is -- if he continues to reside not only the passports but as for the example of governments in competence and, frankly, -- spent i'm afraid to say what we inherited in terms of defense is not only a 38 billion pounds black hole but a situation where the military reserves, where they have been under resource and undervalued fo four years. we now have a five year program for building them up. the program is underway. it is gathering pace and what we're going to see is the strongest possible professional army with all of the best equipment that they could have and a very strong reserve force backing up, making sure t

question time airs live. you can watch it on c-span. work. next, a reporters roundtable. that, control of materials that could be used to make so-called ready bombs. >> for over 35 years, it c-span brings public affairs from washington directly to you, putting you in the room at white house briefings and conference and offering complete gavel-to-gavel coverage of the house. we are sees vans, created by the cable tv industry 35 years ago and brought to you. hd, like this on

facebook, and follow us on next, awill stop >> discussion about news of the past week from washington journal, about one hour and 10 minutes. >> our sunday roundtable includes derek wallbank and domenico montanaro. i want to direct the audience to your website and the complications facing the president as we see a drawdown on u.s. troops in afghanistan and the uss george herbert walker bush making its way to the persian gulf with the headline -- iraqi crisis and other foreign policy complications. no question about it. a lot of our foreign policy complications for the president don't have any clear solutions. no good options. you keep hearing that. you see political debates over

and over again, democrats in the middle of this midterm with the president having to deal with something that has no clear solution. the other complicating factor is a real mistrust of prime minister malki. this is one of the big factors. many of the people who fled decided to go back because they felt that the isis group that was in there was better than the army that was shutting off streets and not providing services. you realize you have a very complicated situation here and what did the president do? did he somewhat aligned himself with iran? who the shiite faction is aligned with a little bit more? when you have that as your issue and you are the president and you sit there in the white house and you think -- what do you do here? even john mccain said that there were not any good options in

2011 for not leaving a residual force. he said it was time for the president to completely change is national leadership team. i think there will be a lot of criticism over what the obama administration has done going forward here. this is a chance for people who said very clearly at that point that you need to have an agreement with the government of of forcesve a status deal and be able to keep some people there and have additional security presence. that iraqis not ready. but at this point, as was quite rightly said, you have a very serious question about what you do now. it is all fine to say that we don't like what is going on, but to advance another option comes with its own set of risks and problems and, quite frankly, the

american people are just not having it because they are sick and tired of being in protracted conflicts because they quite frankly have been sending soldiers to war consistently since the last part of 2001 nbc poll after poll that says they don't want forces on the ground anymore. host: the other issue this week, eric cantor losing in virginia. chris alyssa giving him the worst week in washington. theerms of policy issues, big question is immigration. this is what the current house republican leader had to say when he announced he was stepping down at the end of july with a succession vote taking place this week on capitol hill. position --[video clip] the position has not changed. the system is broken and needs reform. it is much more desirable and doable to do it one step at a

time, working towards where we have common ground and believe things in common. i don't believe in this my way or the highway approach that the president has laid out and i continue to take that as edition. ground at then border. there is common ground. i would like to see the issue addressed by those who did not break laws and come here unbeknownst. again, i have always said that there should be and is common ground if we would just allow ourselves to work together. that is what he says. what is going to happen? >> the sad reality of it, if you are looking to see this passed, the time crunch that we have now is very acute. congress will be off for all of august. they will be campaigning for all of october. it leaves very, very little time to get something done. immigration was not looking good anyway, but with eric cantor

going it has frozen a lot of republicans on the topic. democrats still say that if you bring immigration forward it would probably pass, but that is not something that congressional republicans were willing to do before. right now what we are hearing from republicans is that this is the ultimate wait and see message. one of the things that eric cantor was hit on was being soft on amnesty. a lot of people are frightened and unsure of what the dynamics are. >> did you want to weigh in? >> one leadership aide told the that the night that eric cantor went down he said that immigration was dead anyway. it was not going to happen. the president was sort of waiting to see and i think now there will be more pressure from advocacy droops for the president to do something unilaterally, some kind of executive action. we will see what winds up happening with the review that is due before the election. weekend wethe covered some potential 20 16

candidates, including senator rand paul from kentucky. again he went after the clintons, calling bill clinton on this network a sexual predator. in his remarks yesterday he had this to say about hillary clinton. [video clip] >> i got her in front of my committee on the way out, finally, and i told her look, if i had been president i would have asked for your resignation. [applause] i asked her a question. i asked her -- did you read the cables from the ambassador? she never read them. it is a dereliction of duty and something that should preclude her from ever being considered as commander-in-chief. guest: there is a reason republicans have been going after every clinton since after she was elected, democrats don't

have a bench. she is really the only one who seems to have the strongest chance of beating the republican field or the presidency in 2016 and if the republicans take back the senate, they need a republican president to get something done so that you do not have a lame-duck mitch mcconnell majority leader just before the democratic president winds up coming in. yesterday hillary clinton was in a costco, hundreds of people signing up for her book. this is the story this morning from inside "the washington post." congressman john lewis greeted her as well. guest: this comes down to i should have renewed my costco membership. she has a popularity that i think a lot of people would kill for, frankly, in this really in theed by met. 52% bloomberg poll, down from where she has been previously, but the

president, if you look at his surveys, somewhere in the low 40's. that makes hillary clinton very, very, very appealing. if you see her matched up against possible 2016 republican candidates, she wins in most of not all of the key states. really ahat that is key part of the attack clinton now, try to soft and that image a little bit, soften that popularity a little bit, because if you go in with her that far ahead into the actual fight after these midterm elections, it is going to be a lot harder. one comment that she made, that they left the white house dead broke. "i was dead broke." that will be $200,000, please." she did get a book advance. guest: this rollout has not been

without some problems. when you look at just the houses issue, this is someone who has had secret service protection for 22 years. relate ability factor will always be the thing that most americans will look at. whether or not you are like me. john mccain had to deal with this tom a with how many houses he had or did not know how many he had. min romney was the same, with having to sell off his houses. he did not have the john mccain issue. on gay marriage you saw a little bit of the -- not so much a policy problem but that prickliness that sometimes when the clintons are pushed you see that style issue and that is some of what potentially could drag down some of those popularity ratings, but right now far and away she beats the republican field and democratic field by a lot. host: the analogy to the disney

film "frozen." when will hillary "let it go"? i think on substance, most in the gay community will sit there and look and say, ok, she may have, like a lot of democrats, this position where she was pro-civil union because it was politically palatable. then she decided to change her mind as the culture and the country has changed. herhe does decide to run, position will be a stark contrast from whoever the republican nominee is. guest: the headline is really appropriate. this is somebody who is most who'sable -- somebody most vulnerable moment was also her strongest moment in the last campaign -- somebody whose most vulnerable moment was also her strongest moment in the last campaign.

she is sitting around the table and she breaks a little bit. it was a really humanizing moment for hillary clinton. in that song, "let the storms rage on, the cold never bothered me anyway." there were people who were advising her to please break out, please show your personality, please show you are human. the country will be fine. part of her problem last time was that she was very guarded. there were a lot of people trying to protect her. let's be fair. she has lived in the sort of security bubble for a while. since she has come out, it is a lot of people telling her how great she is. political campaign, not everyone is going to tell you how great you are. they are going to hit you in the nose. it is what you do next that is important. host: when will hillary let it go?

in the frozen kingdoms of two polarizing queens. we appreciate you both being with us. andill get to your calls comments in just a moment. another issue getting a lot of attention. in just over a week, the runoff will be taking place in mississippi between chris mcdaniel and thad cochran. we want to get your reaction to the latest round of ads from that race. >> this is trent lott. over the years, we had to fight for funds and contracts and to maintain programs -- on june 24, we have a critical election about our future. without thad cochran, we could lose some of these important facilities. ins is really about jobs south mississippi and security of our country. senator cochran has the experience and the power to protect the gulf coast. >> i'm thad cochran and i approve this message. >> domenico montanaro, this is

in stark contrast to the tea party that said government is too big. you have a veteran republican running for reelection. duringlection was 1978 the carter administration. >> i think this will be a key election to see whether or not that kind of message -- whether you can bring home the bacon -- can still resonate, especially in a state like mississippi where they rely on a lot of government funding. i talked to haley barbour right after cochran fell behind and wound up going into that runoff. he says we need to remind people that even democrats in the state who can vote, because it is an open primary, that chris mcdaniel, the tea party opponent, is against federal funding for education. the problem for them is, is the republican base, is the republican party at that point right now where they can make this message? , thereama, common core

was an article written up about how that is what has been firing up the base there. in virginia --aw those two issues. is this going to be an election where a candidate says i bring home federal funds, you want me to be there -- that's going to be a key question. also whether or not thad cochran -- he has not shown that he is completely on top of everything in the past couple of weeks. his first article saying he didn't remember who she was after she had interviewed him a half-hour earlier. you saw an interview this week on fox where he didn't know what happened in the air at cantor race and says he wasn't following -- in the eric cantor race and says he wasn't following what was happening. this could be very problematic. host: not getting a 50% threshold in mississippi. [video clip] toit's sad what happened

thad cochran. he has served well. but after five decades, he has lost touch. in washington, he votes with the liberals on spending, on judges, even on funding obamacare. refuses toppi, he debate, hides from voters, and throws mud. thad cochran is entitled to respect. he is not entitled to a lifetime seat in the senate. action isrowth responsible for this advertising. host: what can we expect on tuesday? guest: we can expect a guy in that mcdaniel who has said -- who has embraced that david brat win over eric cantor. that campaign message -- we've seen that before. that played in several races in 2010 against senior house committee chairman -- guys like overstark. they had been around for a while.

they have done a great service. thanks, cheers, it's time to go on. it was a very effective message in those races. it is one that, frankly, a lot of senior people haven't figured out how to rebut. it has been run time and again quite successfully. article, the fox appearance -- those hit back at thad cochran's message. his key point is i can do things. when he looks lost on the campaign trail, it undermines his key reelection pionts -- poi nts. one of the things the profiles are missing is that thad cochran has, quite frankly, a very senior staff that has been able to do a lot of things. thad cochran held up the thorn built to make sure -- thorn -- the farm bill to make sure there was a program for mississippi. when he goes on the trail and looks a little bit lost, it really hits at that key argument

that he has to sell to get his seat. , that's our585-3881 line for republicans. (202) 585-3880, for democrats. we welcome your e-mail at journal@c-span.org. let me ask you to set up thursday's vote. a lot of back and forth. sessions is in, sessions is out. itwe speak at the moment, looks like kevin mccarthy will be the next republican leader. guest: prohibitive front-runner right now. labrador got in late after mccarthy had set up what his folks will tell you is a majority of people. the old adage always goes that the only person you can count on is someone who says i'm not with you now and i'm never going to be with you. mccarthy has lined up a lot of support from powerful committee chairman. he is seen as an heir apparent. it would be a promotion. there are a string of republicans i've talked to who

have said, look, this is a continuity issue. this does not mean that he gets it for the 114th congress. this just means he gets it for for the restgress, of it. steve scalise has a built-in base of support. peter roskam, the chief deputy whip, is making a job -- an argument that he is doing the job harshly already. already.b partially and then the guy from indiana. it is a wide-open race. it could be very interesting. host: domenico montanaro, let me share you -- share with you this. "mccarthy's personality is one of his greatest strengths. he is surely the best light republican in the house -- the best liked republican in the

house, at least among republicans. in two thousand six along with peter roskam of illinois and michele bachmann of minnesota. for two decades, he worked for bill thomas, a brainy gop house member, and ran his california office. the question is, how conservative is he? he is not a tea party republican, libertarian, or a neocon." there are a lot of tea party members who are not sold on this leadership team, because none of them are from states that are in the south where the republican base is, at this poin t. -- he is of labrador probably more liberal than eric cantor on immigration. he was one of the gang of eight trying to negotiate on this until he walked away. mccarthy has showed some openness on immigration. no one is going to act on it now because the rest of the congress

is so -- so much so has to look over their shoulders for doing anything on it. mccarthy will be somebody similar to eric cantor. they were friends. the dissension will remain within the republican conference. host: from north carolina, good morning. caller: c-span guests and america, good morning. host: good to hear from you. caller: if it was any better, i would be greedy. veteran.etnam era please allow me as much time as you did the gentleman from west virginia. it appears to me that reporters nowadays on news media are stenographers. they don't report anything. let me give you an example. you had rand paul saying -- boasting about how he had chastised hillary clinton for not reading cables. anybody who knows anything about civics knows good and well that is something that happens with

the undersecretary or below. not only that, if these reporters pulled the senate report in january, 20 14, at the bottom of page 20, top of page one he won, it says ambassador page 21,efused -- of it says ambassador crocker refused security. host: i didn't chastise him. he had the last word. i just told him that i thought he was wrong. i knew he was wrong. caller: you disagreed with him. what i'm asking you to do is prove it. would probablye be considered neutral. if you bring somebody from "wall street journal," or "new york times," you know they would be biased.

american soldiers, godspeed to all of you. thank god for you. host: he hung up. i was going to let you have the last word. the great thing about this network is that everything we cover, every word, every frame of video is all available online at c-span.org. if you feel there is an agenda, let us know. i just respectfully disagree. we have a different mission. thank you for the call. did you want to weigh in? guest: people have their passions on these issues, absolutely. i think that we do try to do our homework. he clearly did his homework. i'm glad he pulled the report and was able to cite things. that is the job of a journalist. maybe he should start a blog. host: we will go to joe in oxford, georgia. good morning, independent line. >caller: how are you this morning? host: fine, how are you? caller: i don't think hillary or

elizabeth warren will have a chance to be president. i spent time in brazil. this sustainable development -- all mexicanshave in here so they can rule. they are working with -- it is treasonous. these people ought to be put up on treason charges and found guilty, probably put to death for treason on this country. you wouldn't believe what is in these videos. host: what is your source of information on this? caller: c-span. c-span took them down after 2012. i have the numbers on the videos if you will give me a minute to get them. it is sustainable development. foley.