Meet The Press with David Gregory on July 12th featured Senator John McCain of Arizona and Senator Charles Schumer of New York, with a roundtable discussion featuring former Bush uber advisor Karen Hughes, Democratic strategist Bob Schrum, NBC's Andrea Mitchell and Roger Simon of Politico.
What was obvious was how much easier this visit was for Senator McCain than during the election when he had to run against Barack Obama and the Bush record. With the Democrats in almost total control, he was more easily able to point out the fault lines in Obama's massive spending running up deficits - something that is an anathema to McCain and would not have likely been a part of his presidency. He also commented on how small businesses are the engine of the economy and that stimulus should be focused on job creation. He had no comment on the recent reports that former VP Cheney had a secret CIA program hidden from Congress on the side - something that House Speaker Pelosi would trumpet if it turned out to be true to vindicate her reckless statements about the CIA lying. McCain also strongly defended Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's decision to resign, reiterated his support for her and wisely didn't issue an eearly endorsement of her for presidential nominee in 2012. McCain also pushed for more troops in Afghanistan if General McChrystal asks for them - and after the success of the surge in Iraq, he can speak with some authority there.
Senator Schumer was in the position of defending the Obama and Congressional spend-o-rama that has led to a decrease in Obama's poll numbers and slowed down the health care debate and spurred calls for the stimulus package to be reduced as it doesn't appear to be stemming the unemployment rate - and also appears to be funding some questionable projects.
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