Transcripts For CNNW Crossfire 20140501

Johnson of wisconsin. Let me turn first to congresswoman, if i might. I cant believe im doing this. But im going to end up quoting maureen dowd of the new york times. Now, i have to confess, this for me is a new start. She said, especially now that we have this scary world war iii vibe with the russians, we expect the president , especially one who ran as babe ruth, to hit home runs. Now, as you know, he was quoted i think in manila as saying, well, he gets occasional singles. Right. Dont you think that standing up to putin requires babe ruth more than a guy hitting singles . Isnt this really the big leagues . Well, i think its the big leagues. I think president obama is used to the big leagues and i think that his leadership on ukraine has been strong. The europeans now are stepping up to the plate and clearly its going to take all of us. Its the sanctions from the United States, but it is also the sanctions i have to ask, if this has been strong yes. What would weakness look like . I think weakness would look like doing nothing. I think what the president has done has been strong and i think hes showing the leadership and i think the europeans will follow. Do you think its had any impact on putin . I do think its had impact on putin and its had impact on the russian economy, okay . Now, whether putin is willing to sacrifice the russian economy, thats the question. But i do think it is absolutely had impact on the economy. I agree with you, first of all, so good to see somebody here from california. Listen, i am so tired of this weak versus strong thing. I want to get you into this, senator. It seems to any, what we hear from republicans, they want more belligerence, more saber rattling, more United States leaning over into other folks business. The American People dont agree with that. They agree with the president. Let me show you this. If you look at the actual numbers, 20 say we should be more active even in the face of all this stuff. 47 of americans are saying, listen, we cant solve the whole worlds probable. We shoub doild be doing more stt home. Let me first challenge what you said in your opening comment that were blaming president obama. I personally blame Vladimir Putin. But the fact of the matter is, we have shown weakness. We havent shown the strength no, we have to show strength and resolve. Vladimir putin isnt going to listen to words. The president says all kinds of good things but has to back those with action. Hell only respond to action. So, no, what we should be doing is honoring the request of the courageous people in ukraine, provide them some defensive weapons. We should open up our energy markets. Were wasting so much natural gas. We ought to capture that, build pipelines and export that to ukraine and europe. My understanding is in terms of the liquified natural gas, those contracts are under way. Its going to take them about a year before they come online. This president can move that a lot quicker and hes not doing that. I dont believe so because the contracts are under way. It does take a while for it to come online. You know, my republican colleagues and both of us are in the minorities, every time something comes up, all roads lead back to keystone. And ill tell you, even if keystone is being built today, it would take a year for it to be online. Allow the permit applications to move forward. Have you heard the president announce the permit applications to move forward . That would be a powerful signal then and there. We have to recognize what gives Vladimir Putin strength. His oil and gas reserves. Europes dependence on that. We have to break that dependence, break that monopoly. Even if keystone was up and running, its still a drop in the bucket in terms of im talking about the lng terminals. Signal what we should be doing. It is moving forward. Its just going to take a while. By the way, im for a very Aggressive Energy policy. I think it would be a factor. But i think the reason the president s getting in trouble is that you can follow the polling numbers that van had. 47 of the country wants a last active Foreign Policy 19 , 20 wants a more activist Foreign Policy. The president has been trying to do both. That is, he doesnt want to use military force, but he draws red lines. He ends up getting, talking about all sorts of places but not doing anything. Isnt there how do you have an activist nonactivist, interventionist noninterventi interventionist policy . The pentagon, for example, was counting kevlar vests as an offensive weapon. They wouldnt send anything that was useful to ukraine. Youre either going to do things or not do things, but this talk without effectiveness, isnt that a real problem . Well, i actually dont think that it is, and i do think he has been effective, but it is a real pushback. I can tell you, constituents in my district, the last thing in the world they want to hear is us getting into another conflict. Thats a real issue. You know why that is, though . Because this president theyre tired of war. No, this president hasnt taken the time to explain why syria is a National Security issue for us. Hold on a second. Hes not taken the time to explain why Vladimir Putins aggressive expansion does threaten our National Security in the world order. Criticized for explaining too much. Cant have it both ways. Hes deliberating too pump. He didnt say a word about syria, all of a sudden draws a red line. That red line is crossed because he no, its an example of how this president has not led by let me ask you one question. Let me ask you one question. First of all, people want to go back and act like if he had bombed syria wed be in a stronger position. If we were bogged in in syria right now, wed be in a weak ee position to deal with putin. Would have already changed Vladimir Putins calculous. The reason Vladimir Putin is doing this is because he can do it with impunity. What he got out of his aggression toward georgia was a reset. The aggression under george, that was with george w. Bush who just invaded two countries. With him, actually who was a lame duck president. The election was happening. And president obama came in and rewarded Vladimir Putin for that aggression with a reset. A reset button was actually awarded. That hasnt worked too well. Let me just say a couple things. First of all, my big disappointment with you and with your party is there i cant imagine is that theres not one thing you guys have put forward that the president is adisagreeing with. You dont want direct military involvement against putin right now, do you . I want us to provide defensive weapons. Things like antitank weapons to the trained members of the ukrainian military. The only debate between republicans and democrats right now in this town is how many sanctions, how fast, and whats the truth . Nonmilitary involvement. We want to see and president obama announced hes going to allow those applications for those lng terminals, those permits to proceed forward. That would be a powerful signal. The terminals are moving forward. Its just going to take them about a year to come online. I dont know what you mean when you say that. Its going back to keystone. That permit has taken five years. No, but that is we fought and won world war ii in a shorter time period. I was going to make the same point. Were moving at a pace thats so bureaucratic and cumbersome, if youre putin youre sitting there thinking the president probably doesnt mean whatever he just said. The congress probably wont back him. The American People dont want to get involved. So, you know, if i end up if we have the keystone pipeline, putin would fall down and beg for mercy . Were using it as an example of just his lack of leadership and the fact that i dont believe hes going to allow those you know what i think is really important, when were going to sit here and talk about ukraine, we do have to continue to talk about europe. So europes role, the eus role. Absolutely. This is not all about the United States. First of all, i think europe will always be weaker than we are. So if were weak enough, theyll be really weak. But next, ill tell you where former president bush is wrong about Vladimir Putin zblchbl. We want you at home to answer tonights crossfire question. When did Vladimir Putin take power in russia . A, 1994, b, 1999, or c, 2004 . Well have the answer when we get back. 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Whats your policy . Welcome back. Heres the answer to our crossfire quiz. Vladimir putin has effectively been in control of russia for 15 years since 1999. Heres a frightening thought. Under russias constitution, putin could be in charge until 2024. In other words, he could serve with president george p. Bush or president chelsea clinton. But some u. S. President s including republicans keep underestimating him. Today, president george w. Bush who once famously said he had looked into putins eyes and saw his soul gave a new explanation about him. Did you misjudge him early or were you trying to open the door . I think he changed. Of course, president s should owo open the door and give people a chance except for the despicable tyrants. At that time, it looked like he wanted to be, you know, work with the west. President bush reflects our entire Foreign Policy lead in both parties. They continue to believe bad people can be good people if only we be nice to them. Putin has been putin for the entire time hes been around. He was putin in the kgb. Hes been putin since he started running the country 99. We have to see him for what he really is in the words of former defense secretary bill gates, a stone cold killer. Back with us in the crossfire congresswoman karen bass and senator ron johnson. I think you feel like thats a pretty grim but maybe accurate view of putin. I do. I think its rather scary. Some of the photographs of him show he looks pretty thuggish although we dont call him that. The only change is hes been emboldened. Right. Hes gotten into that power. His head is expanding. Hes more dangerous now. I would agree with you, and i do think its because of the entire world. Not because of president obama that hes emboldened. You were commenting during the break, youd just been in ukraine. Right. And id ask both of you, you really believe if hes determined to be aggressive that we can stop him . Probably not militarily. From my standpoint, it makes no sense for russia economically. Right. Just doesnt. You really have a megalo maniac, egomaniac in Vladimir Putin who wants the power and able to move forward. I dont know how you stop that other than to potentially change his calculous and hopefully hes rational enough to realize his economy will suffer. I love this conversation. Now were actually trying to g figure out something. Heres my problem. This is the not the conversation were hearing today from the republicans on the hill. Youre not listening close enough. You have too much of a filter. Actually were all reasonable. Benghazi is reasonable . Heres what i dont understand. Right now, weve got the entire eyes of the world focused on ukraine, whats going on there. Its the most dangerous part of the world. And your party is 1,300 miles off talking about benghazi on a different continent. Why are you guys so obsessed about that issue on a week like this . President Obamas Administration shouldnt have lied to the American People for weeks on that. They should have been tra transparent, got the story out. Youve never made a mistake . This was far more than a mistake. More important thing for the Republican Party to be talking about on National Television other than ben gaughazibenghazi . An email from rhodes, a smoking gun that proves this white house a strategy . Youre the one who brought it up. I was happy talking about you ya yan. You brought it up. Theres agreement here. The senator and i agree. I think putin can be brought to his knees through economy, so he has to make a choice. Does he want to invade ukraine or going to sacrifice his economy . So we kick up sanctions and increase to a sectoral approach meaning the banks and the Financial Sector and then the europeans join in. Bring his economy to its knees. We need to do more than that because economic pressure requires rationality in his part. He might be rational, but he really would respond to action, i think like you say, youve got to provide defensive weaponry. To quote my mentor, bob michael, im going to be the skunk at the garden party for a second. Okay. Putin is cutting deals with japan. Hes cutting deals with china. Hes about to cut a very unique deal with north korea that may involve a railroad from south korea. He, i think, is in a position where he is anticipating whatever were going to do. We havent been able to change cuba with sanctions that go back to 1960. Cuba is a whole other discussion. You look at a country that size, and i am very concerned. By the way, thats the point. Sanctions work pretty good when its asymmetric, when you have a very small like iran, north korea. Cuba hasnt worked. When you have an economy as large as russia, couple trillion, theres a lot of interdependencies, well never put the type of crypts sanctiip sanctions because its a doubleedged sword. Make your point. The world has not supported our policy with cuba. We had a blockade against cuba for over five decades and doesnt have the international support. You think china, japan, india, iran are going to support the american sanctions in russia . I dont think theyd support them because theyre the american sanctions. I think when europe weighs in in a much bigger way it really increases the pressure. Dont you think as this thing develops, listen, right now europe has been timid, have not been that helpful. You look at the scenes now. These are going to get worse and worse. Dont you think that at a certain pioint the europeans do come around and the president s patient hand of using sanctions you dont start with your last card. You start with your first card. Dont you think the calculations of the european s begins to change . I dont think the europeans would ever support the sanctions that would change putins calculous. You think if obama gave a better speech, theyd do Something Different . No. My point about president obama is hes shown weakness for five years. The world has seen it. Thats dangerous. The world actually does look for American Leadership and as theyre witnessing this, north korea is watching. Irans watching. Chinas they are all emboldened by our weakness, our lack of resolve. Who respects america more after five years of barack obama . Lets go back to bush and talk about how the world respects. I bet you would. Let me just say, i think what is really sobering and frightening whereby we are right now, and you saw this a little bit as they started talking through what is going on in ukraine today is probably the only thing that would really slow putin down is genuinely arming the ukrainians. That is a big decision. We went through the whole cold war for 50 years. And russians went into east germany in 53. They went into hungary in 56. They went into prague in 68. We were always very careful. They have 1700 nuclear weapons. But it wasnt arming those countries that led to tend of the cold war and the collapse of the soviet union. A very longterm collapse. It was economic. We need to be thinking about a 20year plan to be dealing with putin. Yes. Not a 20week plan. I would tend to agree with you on that. And i dont understand why if this is true, and i appreciate your perspective, where are the republicans who are willing to play this longer game with this president . You talk about how weak this president. I dont think this president looks week to al qaeda. I dont think this president looks weak to moammar gadhafi. I think america looks weak when the Republican Party attacks this president when he goes for peace, when he goes for war, when he tries to do overseas, stuff at home. Where is the one area you are willing to work with this president on . First thing i said we had to go, look at this strategically and we have to open up World Energy Markets we have to export our energy resources. Break up that monopoly. You mentioned moammar gadhafi. That was the white house saying that president obama was leading from behind. That didnt work so well. Really behind. I think the whole debacle of that strategy and benghazi was we have to keep on after the break. We want you at home to get involved in this. We want you to weigh in on todays fireback question. Can the United States prevent putin from taking over Eastern Ukraine . I want you to tweet yes or no, using crossfire. Well give you the results after the break. Also, were going have the outrages of the day. Mine has to do with sports teams and their owners. But its probably not what you think. When we get back. Norfolk southern whats your function . Hooking up the country helping business run build were investing big to keep our country in the lead. Load we keep moving to deliver what you need. And that means growth, lots of cargo going all around the globe. Cars and parts, fuel and steel, peas and rice, hey thats nice Norfolk Southern whats your function . Helping this big country move ahead as one Norfolk Southern hows that function . Because you cant beat zero heartburn. Woo hoo [ male announcer ] prilosec otc is the number one doctor recommended frequent heartburn medicine for 8 straight years. One pill each morning. 24 hours. Zero heartburn. Frequent heartburn medicine for 8 straight years. That corporate trial by fire when every slacker gets his due. And yet, theres someone around the office who hasnt had a Performance Review in a while. Someone whose poor performance is slowing down the entire organization. Im looking at you phone company dsl. Check your speed. See how fast your internet can be. Switch now and add voice and tv for 34. 90. Comcast business built for business. We are back with congresswoman bass and senator johnson. Now its time for the outrages of the day. Now, i am outraged that were all outraged, but only about this sterling guy. Who cares about him. What about the deeper racial problem in sports, the one that is staring us in the face every single game. Now look. Between baseball, basketball, and football, we have nearly 100 american teams. 100 teams. Now except for one person, michael jordan, every single principle owner is white. But the folks who are sweating at the bottom of the pyramid of the game are mostly people of color. Now thats not 2014, thats 1814. And to me, thats a real outrage. What do you think about that, congresswoman . Well, i think its an excellent point. And you know what . Im hopeful about the clippers, because you have oprah winfrey. You have Magic Johnson, and Magic Johnson has an interest in the dodgers. So im hoping that they will be able to step in and take advantage. Be an advantage with his big cnn contract. My view is all the shakeup the billionaire owners, some of the teams ought to watch the green bay model. I think having a communityowned team is the center of wisconsin. That would be the thats right. Community owners. So on my side, bill clinton has always been selfaggrandizing and extremely loose with the truth. 10 even though it ought to be an outrage, its really no surprise that during a speech this week he was selfaggrandizing and dishonest in taking sole credit for the prosperity of the 1990s. Listen to this. In all the socalled prosperity of the 1980s, only 77,000 of our fellow americans move from poverty into the middle class. In the 90s, 100 times as many, 7. 7 Million People did. That was policy. In a way, clinton is right. If he had not governed so badly in the first two years he was in office, republicans would not have taken control of the congress, and none of the necessary work would have gotten done. So if he wants to take sole credit for the getting the Republican Congress elected in 1994, the congress that forced him to reform welfare and balance the budget, its just fine with me. Okay. Well, look, we dont have enough time for me to fight you on that one. So we got to just let you have that one tonight. Were going to check in on our fireback results. The United States prevent putin from taking over Eastern Ukraine. Right now 17 of you say yes. 83 of you say no. My goodness. What is your position . Do you think that we could stop him nor . Weve got to change his calculus. If he wants to roll, we certainly cant stop him militarily. Thats his choice. But we have to change his calculus. 83 of the people agree with you on that. I want to thank you, representative karen bass and ron johnson. This debate going to continue on online at cnn. Com crossfire as well as facebook and twitter. From the left, im van jones. From the right, im newt gingrich. Join us tomorrow for another edition of crossfire. And Erin Burnett Outfront starts right now. Thank you. Next, new details about what happened to flight 370. Why did officials wait four hours before doing anything about the missing jet . Plus, new video of a baltimore landslide. The moment the earth opened up and swallowed an entire block. This is unbelievable. And Donald Sterlings many women. We know about the woman on the infamous tape. Tonight the other other woman. Another mistress revealed. Lets go outfront. Good evening, everyone. Im erin burnett. Outfront tonight, did anyone