A Dylan Ratigan show panel talks about the top political stories of the day, including the pushback from politicians on the airstrikes in Libya.
MSNBC TRANSCRIPT:
>>> all right. some developing news out of japan before we get to the panel this afternoon. power lines have bemn reconnected to all six reports at the fukushima nuclear power plant. officials there saying they hope to turn on the cooling systems that keep the nuclear fuel under control. also today crews did recover the body of taylor andersen, an american teaching english in japan. she’s believed to be the first known american victim of the quake and tsunami. the overall death toll now stands at 9,000 with yet another 13,000 people yet to be accounted for. and from one hemisphere back to another, to libya we go. you just heard the reiteratism from congressman jason chaffetz about the president’s decision to undertake this military action. half of americans approve how the president has handled the situation. 29% say they do not. but that does not mean that push back from d.c. has not been fierce. top republicans calling the president everything from indecisive to amateurish. while some democrats call it unconstitutional. joining us now is our e team, c karen finney and our republican strategist. finally our political insider and famous antique dealer jimmy williams. did you know he has an antique store? did you know that?
>> i did not know that.
>> can we get a good deal if i need table.
>> anybody can get 20% if you’re really nice and maybe 25.
>> what about a republican?
>> sure. the mark upis really high. so it comes out in the wash.
>> he has good taste.
>> that’s the whole point of being an antique dealer, do you have good taste. that’s why you do it.
>> be a waste of being gay having bad taste.
>> tim pawlenty, moving from thinking about the 2012 bid, actually before i get to pawlenty, i want to talk about the blow back on the president. hold on for pawlenty. what is your thoughts, first for the republican, the indecision, the newt gingrich, and the constitutional stuff, susan?
>> i think the problem with what the president has done to date was he was out there then he came back in. there was public discussion among his secretary of state and others within his administration. it was a very public battle to get to where he was. that being said i think it’s fine the way he conducted the operation, i think the president does have the right to do what he’s doing currently. the problem is that he hasn’t defined it. now he faces a bad pr battle because no one can sell it because no one knows what is it. you don’t know what the outcome is and that’s why you see democrats and republicans giving him grief.
>> is that why they are giving him grief. whether they are saying you are waffling or —
>> pure politics. the republicans have been saying he’s not doing a good enough job leading, now they are saying oh, he’s gone out too far.
>> we get that. what about kucinich and the democrats.
>> if you don’t have dennis kucinich– look, webb is a special case–
>> luger?
>> with luger i disagree. the whole intention of the way this thing went down we didn’t declare war. he weather a participant. that’s part of why you had the president proceed with his trip
>> you’re saying it’s all politics. and i can see the motivation from the republican side to say listen, what kind of a guy is this ? leader. but still unclear to me why webb, luger, kucinich and the democrats —
>> something else. we don’t have a good history in this part of the world. we really don’t. as a matter of fact, the american public doesn’t like —
>> susan —
>> back to the point why he waited to make sure the arab league was on board. john mccain said we should have gone in there like gang busters. go ahead.
>> it’s not constitutional. you go into war, the congress has to declare war. i don’t know why there’s a debate about this.
>> that’s disingenuous. they were wrong. bill clinton was wrong. george bush lied about a war and we’re still there. so someone tell me why congress has never declared war. they gave him an act of resolution.
>> after decades of this behavior —
>> listen, dick luger is the former chairman of the — he’s right. congress is supposed to declare war. they didn’t do that.
>> the house only has to fund it. that’s what it comes down to. we saw it during george bush’s presidency. what will congress do fund it. that’s where they have to draw the line.
>> once i launch the rockets and i come for the money later it’s much harder not to write the check.
>> i want to see our good friends on the republican side of the house defund this war. he wrote an article in politico about this that came out today. i want to see my conservative friends defund this war. i want them to declare war.
>> technically what should have happened having gone through this with chinn, since we’re not technically not declaring war he should have gotten the authorization which is what bush said he should have done.
>> the”fq is —
>> it’s not being enforced.
>> we’ll gotten days more. we’re going into weeks and that’s where the president will get into trouble when we pass the days and go into weeks.
>> let’s talk about the republicans not in the context of the war but in the context of next year’s presidential election as tim pawlenty has moved from thinking about a 2012 bid as you guys know to exploring it. the former minnesota governor, a friend of your, james?
>> not so much.
>> again, former minnesota governor announcing his candidacy. the real headline from my perspective when you look at the polling is that there’s no front-runner and you got to go back decades, you got to go back to the ’60s if not to eisenhower where there’s no bob dole, there’s no george sr..
>> there may not be a field. there is no field.
>> so what is your view of what happens from here in the development of republican presidential candidates?
>> i think you’re going to see, probably mitt romney come in pretty soon with some form saying i’ll be running because you can’t let pawlenty be the only one out there —
>> the only liberal running.
>> let the woman finish.
>> please. i can’t wait to talk about tim pawlenty.
>> the way it’s going to go. debate scheduled for a month from now and it looks like the governor will be by himself. that, frankly s-a big problem for republicans and become a big excuse because they are probably not going to get around to anyone for a long time.
>> for the party of hawks i don’t know why any of them have the guts to declare their candidacy for presidency.
>> all they hear is why isn’t someone going run.
>> like ?who?
>> sarah palin. huckabee.
>> too much money on table.
>> mitch daniels is writing a book.
>> isn’t the bigger challenge for the republicans, i mean this sincerely, the republican party is fairly divided between you got social conservatives, fiscal conservative u-got some who are for the environment but not quite and i think finding the right candidate — which you keep hearing people say if i can take a little bit of this one, a little bit of this one and a little bit of that one. there’s not somebody —
>> who embodies all of those.
>> i would go to the point that no one is putting themselves out there. forget if you want a little bit of this one. you got to be in it to within it.
>> we have —
>> we need to —
>> can you beat obama with no one?
>> i sure hope so.
>> no one may be better than some of the candidates running.
>> give us the last word.
>> tim pawlenty will run for president. this is a man who said in 2007 to the pelosi congress we need to move boldly and aggressively on the cap and trade bill. i think he’s right. now he doesn’t agree with what he said in 2007. maybe he has had a transformation. in 2008 he signed a $109 million tax increase on minnesota businesses. he’s against tax increase. i think this is fabulous. let’s have tim pawlenty run for president. i can’t wait.
>> it’s a pleasure to see all of you. enjoy your uptown living. i’ll enjoy my downtown living. you just enjoy being karen as i know you do. and i’ll come to you for a discount. i’ll bring all my republican friends.
>> you have them?
>> i consider you one.
>> you get 25%.
>> 25%. democrats, i charge them more.
>> thank you guys. still ahead,