MSNBC

Steve Coll on The Rachel Maddow Show (MSNBC) | 'Bad Inheritance'

Articles — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 09:52:00 -0400

New America in the News:
Whoever gets voted president will inherit a lot of foreign policy problems. Rachel Maddow talks about the latest in Iraq and Afghanistan with The New Yorker’s Steve Coll. LINK to video

Christopher Hayes on MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann | 'Joe the Plumber'

Articles — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 09:05:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Keith Olbermann: So, if Joe the non-plumber, really, was the big winner last night, what does that say about Senator McCain`s candidacy?

Christopher Hayes: Well, I think what it says is that, you know, for all their flaws, they still excel at throwing out chum in the water for the press to turn on. I mean, if you turn on the TV today, this guy has got like, you know, 10 satellite trucks outside his house and he`s being interviewed. And I think he`s enjoying his 15 minutes.

But the entire thing, Keith, is transparently absurd. There`s 300 million people in the United States. There`s probably about 120 million people who are going to cast votes in this election.

And, you know, you can pick anyone at random. And, you know, Senator Obama could have said, look, I have this supporter who`s a young black woman in New York City who is, you know, is taking out student loans to advance her education and she`s not going to get much help from McCain`s plan. You can pick, you know, a far more -- in California.

The point, though, is if the McCain campaign understood that the press has this obsession with the white male working class voter as somehow a stand in for the whole nation and they just sold that, and, you know, judging by 24 hours in the news cycle, I supposed it worked a little bit. LINK to video

Len Nichols on MSNBC.com | 'Overhauling Health Care: Two Divergent Visions'

Communications — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:11:00 -0400

New America in the News:

First, analysts emphasize that the health reform plans offer citizens a general guide to the candidates’ views, but may be lacking in crucial details.

“Campaign documents should be thought of more like the watercolors of impressionists instead of photographs or blueprints,” said Len Nichols, director of the health policy program at the New America Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy institute. LINK

Steven Clemons on MSNBC | 'Countdown with Keith Olbermann for Thursday, September 18'

Articles — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 11:46:00 -0400

New America in the News:

OLBERMANN: What about me, what? The McCain campaign today said there is no doubt Senator McCain knew exactly to whom the question referred, begging the question, as with McCain's Sunni-Shiite gaffe, which meaning is worse, the unintended or the intended? One footnote, Zapatero's grandfather fought alongside the communists in the Spanish civil war since the age of 13. McCain has said his greatest hero is the fictional character, Robert Jordan, from "For Whom the Bell Tolls" who fought alongside the communists in the Spanish civil war, for real.

Let's turn now to Steve Clemons, senior fellow at the New America Foundation, publisher of the WashingtonNote.com.

Mr. Clemons, good evening.

STEVE CLEMONS, WASHINGTONNOTE.COM: Good evening. Good to be with you, Keith.

OLBERMANN: A lot of options here. Did he hear not Zapatero but Viva Zapata or does he think Spain is in Latin America or what was going on there?

CLEMONS: I listened to the tape about 10 times today and I think John McCain had his own Sarah Palin moment where it just went by him and he didn't get it. And I think it shows, in one way, what kind of rut he's in. He really thought he was talking about Latin America and he wasn't ready to talk about Spain. And I think it's fairly clear from the tape no matter what his advisors are saying now. But even if his advisors do want to do the story, I think it's still pretty much shafting Spain, an ally of ours. LINK to transcript

Maya MacGuineas on MSNBC.com | 'Budget Guru Sees ‘Super-Subprime Crisis’'

Communications — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 14:27:00 -0400

New America in the News:

“Leadership is only going to come from somebody using the bully pulpit to create a mandate, so this is the opportunity for leadership,” said Maya MacGuineas, director of fiscal policy at the New America Foundation and an adviser to McCain’s 2000 presidential campaign.

“Otherwise, a crisis is what it will take. And that’s a real problem, because Wall Street is short-term focused,” she said. “The financial markets will make us deal with it, but it will be too late when they do.” LINK

Flynt Leverett on MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann | 'Another War for Bush to Consider'

Communications — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 08:02:00 -0400

New America in the News:
Former Senior Director at the National Security Council and current Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation, Flynt Leverett, discusses how President Bush should handle Russia's invasion of Georgia, a U.S. ally. LINK to video

Reihan Salam on MSNBC TV's 'Race for the White House' | 'Breaking Down Obama's Vulnerabilities'

Communications — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 08:21:00 -0400

New America in the News:
A Race for the White House panel featuring Gene Robinson, Chrystia Freeland, Rachel Maddow, and Reihan Salam debates: Where is Barack Obama weak politically and how effectively has the McCain campaign been capitalizing on those weaknesses? LINK to video

Reihan Salam on Hardball with Chris Matthews | 'Grand New Party'

Communications — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 09:26:00 -0400

New America in the News:

CHRIS MATTHEWS: We`re back with the politics fix. Let`s bring in the round table, MSNBC political analyst Michelle Bernard and the Atlantic magazine`s Reihan Salam, whose new book is called Grand New Party.What`s your book about?

REIHAN SALAM, THE ATLANTIC": It`s about the white working class and about how the Republican party needs to win them back…LINK

Steve Clemons Interviews with Dan Abrams of MSNBC on Iran

Communications — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 14:12:00 -0400

New America in the News:

DAN ABRAMS: Joining me now, Steve Clemons, Senior Director of the American Strategy Program at the New America Foundation, a nonpartisan think-tank… Are you telling me that there is a real possibility of war with Iran on the horizon?

STEVE CLEMONS, SENIOR DIRECTOR, THE AMERICAN STRATEGY PROGRAM: I think there`s a possibility of war on the horizon, but what I`ve written is that the president`s not there yet. The president is showing a diversity of options, some of them have teeth, and frankly, there`s a lot of diplomatic, economic and other options on the table as well. And I just don`t believe this is an Iraq replay… I just don`t see in his posture the fact that we`re already on a predetermined course to bomb Iran...

To view the video from "Live with Dan Abrams," please visit the MSNBC website.

MSNBC Interviews Flynt Leverett on President Bush and Iran

Communications — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 21:04:00 -0500

New America in the News:

OLBERMANN: In 2003, when Mr. Bush still exhibited thorough optimism about Iraq, he spoke quite openly about what would come next...But the logic has since become inverted. Back then American success in Iraq was supposed to lead to success in Iran. Now we are told that we must succeed with Iran to ensure our success in Iraq. But even standing on its figurative head, the administration`s conclusion remains inviolate; something must be done about Iran.

Let`s bring in the National Security Council`s former senior director for Middle East affairs, Flynt Leverett, now a senior fellow at the New America Foundation. Great thanks, once again, for your time sir.

FLYNT LEVERETT, NEW AMERICA FOUNDATION: Thanks for having me back.

OLBERMANN: The accusations are well known, but does it shock you to hear just how close the president`s rhetoric about Iran is compared to his past rhetoric about Iraq?

LEVERETT: No, because in many ways the rhetoric in the run-up to the war on Iraq worked. The president singled Iraq out to justify military action there on three particular issues, Iraq`s links to terrorism, including what were alleged to be direct links to al Qaeda, its weapons of mass destruction capabilities, and it`s regional meddling, that was making the region unstable.

And if you look at the rhetoric on Iran right now, Iran is being singled out for basically the same things, its links to terrorism. The president basically, in the State of the Union Address, equated Iran as a Shia version of al Qaeda. Of course, there is the nuclear issue and concern about the Iran`s weapons of mass destruction ambitions. And then the president is accusing Iran of regional meddling, being the principal source of instability in the region, much as he did with Iraq in the run up to the invasion of Iraq in 2005.

OLBERMANN: Focusing in about the Karabala raid, attackers disguised as Americans. They were wielding American-style M-4`s and they had stun grenades that were used only by U.S. forces. Reportedly they were able to monitor Iraqi communications. They got through Iraqi checkpoints. Obviously that`s Iran, right?

LEVERETT: Well, I think it`s very clear that Iraqi militias and Sunni insurgents in Iraq have been getting better. They have had the benefit of daily live ammunition training, courtesy of the U.S. military, the best military in the world. And it is not surprising, I think, that they would be getting better, more capable, more sophisticated in their tactics. That does not prove that Iran was responsible for this raid.

Now, Iran has certainly done bad things in the region. It has been a bad actor. It`s possible they`re linked to this raid, but there has been no hard evidence put on the table of that. I think it`s important to keep in mind, though, that if at some point there is some hard evidence that linked Iran to this, keep in mind the context. The president of the United States has accused Iran of fomenting attacks on U.S. forces. He is building up American military forces there, and he`s ordered the capture or killing of any Iranian that is found in Iraq.

And there are five Iranians who were detained out of a diplomatic compound in Irbil last week. There is a kind of symmetry between five Iranians detained by U.S. forces and the five American soldiers who were unfortunately killed in this raid.

OLBERMANN: Is there anything, in sum, to the president`s premise that it is Iran attacking us by proxy in Iraq, and if so, how does this jibe with the facts that 99 percent of all attacks on U.S. troops occur in areas controlled by the Sunni militias, which are largely funded not by Iran, which is Shia, but private Sunnis in U.S. allied states like Saudi Arabia?

LEVERETT: Well, that`s right; the Sunni insurgents have been a much bigger problem, in terms of inflicting casualties on U.S. forces than the Shia militias have been. But at this point I don`t think this is really about a detached analysis of on the ground reality in Iraq. It is about making a case to the American people and to the international community on how bad Iran is, so that the conditions are there, should the president take a decision down the road to use military force against Iran. He has prepared the way, rhetorically...

For the complete transcript, please visit the MSNBC website.