I’m ready.

GIBSON: And you didn’t say to yourself, “Am I experienced enough? Am I ready? Do I know enough about international affairs? Do I — will I feel comfortable enough on the national stage to do this?”

GIBSON: (INAUDIBLE — Didn’t that take some hubris?)

PALIN: I — I answered him yes because I have the confidence in that readiness and knowing that you can’t blink, you have to be wired in a way of being so committed to the mission, the mission that we’re on, reform of this country and victory in the war, you can’t blink.

So I didn’t blink then even when asked to run as his running mate.

Wow. ABCNEWS.com is down because of the traffic surge. Check out a video preview here.

Update: Wow. I have to tell you. I have never seen an interview so butchered by terrible edits as this Sarah Palin exclusive. She clearly gave long answers and they wanted short sound bites.

More excerpts from the exclusive interview after the cut…

Sarah Palin on God:

GIBSON: You said recently, in your old church, “Our national leaders are sending U.S. soldiers on a task that is from God.” Are we fighting a holy war?

PALIN: You know, I don’t know if that was my exact quote.

GIBSON: Exact words.

PALIN: But the reference there is a repeat of Abraham Lincoln’s words when he said — first, he suggested never presume to know what God’s will is, and I would never presume to know God’s will or to speak God’s words.

But what Abraham Lincoln had said, and that’s a repeat in my comments, was let us not pray that God is on our side in a war or any other time, but let us pray that we are on God’s side.

That’s what that comment was all about, Charlie.
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GIBSON: I take your point about Lincoln’s words, but you went on and said, “There is a plan and it is God’s plan.”

PALIN: I believe that there is a plan for this world and that plan for this world is for good. I believe that there is great hope and great potential for every country to be able to live and be protected with inalienable rights that I believe are God-given, Charlie, and I believe that those are the rights to life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

GIBSON: But then are you sending your son on a task that is from God?

PALIN: I don’t know if the task is from God, Charlie. What I know is that my son has made a decision. I am so proud of his independent and strong decision he has made, what he decided to do and serving for the right reasons and serving something greater than himself and not choosing a real easy path where he could be more comfortable and certainly safer.
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Sarah Palin on Russia:

We cannot repeat the Cold War. We are thankful that, under Reagan, we won the Cold War, without a shot fired, also. We’ve learned lessons from that in our relationship with Russia, previously the Soviet Union.

We will not repeat a Cold War. We must have good relationship with our allies, pressuring, also, helping us to remind Russia that it’s in their benefit, also, a mutually beneficial relationship for us all to be getting along.

GIBSON: Would you favor putting Georgia and Ukraine in NATO?

PALIN: Ukraine, definitely, yes. Yes, and Georgia.

GIBSON: Because Putin has said he would not tolerate NATO incursion into the Caucasus.

PALIN: Well, you know, the Rose Revolution, the Orange Revolution, those actions have showed us that those democratic nations, I believe, deserve to be in NATO.

Putin thinks otherwise. Obviously, he thinks otherwise, but…

GIBSON: And under the NATO treaty, wouldn’t we then have to go to war if Russia went into Georgia?
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PALIN: Perhaps so. I mean, that is the agreement when you are a NATO ally, is if another country is attacked, you’re going to be expected to be called upon and help.

But NATO, I think, should include Ukraine, definitely, at this point and I think that we need to — especially with new leadership coming in on January 20, being sworn on, on either ticket, we have got to make sure that we strengthen our allies, our ties with each one of those NATO members.

GIBSON: And you think it would be worth it to the United States, Georgia is worth it to the United States to go to war if Russia were to invade.

PALIN: What I think is that smaller democratic countries that are invaded by a larger power is something for us to be vigilant against. We have got to be cognizant of what the consequences are if a larger power is able to take over smaller democratic countries.

And we have got to be vigilant. We have got to show the support, in this case, for Georgia. The support that we can show is economic sanctions perhaps against Russia, if this is what it leads to.

It doesn’t have to lead to war and it doesn’t have to lead, as I said, to a Cold War, but economic sanctions, diplomatic pressure, again, counting on our allies to help us do that in this mission of keeping our eye on Russia and Putin and some of his desire to control and to control much more than smaller democratic countries.

His mission, if it is to control energy supplies, also, coming from and through Russia, that’s a dangerous position for our world to be in, if we were to allow that to happen.

Part 2:

John Edwards repeatedly lied during his Presidential campaign about an extra-marital affair with a novice film-maker, the former Senator admitted to ABC News today.

In an interview for broadcast tonight on Nightline, Edwards told ABC News correspondent Bob Woodruff he did have an affair with 42-year old Rielle Hunter, but said that he did not love her.

Edwards also denied he was the father of Hunter’s baby girl, Frances Quinn, although the one-time Democratic Presidential candidate said he has not taken a paternity test.

Edwards said he knew he was not the father based on timing of the baby’s birth on February 27, 2008. He said his affair ended too soon for him to have been the father.

A former campaign aide, Andrew Young, has said he was the father of the child.

More:

When the National Enquirer first reported the alleged Edwards-Hunter affair last October 11, Edwards, his campaign staff and Hunter vociferously denounced the report.

“The story is false, it’s completely untrue, it’s ridiculous,” Edwards told reporters then.

He repeated his denials just two weeks ago.

Edwards today admitted the National Enquirer was correct when it reported he had visited Hunter at the Beverly Hills Hilton last month.

The former Senator said his wife had not known about the meeting.

Well, there you have it… he’s an admitted liar and cheat.

Called the “Beau of the Ball,” former Congressman Mark Foley has re-emerged in Palm Beach society at a charity gala, his transgressions with former teenage pages and sexually explicit messages apparently forgotten and forgiven.

“Believe me. People were thrilled to see him,” said socialite Dorothy Sullivan, who co-chaired the Palm Beach Fashion Week charity gala last month at the famed Mar-a-Lago Club, where Foley was photographed surrounded by women. “He was glad he came,” she told ABC News.com.

The ‘Beau of the Ball?’ Vomit. Someone is trying to save this man’s public image (or what’s left of it) and it seems like they’re doing a bang-up job. Let’s not forget why this man retreated to the shadows in the first place. Not yet, Mr. Foley, not quite yet. However, if you’re interested in coming clean with voters in Florida anytime soon, you know where to find me. Your move…

ABC News has obtained some bizarre footage of Wal-Mart corporate meetings. Employees dress up in drag and do all sorts of other strange activities. I thought they were courting Conservatives?

The television networks have spent the last few weeks in pursuit of an interview with Gen. David H. Petraeus, the United States commander in Iraq, ahead of his testimony to Congress this week on progress in Iraq. So how did ABC land the exclusive story?

It could have been the same way the network got into North Korea and Cuba: the personal touch of David Westin, the president of ABC News.

For three days in late February, Mr. Westin visited the network’s Baghdad bureau. There, in a meeting with General Petraeus, Mr. Westin made an informal pitch for the interview.

First of all, look how big that computer is! That is a computer in the photo above, right? Secondly, I think it’s laudable that the President of ABC News is not only chasing down stories and exclusives but he’s visiting active war zones to do it. Cheers to you Mr. Westin.