Transcripts For WCAU Meet The Press 20151018 : vimarsana.com

But mx he was president. Or is jeb bush desperately looking to pick a fight with trump . Finally, the Bernie Sanders impersonation weve all been waiting for. Hello, hello, hello, enough with the hellos, lets do this. Joining me to provide insight and analysis are the nationnational journals ron fournier, nbc mitchell of nbc news, amy walter of the Cook Political Report and republican strategist alex castellanos. Welcome to sunday, its meet the press. Good sunday morning. If you get the feeling that theres a new sense of urgency in this president ial campaign, well, youre right. On the democratic side, Hillary Clintons Strong Performance in the las vegas debate on tuesday has led to calls for the Vice President to say thumbs up or thumbs down now. On the republican side, rand paul and Chris Christie are proving they may be pretenders. Jeb bush and marco rubio are both struggling and pointing the finger at the other and a number of other candidates soon may not even be able to pay their bills. So if you dont think the leaders donald trump and ben carson are in this for the long haul, then the conservative you may want to look at is our next guest. Ted cruz was the only other candidate in double digits in this weeks fox news poll and he looks like the candidate most likely to pick up trump and carson supporters if and thats a big if they do eventually stray. Plus, cruz is raising lots of money, not spending much, and he has men aplenty of cash on hand. I caught up with him in New Hampshire and asked him how he plans to eventually pick off the trump and carson voters. I think Donald Trumps campaign has been immensely beneficial for our campaign. And the reason is hes framed the central issue of this republican primary as who will stand up to washington. Well, the natural followup if thats the question is who actually has stood up to washington. Who has stood up to both democrats and to leaders in their open party. You think that distinguishes you from donald trump and ben carson . And from everyone else on that stage. I think my record is markedly different in terms of actually standing up and taking on the washington cartel. And thats why were seeing, particularly as voters get more and more educated, study the candidate, listen to the candidates in person, i think thats why were seeing the grassroots momentum that were seeing. If you were sitting there staying that you could stop obamacare if you just did what you did and shut down the government and that republicans could stop the iran deal, the fact is, you couldnt. The numbers werent on your side. Theres a democratic president. So did you overpromise . I understand youre saying others, but didnt you . Look, when it comes to promising, what i promised is that i would fight with every breath in my body to stop the outofcontrol spending, the debt that is bankrupting our country, stop obamacare, to protect our nation and all of those are promises that i have honored every single day in the senate. And you know, its amazing, so i was visiting with a colleague recently who was making that pitch about, well, gosh, the problem is expectations, we need to define expectations. Correct. A bunch of republicans have been saying this and they blame you. Its complete nonsense. You know who the people promising are . Its Republican Leadership when they campaign. Why do you think john boehner is stepping down . Hes stepping down because the American People are furious with Republican Leaders that dont do what they promised. And its interesting, i do town halls all over the country and i asked folks, okay, we have republican majorities in both houses for ten months now. What on earth are they accomplished . Every town hall you do the answer is always absolutely nothing. And usually i respond and say, you know what . Its worse than, that it could have been better if it were nothing. In fact, what the republican majorities have done, we came back right after the last election, passed a trillion dollar bill filled with corporate welfare then Republican Leadership and leadership joined with harry reid and the democrats to do that. Then leadership voted to fund obamacare. Then they voted to fund amnesty. Then they voted to Fund Planned Parenthood and then Republican Leadership took the lead confirming Loretta Lynch as attorney general. Chuck, which one of those decisions is one iota different than what would have happened under harry reid and the democrats . The truth of the matter is Republican Leadership are the most effective democrat leaders weve ever seen. Theyve passed more democratic priorities than harry reid ever could. So john boehner is leaving. Should Mitch Mcconnell leave . Look, thats a question for the republican conference to make. Youre a member of the republican conference. What i have said have you called why dont you challenge him . Why dont you call for him to step down . What i have said repeatedly chuck, both publicly and privately and when i say publicly and privately, thats the same thing we need leaders who will honor the promises that men and women have made to us. If youre glad john boehner is leaving, how come you dont call out Mitch Mcconnell . Listen, at the end of the day he is your leader. At the end of the day it depends on where the votes are in the conference. Mitch has the votes to remain as majority leader. Im going to read you quotes from your fellow republicans. Senator Lamar Alexander said this about you. In kindergarten you learn to work well together and play by the rules. Another thing you learn in kindergarten is to respect one another. Senator orrin hatch squabbling and sanctimony have no place among colleagues in the u. S. Senate. John mccain, i would never contemplate going to the floor of the senate impugning the integrity of another senator. Just not what we do here. And, of course, Speaker Boehner called you a false prophet and another word i wont say on sunday morning television. How do you lead a Republican Party when orrin hatch, Lamar Alexander, john mccain, john boehner, these are wellrespected men, think this lowly of you. Listen, if youre looking for a candidate who the career politicians in washington will embrace, im not your guy. Washingtons broken. People are frustrated out of their minds. Every one in the republican primary is standing up saying vote for me because i will stand up and fight washington. Two weeks ago we had an epic knock down drag out fight on exactly this. Millions of conservatives rose up, said deFund Planned Parenthood. I was proud to lead that fight. And where were the other candidates . It was like they were in the witness protection plan. Can you imagine how different that fight would have played out if all 11 republican president ial candidates has descended on washington and said in one voice Mitch Mcconnell and john boehner, dont send 500 million of taxpayer funds to planned parenthood. You know, theres another way to look at this, senator cruz, which is you stood up on obamacare, you stood up on planned parenthood, you stood up on immigration and nobody followed you. Well, thats not true. Im saying nobody in washington follows you. If you get elected president , you have to get somebody to follow your lead in washington, whether you like it or not. Listen, at the end of the day, its not about read leadership. And by the way, in each of those fights, every time weve had a battle between me and leadership with the republican caucus, about half of the caucus has been with me, about half of the caucus has been with leadership. At the end of the day, if youre looking for someone whos running to be a member of the club, thats not me. Its interesting, you were reading all the attacks. I mentioned my book, my book i quote all of the nasty things republicans have said about me. And you know in response to that i dont reciprocate, much of the annoyance of many in the media who want me to attack donald trump or john boehner or Mitch Mcconnell. You called Mitch Mcconnell a liar. Thats a tough thing to say on the senate floor. Lets be clear what i said. I stood up and said Mitch Mcconnell made the following promise directly to me looking me in the eye to every republican senator and did it publicly and a month later his behavior was exactly 180 degrees to the opposite. This is how broken washington is. Listen, the fact that he told a falsehood is a matter of public record. He stated it publicly, then he behaved exactly the opposite. And washington is so broken that they treat someone saying the republican leader just did exactly the opposite of what he promised he would do that apparently the troublemaker is the person saying it rather than the person telling the lie. Thats whats broken about washington. When i tell you im going to do something, chuck, im going to do exactly what i said im going to do. I want to say two more things. Paul ryan, a true conservative . Listen, i like paul ryan, hes a friend of mine. This is obviously a question that is wrapped up in the speaker of the house deliberations. I have said consistently ill stay out of that. But is he a true conservative . Thats a decision for the House Republicans to make. Mark levin, who you joked and said i want mark levin as a speaker. Hes definitely a true conservative. So youll say that but you wont say he doesnt think paul ryan is. He doesnt like his stance on the debt limit and tarp. I have said consistently throughout that the question of house leadership the question of House Republican conference. I want to move to Foreign Policy, afghanistan decision by the president. In favor of it . Well, listen, its a recognition that what the president has been saying for years, that al qaeda is decimated, was never true. That it was political spin. The reality is we live in an incredibly dangerous world and sadly the failures of the Obama Clinton Foreign Policy have made the dangers great. If you become president youll keep this policy in place of keeping those troops in afghanistan . It will depend on the mission. I dont believe we should be engaged in nation building. I dont believe we should be trying to transform Foreign Countries into democratic utopias, trying to turn iraq into switzerland. But i do think it is the job of our military to protect this country. To hunt down and kill jihadists who would murder us. Syria. Priority, assad out of power or isis . Isis, isis, isis. So basically table the assad discussion . Look, we have no business sticking our nose in that civil war. And there are a lot of politicians, including Hillary Clinton on the left and including quite a few of the republicans running for president on the right, who want us to get into the middle of that civil war. So youre no on the nofly zones, none of that stuff . Stick to just isis . Would you work with the russians . If they are helping with isis, would you help . Of course we shouldnt partner with the russians. Look, this is a great example of the utter failure of the Obama Clinton Foreign Policy. This void in power has let putin step in there. There are a couple hundred cubans right now a major cuban general fighting in the syrian civil war. Youve got iran, youve got general suleimanny in bed with the russians so you now have russia, cuba and iran all arm in arm and anyone who believes russia is fighting against terrorism, ive got to a bridge to sell them. Theyre propping up assad but you said youre okay with that. I dont think we should prop up assad, either. But heres the problem. You have people who view Foreign Policy you look at some of the republican, for example, who supported Hillary Clintons disastrous libya policy. Toppling qaddafi . Qaddafi was a bad guy but you know what . Libya is an absolute chaos and war zone where jihadists are battling back and forth and heres, chuck, the way we should answer would the middle east be more stable today if you had the strong men . Of course it would. Of course it would. Qaddafi, saddam, assad . If theyre strong men, they keep stability . It wasnt even close that libya under qaddafi was better for u. S. Interests than the chaos now than that is allowing jihadist to gain strength. What about iraq under saddam . It wasnt even close. Do you think iraq would be more stable today under a strongman like saddam . Based on what we know now should we have gone into iraq . Of course not. It was based on the belief they had weapons of mass destruction that they would use against us. You are a believer in using the debt limit for leverage. What do you want Republican Leadership to do with the debt limit . What id like to see on the democrat limit is Republican Leaders fight for something. For petes sakes, anything. Are there a lot of reports right now that john boehner before he steps down as speaker intends to cut a deal with nancy pelosi to raise the debt ceiling and to fund all of obamas agenda. And what would what will you . For the next year and a half hes got the votes. Isnt that how democracy works . Hes got the votes . I mean, this is how it works. Youre right. And if he does it he will be the most effective democratic leader in modern times. Theres a lot more to my interview with ted cruz. You can see the complete interview on our web site, meet the press nbc. Com. Coming up, not one but two republicans have said the Benghazi Committee hearing was inspired to hurt Hillary Clinton. Is the committee discredited before clinton tes its one of the most Amazing Things we build and it doesnt even fly. We build it in classrooms and exhibit halls, mentoring tomorrows innovators. We build it raising roofs, preserving habitats and serving americas veterans. Every day, thousands of boeing volunteers help make their communities the best they can be. Building Something Better for all of us. Was going to clean if an better than a manual . He said sure. But dont get just any one. Get one inspired by dentists. With a round brush head. Go pro with oralb. Oralbs rounded brush head cups your teeth to break up plaque and rotates to sweep it away. And oralb delivers a clinically proven superior clean versus sonicare diamondclean. My mouth feels super clean. Oralb know youre getting a superior clean. Im never going back to a manual brush. We are back. However much Hillary Clinton may have helped herself at tuesdays debate, the main event this month will be her appearance on capitol hill before the house Benghazi Committee this thursday. Both sides are attempting to work the refs ahead of time. Heres part of an online video the Clinton Campaign released in an attempt to discredit the committee. And heres an excerpt of a highly controversy anticlinton ad that ran during the first democratic president ial debate. Dear Hillary Clinton, id like to ask you why you ignored calls for help in business and then four americans were murdered. But, mrs. Clinton, i cant. What difference does it make . Were going to hear from both sides of the aisle in just a moment on what likely will be the most important day of Hillary Clintons campaign so far. Your body was made for Better Things than rheumatoid arthritis. Before you and your rheumatologist move to a biologic, ask if xeljanz is right for you. 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