MEMORIAM - Colin Powell

"Remembering ‘warrior statesman’ Colin Powell" PBS NewsHour 11/5/2021

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Friday at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., family, friends and colleagues of the late Secretary of State Colin Powell gathered to memorialize him.  Presidents Biden, Obama and Bush, and another Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, were among the guests.  His loved ones reflected on who he was as a statesman, friend and father.

 

WATCH LIVE:  Colin Powell's funeral at the Washington National Cathedral (3:27:04)

OPINION - Shields and Brooks 6/15/2018

"Shields and Brooks on North Korea summit takeaways, Trump’s family separation policy" PBS NewsHour 6/15/2018

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Judy Woodruff to discuss the week’s news, including President Trump’s summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the conclusions of a watchdog report into the FBI’s handling of the Hillary Clinton email probe, the politics of the Trump administration separating families at the U.S. border, and more.

Judy Woodruff (NewsHour):  And now to the analysis of Shields and Brooks.  That’s syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks.

Welcome to both of you.

Let’s start with what happened this week on the other side of the Pacific Ocean.

David, the President met, historic meeting, Kim Jong Un, the leader of North Korea.  The President comes away saying there’s no more nuclear threat, he’s got very good personal chemistry, personal relationship with Mr. Kim.

What’s your take?

David Brooks, New York Times:  I read a joke this week that the lion can lie down with the lamb, but you got to get a new lamb each day.

So, I give him more credit than a lot other people that I’m reading.  We were — and people who really knew the North Korean situation were terrified six, eight, 10 months ago that we were really heading in a bad direction and things — there was some danger of things spinning out of control.

And now that doesn’t seem to be the case.  Now, there’s — tensions have settled.  There seems to be no risk of any confrontation or war.  And so, to me, that’s the big story, and that’s the lead and that’s a good thing.

Now, once you get down to the second and third paragraph, it begins to deteriorate quickly.  And the things Trump said about the regime, calling a murderous dictator a tough guy, that’s horrific.

The way human rights are treated, the way he just flippantly tossed off the practice, the war games, is horrific.  But, to me, those are serious deficits.  He did a good thing in the worst possible way.

Judy Woodruff:  What’s your take, Mark?

Mark Shields, syndicated columnist:  Well, Judy, quite frankly, a few months ago, you had two major powers flexing their nuclear biceps and issuing threats, serious threats, to each other, and we thought we were on the edge of war.

We’re not today.  That’s good.  I have no idea what’s in it — I don’t know anybody else who does — in the agreement.  The President has assured us there’s no longer…

Judy Woodruff:  Well, there’s not an agreement yet.

Mark Shields:  There’s not an agreement, but in the documents.

But to treat North Korea as this — this is a regime that stands alone in the world, for hundreds of thousands of people being exterminated, that has consistently, as a matter of policy, used rape and forcible abortions and starvation on its own people.  Hundreds of thousands of people have been exterminated.

And for the President to blithely — I’m not, you know, insisting that human rights be the centerpiece, but it has been important in every American element of foreign policy over the last generations.  I mean, from Jimmy Carter to Ronald Reagan, it’s been central.

And human rights — the United States didn’t invent human rights, but, as Carter said, human rights, to a great degree, did invent America.  And the President is blithely indifferent to that…

(CROSSTALK)

David Brooks:  It’s also as a foil to what happened in Europe or in Quebec with the G7 the week before.

And you see him with two different sorts of relationships.  With somebody like Putin or with somebody like Kim Jong Un, it’s like dictator to dictator.  It’s like, we understand how to deal with power relationships.  He feels comfortable in that kind of thing.

When he’s dealing with Trudeau or Merkel, it should be friends, and it should be a relationship on affection and mutual trust and reciprocity.  And he’s a little uncomfortable in those circumstances.

Judy Woodruff:  How do you explain that?

David Brooks:  Well, I think, through his business life, he’s not had a series of relationships based on friendship, trust, and reciprocity, and affection.

He’s had relationships based strictly on self-interest and the urge to dominate.  And he just feels comfortable in one kind of relationship.  And, frankly, that’s even true within his White House.  He has relationships based on who’s useful to who, not we are a band of brothers in this together.

Judy Woodruff:  But, at this point, Mark, your point is that at least we’re not — we don’t think we’re on the verge of war.

Mark Shields:  No, we aren’t.  And I think that’s good.  I think that’s a positive.

Churchill said it far better and shorter, that jaw, jaw, jaw is better than war, war, war.  And I think that’s true.

IG REPORT - Investigating the FBI

"Political bias did not affect Clinton probe, watchdog report finds" PBS NewsHour 6/14/2018

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  The much-anticipated report on the probe of Hillary Clinton's email practices was released Thursday.  It runs hundreds of pages, finds fault with the FBI, and may be fodder for Republicans and Democrats alike.  While the watchdog found that political bias did not influence the probe, the report found that former Director James Comey had been “insubordinate.”  Lisa Desjardins joins Judy Woodruff.

"How will the FBI adjust after the Clinton email probe report?" PBS NewsHour 6/14/2018

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Thursday’s report from the Justice Department's internal watchdog goes into detail about how the department and the F.B.I. handled the Hillary Clinton email investigation.  What does it mean for the bureau’s reputation and what changes might occur in the aftermath?  Judy Woodruff gets analysis from former Justice Department officials John Carlin and Thomas Dupree.

JAMES COMEY - Clinton Emails

"On Clinton email revelations, ‘there was no good option’ for FBI, says James Comey" PBS NewsHour 5/1/2018

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Facing the storm over Hillary Clinton's email amid the 2016 election, James Comey said he and the FBI "were screwed honestly either way."  The former FBI director and author of “A Higher Loyalty” joins Judy Woodruff for part two of their interview, in which they discuss Loretta Lynch’s encounter with former President Bill Clinton and his decision to announce the reopening of the Clinton probe.

OPINION - Shields and Brooks 11/1/3017

"Shields and Brooks on GOP bid for tax reform, Russia probe indictments" PBS NewsHour 11/1/3017

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks joins Judy Woodruff to discuss the week's news, including the Virginia governor's race, suggestions by Donna Brazile that the Democratic primary race was rigged for Hillary Clinton, the GOP tax overhaul plan, and the Russia probe indictments.

Judy Woodruff: (NewsHour):  A different kind of economics, David, and that is taxes.

The Republicans did come out this week, yesterday, with their tax reform, tax cut proposal.  What does it say to you about what the Republicans in Congress and the president want right now?

David Brooks, New York Times:  Well, they have a vision for what business taxes should be, which is to lower the rates.  And I think there’s a — our corporate rates are super high.  And to attract capital to this country, it would help to lower the rates.

They have no vision of what individual tax rates should be or how we should tax individuals.  Their bill is sort of a hodgepodge of moving rates the rates around randomly.  They have no vision of how to protect families.  There could have been a much bigger child tax credit.

And then, finally — and this is what everyone — the point everyone is making, but it happens to be true — they have no vision about the fiscal health of this country in the long term.

I personally think there are some pieces of this legislation that I like, capping the mortgage interest deduction.  There are some things I don’t like.  I don’t think cutting the rates the way that they do is super important.  But it’s all dwarfed by the $1.5 trillion hole they’re going to blow in the deficit.

And until they can solve that problem, you’re not really dealing seriously for this country.

(CROSSTALK)

Mark Shields, syndicated columnist:  I agree completely about the $1.5 trillion deficit, Judy.

And it is going to be financed, as we know, from the Republican votes in the House and the Senate, by cuts in Medicare and Medicaid, the very constituency that Donald Trump pledged to be the champion of.

And, no, it’s — I would say it had its biggest day yesterday.  I really do.  I mean, I think it’s not something that stands the daylight very well or scrutiny.  It starts with 25 percent approval support in the country.  That’s the lowest that any presidential initiative since George W. Bush’s ill-fated attempt to privatize Social Security in 2005, which died after 10 months.

Judy, what these people forget is the 1986 Tax Reform Act began in 1982 with Bill Bradley and Dick Gephardt and Bradley-Gephardt.  And it includes people of the talent of Jim Baker and Dick Darman at the White House.

Steve Mnuchin and Gary Cohn are not Dick Darman and Jim Baker.  And it had 430 witnesses before the House Ways and Means Committee and 26 days of markups.

These people think they’re going to do it on the fly, on the run?  They’re absolutely delusional.

Judy Woodruff:  So, both of you are saying…

(CROSSTALK)

David Brooks:  Dan Rostenkowski.  There was a lot of serious talent.

Mark Shields:  Dan Rostenkowski, Bob Packwood.

David Brooks:  But what’s — it’s not going to pass.

Like, they punish people in the blue states.  You’re going to get rid of state and local deduction, and that that is going to create massive opposition.  The realtors, philanthropies, student debt, there’s all sorts of things that are politically mine fields.

The question to me is, does it completely die or do they fall back to some limited tax cut, just so they can say they passed something?

Judy Woodruff:  They passed something.

David Brooks:  And I would bet — I don’t know if I would bet, but I suspect they will try to fall back to something plausible, maybe just the corporate rates.  I don’t know what else.  But they will try to fall back to just simple, smaller tax cut.

OPINION - Shields and Brooks 9/15/2017

"Shields and Brooks on Hillary Clinton’s election candor, Trump’s dealing with Democrats" PBS NewsHour 9/15/2017

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Hari Sreenivasan to discuss takeaways from an in-depth interview with Hillary Clinton on her election memoir “What Happened,” President Trump’s move to work with Democrats on protections for young undocumented immigrants and what it means for his base of support.

HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour):  And now it’s time now for the analysis of Shields and Brooks.  That’s syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks.

First off, your reactions to the interview so far?

MARK SHIELDS, Syndicated Columnist:  What I find interesting is, I don’t pay any attention to books from politicians.

And the only time I listen to any politician waxing semi-candid is when they are either over 70 or given up all hopes of the White House.

And I think Mrs. Clinton is not 70, or close to it, I guess, but she’s obviously given up all hopes to the White House.  And, in that sense, there’s a lot more candor, than I think I have certainly seen in past books, an admission that every candidate is ultimately responsible for his or her campaign, victory or defeat.

And every campaign is inevitably a mirror reflection of the candidate.  And she does accept responsibility, but she doesn’t do it exclusively.  She wants to share it with some in the press, with other forces in our society.

DAVID BROOKS, The New York Times:  Well, as for the book, it’s tough to be reflective and a good storyteller and be in the public sphere.

You’re so active that you don’t have time for reflection.  And I read the book.  And I thought it was interesting, by political standards, way more interesting.  I think she’s right, as she said in the interview, that it was just not her year.  She’s not going to the anger, outsider politician.

I think she’s pushed up too much emphasis on Comey and all that other stuff and the Russians in blaming this.  But she has cusps of thoughts throughout the book.

For example, at one point, she says she really loves the parable of the prodigal son.  And she says, I’m so much like the older brother, who is the rule follower.  And, of course, then you think, well, Bill Clinton is the ultimate younger brother, the prodigal son.  And she’s on the cusp of a really interesting insight about her relationship with him.

But she can’t — she never, never takes the next step.  And I think that’s just because active people — I remember I once interviewed Margaret Thatcher, and she was the same way — so much active, not a writer, not reflective, not getting the analysis you actually want.

But that’s just a product of being in the public sphere.  I think the book with is far more interesting than most political books of that sort.

POLITICS - One on One, Hillary Clinton

"Dissecting the election, Hillary Clinton sees dangers for democracy" PBS NewsHour 9/15/2017

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Calling the Trump presidency "a clear and present danger to our country and to the world,” [I agree] Hillary Clinton says there is no leadership from the White House on exposing how Russia tried to destabilize American democracy.  The former Senator, Secretary of State, First Lady and presidential candidate, sits down with Judy Woodruff to discuss her new memoir, “What Happened,” and much more.

FACTCHECK - Trump Dominates 2016 Whoppers

"The Whoppers of 2016" by Eugene Kiely, Lori Robertson, and Robert Farley; FactCheck.org 12/19/2016

Excerpt

Donald Trump again dominates our annual review of political falsehoods.

Summary

A year ago, we broke with past practice and named Donald Trump our first ever “King of Whoppers.”  This year, the reigning champ defended his title well – once again dominating our annual review of political whoppers.

At his campaign rallies, Trump regularly disparaged the media as “dishonest,” referring at one point to fact-checkers as “dishonest scum.”  Yet, he peddled conspiracy theories from a supermarket tabloid and a website that serves as a platform for the alt-right.

The Republican president-elect used a thinly sourced story from the National Enquirer to make the baseless claim that Sen. Ted Cruz's father “was with Lee Harvey Oswald” prior to John F. Kennedy's assassination — a claim he doubled down on after Cruz already had dropped out of the presidential primary.  Trump also cited Breitbart as evidence that he was “right” when he suggested that President Obama supported terrorists.  No, Trump wasn't right.

During the campaign, Trump also made the wild accusation that Obama “is the founder of ISIS,” the terrorist group based in Syria and Iraq, and retweeted a fake image of Fox News host Megyn Kelly that purported to show her posing with Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal.

Of course, we wrote about plenty of others who distorted the facts and made false claims in 2016.  After all, it was the year when the facts caught up with Hillary Clinton's numerous false and distorted claims regarding her use of a private email server while secretary of state.  Contrary to what she said, Clinton did have classified material on her server and did not have government approval to use a private server because she never requested it.

Even so, Trump is in a league of his own.

Here we present — as we do every year — a wrap-up of the biggest whoppers in an election year that stunned the political experts, shook up the party establishment and kept fact-checkers very busy.

The Analysis sections contain details of Trump, Clinton, fake news, and other Whoppers.

Highly suggested reading.

ELECTION 2016 - The REAL Hillery Clinton

THIS is what Hillary Clinton is REALLY about!

OPINION - Shields and Brooks 10/28/2016

"Shields and Brooks on the election's ‘parity of sleaze'" PBS NewsHour 10/28/2016

COMMENT:  Love the "Party of Sleaze"

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  In the wake of a new FBI investigation into emails from Hillary Clinton's aides and more sexual assault accusations against Donald Trump, syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Judy Woodruff to discuss a campaign environment of "sleaze" and the election's outlook.  But they also take a break from politics to consider the exciting Cubs-Indians World Series.

ELECTION 2016 - FBI Interferes With Election Process, Again

COMMENT:  As many have implied, including those within the FBI, James Comely is interfering with our election process, weather he intended to or not.  He has become a (unwitting?) Trump supporter.

"FBI to investigate new batch of server-related Clinton emails" PBS NewsHour 10/28/2016

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  Call it an October surprise.  Today's FBI statement about Hillary Clinton's emails roiled the presidential race, just 11 days before the election.  Donald Trump pounced.  The Clinton camp demanded more information.

Lisa Desjardins begins our coverage.

LISA DESJARDINS (NewsHour):  Hillary Clinton landed in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to campaign, but was greeted by the news that the FBI is reviewing newly found emails linked the private server she used as secretary of state.

In a letter to congressional chairmen, FBI Director James Comey said:  “An unrelated investigation turned up emails that appear pertinent to the Clinton case.” He said he agreed with his team to allow investigators to review the emails and determine whether they contain classified information, as well as assess their importance.

The candidate herself did not respond to shouted questions, and did not address it at her rally, sticking with her stump speech.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), Presidential Nominee:  Everyone working across the state are going to make sure that we win Iowa.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

LISA DESJARDINS:  Clinton's campaign chairman did send out a statement this afternoon calling the timing of the announcement extraordinary and urging the FBI to give more details about the emails in question, stressing that it's not clear if these emails are significant.

In Manchester, New Hampshire:

DONALD TRUMP (R), Presidential Nominee:  That I heard 10 minutes ago.

LISA DESJARDINS:  The news was certainly significant to Donald Trump.

DONALD TRUMP:  We must not let her take her criminal scheme into the Oval Office.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

DONALD TRUMP:  I have great respect for the fact that the FBI and the Department of Justice are now willing to have the courage to right the horrible mistake that they made.

LISA DESJARDINS:  This the same day that Clinton hoped to focus on other areas, like debuting a new television ad featuring President Obama.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA:  These last eight years is on the ballot.

LISA DESJARDINS:  And the Clinton camp had good news on the fund-raising front, as Donald Trump faced new money questions, especially about his repeated pledges to personally finance his campaign, like this from two days ago.

DONALD TRUMP:  I will have over $100 million in the campaign.  And I'm prepared to go much more than that.

LISA DESJARDINS:  But new fund-raising reports show the total Trump personally donated to the campaign was $56 million as of just over a week ago.  His contributions dropped in October to a total of $31,000 for the first three weeks of this month.

What might matter more is how much Trump's campaign has on hand.  It's $16 million according to the report.  That compares with $62 million in Hillary Clinton's war chest.  Today, Trump said he is writing a $10 million check to his campaign.  That is a big boost, but it still leaves a more than 2-1 money gap.

Meanwhile, key Senate races are winding up with a contentious New Hampshire Senate debate last night and a headline-making face-off in Illinois.  Democratic Congresswoman and Iraq War veteran Tammy Duckworth had spoken of her family's history of military service going back to the Revolutionary War.

That prompted this from incumbent Republican Mark Kirk:

SEN.  MARK KIRK (R-Ill.):  I had forgotten that your parents came all the way from Thailand to serve George Washington.

LISA DESJARDINS:  Duckworth's mother is a Thai immigrant.  Her father's family does go back to the nation's founding.  Kirk later apologized.

With a week-and-a-half left, the twists and turns of campaign 2016 keep coming.

For the PBS NewsHour, I'm Lisa Desjardins.

"Interpreting the FBI's announcement on Clinton's private server" PBS NewsHour 10/28/2016

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Director James Comey announced the FBI will review a new batch of emails apparently related to Hillary Clinton's private server.  The messages were discovered in an unrelated investigation concerning former Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner's alleged communication with a 15-year-old girl.  To discuss the startling development, Judy Woodruff speaks with the Wall Street Journal's Devlin Barrett.

OPINION - Shields and Brooks 10/21/2016

"Shields and Brooks on the danger of our ideological divide" PBS NewsHour 10/21/2016

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Judy Woodruff to discuss the week's news, including the third and final presidential debate, Donald Trump's "reckless" questioning of the election's legitimacy, the country's vast ideological divide, the caustic tone at Thursday night's Al Smith Charity Dinner, and the candidates' rhetoric on the campaign trail.

HOW THE DECK IS STACKED - Student Debt

"Why student debt is ‘a crisis' for some borrowers" PBS NewsHour 10/21/2016

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Student debt has been a prominent topic during this year's presidential campaign, with several candidates touting plans for tuition-free college.  Indeed, more than 40 million Americans carry debt from student loans, totaling around $1.3 trillion nationally.  While the median debt is about $27,000, people who owe less than $10,000 are the most likely to default.  Marketplace's Lizzie O'Leary reports.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  Student debt has been a big talking point on the 2016 campaign trail.  Hillary Clinton proposes making tuition free for many students at public colleges.  Donald Trump would expand limits on how much borrowers have to pay back each month.

But what about those already holding debt?

We take a look as part of our series How the Deck Is Stacked, funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, in partnership with Frontline and Marketplace.

Marketplace's Lizzie O'Leary has the first of two stories.

LIZZIE O'LEARY, Marketplace:  If everything had gone according to plan, Chris Savelle would be on Wall Street right now, not biking through downtown Detroit in a free weekly community ride.

Savelle, who is 31, graduated into the teeth of the recession.  He's got $100,000 in student loan debt on his mind.

What does $100,000 feel like?

CHRIS SAVELLE, Student Borrower:  It sucks.

LIZZIE O'LEARY:  Jessica Love Jordan is in a similar situation.  She started college late and is now working on finishing her master's in addiction counseling.  She juggles school, work and being a single parent.  Sometimes, the debt feels too much.

JESSICA LOVE JORDAN, Student Borrower:  Now and again, when I look at the statement, and see how much I actually have to pay back, it's almost suffocating.  I have those fleeing thoughts, you know what, let me just stop now, and go work, so I can be able to live later on in life.

LIZZIE O'LEARY:  When she graduates, she can expect to make about $33,000 annually as an addiction counselor.  Her debt will be about $90,000.

The median student debt is much lower than Savelle or Love Jordan's, about $27,000.  But their experiences are similar to those of many students who attended state universities at a time when their budgets were being cut, and as the great recession hit.  The money for school had to come from somewhere, in most cases, students.

Where did you think you would be in your life at 31?

CHRIS SAVELLE:  Go work for an investment firm or hedge fund, Chicago, New York, something like that.

LIZZIE O'LEARY:  But when Savelle graduated in 2008, the best job he could find was at a local Wal-Mart.  He's recovered somewhat now.  He works as a supply chain engineer, and supports his mother and sister.

Temple University Professor Sara Goldrick-Rab has been researching the rising price of college for years.

LOAN SHARK SPEAK - Navient:  "We have been strong advocates for streamlining the enrollment process to make it easier for borrowers." aka 'we make it very easy to get into debt and hard to get out of debt.  We need our profits, after all.'

WIKILEAKS - Assange Denied Internet Access

YES!  Finally this anti-government kook gets somewhat isolated.  Next, he gets thrown out and we burn him at the stake (I'll bring the barbecue sauce).

"What's the motive behind Julian Assange's internet ban?" PBS NewsHour 10/19/2016

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, has been living in exile in London's Ecuadorian embassy for four years.  Now Ecuador says it's shut off Assange's internet access, months after WikiLeaks began to release documents and emails stolen from the DNC and the Clinton campaign.  Hari Sreenivasan learns more from Raphael Satter of the Associated Press.

HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour):  For the last four years, Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy group, has been staying in self-imposed exile in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.

He's taking refuge from a sexual assault investigation in Sweden that Assange claims is an American plot to have him extradited.  Over the summer, WikiLeaks began divulging thousands of pages of documents and e-mails stolen from the Democratic National Committee, and, most recently, Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, all in an effort, said Assange himself, to damage her presidential candidacy.

Now a new twist in this saga.  In a statement issued yesterday, Ecuador said it had cut off Assange's Internet access, saying in part:  “The government of Ecuador respects the principle of nonintervention in the internal affairs of other states.  It doesn't interfere in external electoral processes, nor does it favor any particular candidate.”

For more on this, I'm joined now from London by Raphael Satter of the Associated Press.  He's covered WikiLeaks extensively.

Is there anything more to it than that statement by the Ecuadorian government?

RAPHAEL SATTER, Associated Press:  You know, it's not much more — not much more official.

There is an enormous amount of speculation about what's going on behind the scenes.  WikiLeaks alleges that, despite what the Ecuadorian government has said, they are, in fact, bound to pressure from the U.S. State Department, and, in particular, John Kerry, the secretary of state.  Now, the State Department has denied all this.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  The batches of e-mails have been trickling out for months, Hillary Clinton's e-mails, John Podesta's e-mails for weeks now.  So, why now?  Why intervene now to try to cut off his Internet access?

RAPHAEL SATTER:  It's quite puzzling, actually.

The timing is a bit of a mystery.  And the best people to speak about this are the parties concerned themselves.  But neither WikiLeaks nor the Ecuadorian — nor various Ecuadorian officials that we have tried have returned our calls or even deigned to comment.  They have communicated via Twitter or through their Web sites in a series of terse statements, which leave a lot to the imagination, frankly.

OPINION - Shields and Brooks 10/14/2016

"Shields and Brooks on Trump assault allegations, Clinton leaked email insights" PBS NewsHour 10/14/2016

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Judy Woodruff to discuss the week's news, including another barrage of sexual misconduct allegations for Donald Trump, the morality of Republicans who have changed their minds about their candidate, Michelle Obama's "authentic” speech, and whether the newest WikiLeaks dump will make a difference.

VOTE 2016 - Second Presidential Debate

"The challenges of a town hall debate" PBS NewsHour 10/9/2016

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  On Sunday night in St. Louis, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump meet for their second of three televised 90-minute debates.  This time, the debate will follow a town meeting format, with voters joining the moderator in asking questions.  As NewsHour Weekend Special Correspondent Jeff Greenfield reports, that format has tripped up many candidates before.

"Shields and Brooks on ‘anticlimactic' Clinton victory, Trump's ‘moral chasm'"



"Watch the second presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump" (1:56:52)

OPINION - Shields and Gerson 10/7/2016

"Shields and Gerson on the 2005 Trump tape, Russian hacking and the upcoming debate" PBS NewsHour 10/7/2016

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  With the only vice-presidential debate over and the second presidential one just ahead, it's the home stretch of the election -- and it's full of surprises.  Judy Woodruff talks to syndicated columnist Mark Shields and The Washington Post's Michael Gerson about the 'enthusiasm gap,' whether the new video of Trump threatens his support among evangelicals, Russian hacking, Sunday's debate and more.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  It's also the moment we turn to the analysis of Shields and Gerson.  That's syndicated columnist Mark Shields and Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson.  David Brooks is away.

Gentlemen, welcome.

So, there was a lot of news that we learned about late this afternoon that has to do with this campaign.

But, Mark, I do want to start quickly with a question about Georgia.  The very fact — and you heard to some of the voters we talked to — the very fact that a state that Mitt Romney won by eight points four years ago, where it's close — I mean, it's still uphill for Hillary Clinton, but it's close because of what we talked about.

MARK SHIELDS, syndicated columnist:  Yes.

No, it is.  Defined — the interviews defined the enthusiasm gap.  It isn't just on one side.  It's on both sides.  There's minimal excitement.  And, for Hillary Clinton, I think what came through in your piece is, it's not a question of the percentage of the African-American vote, in addition trying to get 30 percent of the white vote, but it's numbers.

She could get high percentages, but if you don't get numbers in the turnout — but the hope, obviously, is that Georgia can move eventually, if not this time, into the category of Virginia, North Carolina, states that have changed; Colorado, and Nevada.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  Michael.

MICHAEL GERSON, The Washington Post:  Yes.

I think that the Republican fear is exactly the Virginia example.  When Barack Obama won it in his first term, it was the first time Virginia had gone Democratic since 1964.

MARK SHIELDS:  That's right.

MICHAEL GERSON:  And now it's not even close.  It's because — Hillary Clinton is ahead by about eight points in Virginia.

The state has gotten more diverse; more Hispanics and Asians, more college-educated people.  It's gone in a certain direction that I think Republicans fear for a couple of these states that region.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  So, as we said at the outset, there’s been a blizzard of news late this afternoon, Mark, starting with the Obama administration naming Russia, saying high officials in Russia were behind these hacks against the Democratic Party and other Democratic figures.

Then you had WikiLeaks coming out soon after with information about John Podesta, who is Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, and some e-mailed exchanges over nuclear energy, and then the Washington Post story, which I think I want to start with that, essentially releasing the audiotape — and you heard it in John Yang’s report — showing — videotape showing Donald Trump’s lewd remarks about women about 10 years ago.

MARK SHIELDS:  Judy, let’s get one thing straight. This is not locker room talk. This is not a preteen, adolescent finding dirty words.

This is a 60-year-old man being obscene, obscene toward — in discussing women, boasting, bragging in the worst and most offensive way.

And I just think the political implications are profound.  Senator Kelly Ayotte, Republican in New Hampshire, has said she would vote for Donald Trump, but will not endorse him.  In a debate this past week, she was asked, do you consider Donald Trump to be an appropriate role model for the children of New Hampshire?  “Absolutely” was the end of her answer, was immediately pounced on.  She apologized.  Cut a spot.

Every Republican candidate in the country who is in a competitive race is going to be asked in the next week, whether in a debate or where else, by opponents or by the press, do you consider Donald Trump to be an appropriate role model for the children of our state?

And it just — as far as the women’s vote you just reported on in Georgia, it makes it so, not simply difficult.  It makes it almost impossible for somebody with self-respect, who has a mother or sister or a daughter, you know, somebody like this in Abraham Lincoln’s chair.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  Michael, how do you assess this?

MICHAEL GERSON: Well, I think the problem here is not just bad language, but predatory language, abusive language…

MARK SHIELDS:  It is.

MICHAEL GERSON: … demeaning language.

That indicates something about someone’s character that is disturbing, frankly, disturbing in a case like this.  And I think evangelicals have a particular problem right now.  I mean, they are the people who argued, many of whom, leaders, argued that character counts during the Bill Clinton years.

And now character apparently doesn’t count at all.  So, I think there’s a deep tension here.

OPINION - Shields and Brooks 9/30/2016

"Shields and Brooks on Trump's ‘solitariness' and Clinton's fight for millennials" PBS NewsHour 9/30/2016

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Since Monday night's debate, Donald Trump's taxes and tweets have drawn rapt attention.  Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Hari Sreenivasan to discuss the "bizarreness" of the week's campaign developments, Hillary Clinton's struggle to win millennial voters back from third-party candidates and the congressional decision to override a presidential veto.

HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour):  And that brings us to the analysis of Shields and Brooks.  That's syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks.

Gentlemen, here we are.  Monday night, you were here after the debate.

And now my first question isn't about a significant policy discrepancy.  The entire news cycle has been concerned with whether or not he paid taxes and also how he is treating a beauty queen, or how he treated her and how he is still treating her.

MARK SHIELDS, Syndicated columnist:  You're right, although I don't think they're bookends.  I don't think they're of equal value or significance.

I think that his disdain for paying taxes and his self-identification as a smart person for not doing so reveals any absence, a total absence of civic-mindedness, citizen responsibility.

I mean, the idea of John Kennedy's ask not what you can do for your country — ask not what your country can do you for, but what you can do for your country, is just so alien to that.

But the attack on Alicia Machado fits a pattern.  I mean, this is a man who, as Tony Schwartz, who wrote “The Art of the Deal,” the ghost writer of it, and made Trump really a central figure in America with that book, wrote — he said, every time he's criticized or caught for any of his lies, he doubles down.

And that's exactly what he does.  And usually in the pattern with Mr. and Mrs. Khan, the Gold Star parents; and with Judge Curiel, is to pick on someone who doesn't have the resources, the stature, the voice that he does, and try to overwhelm them.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  David, we're working on a story for Sunday on kind of the impact on the Latino vote in Florida, for example.

And we even saw, since the debate, increase in search registration, searches in predominantly Latino areas, according to Google.  Is this going to matter, the fact that he has called this Miss Housekeeping?  Did that resonate?  Did that connect?

DAVID BROOKS, New York Times:  If the vote can go any lower.

It might affect turnout potentially.  But his support in the Latino community wasn't super high.  And his support among women is not super high.  So, it may go lower.  But maybe it can't.

But to me, the crucial fact of this story — well, first, we should just step back and be aware of its bizarreness, that we are a month away from electing a President and one of our candidates is up in the middle of the night tweeting about an alleged sex tape.

MARK SHIELDS:  A 70-year-old grandfather.

DAVID BROOKS:  Yes.  Yes.  It's just another day in paradise as far as this election goes.  And so we should just continue to remind ourselves of that bizarreness.

POLITICAL INK - "The Year of Voting Dangerously"

aka "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," starring Donald Trump

"Maureen Dowd on why politics in 2016 sounds like a ‘primal scream and death rattle'" PBS NewsHour 9/28/2016

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Why does the presidential political landscape look like it's been ripped from the ‘90s? And will Donald Trump inspire more celebrities to run for the highest office?  New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd sits down with Gwen Ifill to discuss her new book, "The Year of Voting Dangerously," and what she thinks of politics today.

GWEN IFILL (NewsHour):  Now back to the campaign, this time through the eyes of a highly influential columnist who says she's never seen anything like it.

I sat down recently with New York Times writer Maureen Dowd about her new book, “The Year of Voting Dangerously.”

It is the latest addition to our series Political Ink.

You say, after years of covering these people, that President Obama is too cool, Hillary Clinton is too cold, and Donald Trump is way too hot.  What's a voter to do?

MAUREEN DOWD, Author, “The Year of Voting Dangerously”:  Where were you when I was writing my book blurb?  That's perfect.

(LAUGHTER)

GWEN IFILL:  Huh?

MAUREEN DOWD:  Yes.

That's the wild thing about this election year.  It's like the revenge of the '90s.  All of those characters we started with are back, you know, in different capacities.  Bill is back as first lady.  Monica Lewinsky is back as a bullying advocate — anti-advocate.

And, you know, Hillary is back.  Rudy Giuliani is back.  Newt Gingrich is back.  Seinfeld back, in the sense that Steve Bannon, who's running Trump's campaign, made all his money from Seinfeld.

GWEN IFILL:  Oh, they're all back.

MAUREEN DOWD:  They're all back.

GWEN IFILL:  Well, as I read this book — and a lot of it is columns of yours I have read, one…

MAUREEN DOWD:  And Trump.

GWEN IFILL:  And Trump, of course.

MAUREEN DOWD:  Sorry.

GWEN IFILL:  One at a time.  One at a time.

But when I read them again altogether, I come away with the impression you don't like any of these people.

ELECTION 2016 - Debate in Context

"The facts behind debate talking points like stop-and-frisk and trade deals" PBS NewsHour 9/27/2016

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump debated for 94 minutes in their first public face-off Monday night.  During that time, the candidates rattled off accusations, numbers and “he said, she said” quotes.  But what was true, what wasn't and what needed more context?  Lisa Desjardins takes a look at the facts behind their claims.

"Think you know Clinton and Trump?  New documentary gets inside the candidates' past lives" PBS NewsHour 9/27/2016

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  “The Choice 2016,” a Frontline documentary, takes an up-close and detailed look at the lives of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.  Starting their stories when they were children, producer and director Michael Kirk lays everything out on the table.  Judy Woodruff speaks with him about the making of the film and what it reveals about the two people vying for the Presidency.

PBS Frontline - The Choice 2016 (full episode)