leg while force is sometimes necessary, force alone cannot be the solution that we seek. >> of this week on "inside putin to the rescue? >> i cannot support and organization -- operation that conceived,shly clearly telegraphed and fail.lly guaranteed to

>> we are going to do everything we can to protect americans from this harmful health care law. >> the continuing fight against of acare and the threat government shutdown. also, anthony weiner's final moments. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- you are finding it hard to process the notion that russian president vladimir putin is riding to the rescue in the syrian crisis, you are not alone. consider this op ed, a plea for caution in syria. says we are all different, but when we ask for the lord's

blessing, we must not forget that god created us in quote. what is the russian word for chutzpah? in his address to the nation earlier in the week, president obama claimed his threat of force against syria was already working, and that it had led putin to offer to broker a deal. >> it is too early to tell if this offer will succeed. any agreement must verify that assad will keep his agreements. >> words are simply not enough. >> secretary of state kerry in geneva for talks with the russian foreign minister. the wall street journal reported that a military unit has been scattering chemical weapons of throughout the country to make

it more difficult to track them. your thoughts? >> if the nobel peace prize winning is safe from going to war, taking his country to war, by a kgb alum, distinguished , the butcher of chechnya, then so be it. is international control of syrian chemical weapons in the national interest of the united states? yes. ?as this land -- planned

>> it has zero chance of working. thatbjective is to ensure the assad regime stays in place. he is achieving -- putin is achieving that objective. the fact that you have this humiliating op-ed in the new york times is simply an index of for thetempt obama has player on the other side of the chessboard he is facing. >> mean i? in fact, president obama raised -- nina? fact, president obama raised the issue of poison gas a

year ago. secretary kerry raised it specifically. they got no specific response until there was a genuine and real threat of force. does obama look wavering? does this look like improvisation? i am sure it does. but it is not without some results so far if he keeps his feet to the fire. >> evan? >> i am a believer in the muddle through area of history and this is a classic case of the muddle through. obama looks terrible, like he is making it up as he goes along. has dodgedt is, it going to war for the moment. -- has some virtue. it is conceivable that something will come out of this. the odds looked long at the moment. we are muddling through for the moment. >> what are the odds that this

whole adventure is written by putin as a set up? and the odds of its success are zero. pariah,ago, assad is a a war criminal. the whole world looks in horror at what he has done. and putin, who is covering for obama in the united nations, would not even allow a press release on the use of chemical weapons. .e is approaching pariah status as a result of the bumbling of this president, who has no idea where he is going, assad is the one making demands on the u.s., and putin now is the peacemaker. he is the one commanding the stage and did hating the terms. -- dictating the terms. and obama is sitting there passive, as has been his role throughout this entire affair.

>> mark. >> i don't think you can call it passivity. the credible threat of u.s. forest changed the russian force changed- the russian position. i do not care who gets credit. if putin gets a nobel peas prize and we have an international -- peace prize and we have an international resolution, great. there are 7 million refugees or displaced within their own country right now. imagine 100 million americans in that state. that is the chaos we are talking about. person than roger a.l. actually said that giving something credit, and he specifically said putin, if that is what you need to do to get a solution to problems, then give them credit. i am in full agreement with mark.

fine, give him credit. if it actually changes the outcome, fine. president bashar al-assad must go. the russians know this. they have repeatedly said so privately to u.s. officials. >> david knows a lot, unlike many columnist, because he is actually reporting from intelligent sources. but man, this is a long and complicated game. maybe david can see things we can't. of assad you get rid without a full-scale invasion? >> there is a rebellion under way. >> it does not seem to be working. >> they got no support from the united states for two years when they have the upper hand. now if we come in, it is a problem. you guys are

of the use of force that scaredt putin, if so, he would have offered a week ago or two weeks ago when it really appeared imminent. when did he offer it? johnn hours of a gaffe of kerry, the laurel to obama's hardy. they know there is no way he will dismantle his weapons, but it would stopped any attempt to get rid of assad. putin has a single objective. he wants a side in place -- she in place.d keep him in place. >> those who worship at the altar of shock and awe, who deferred to the judgment of cheney and rumsfeld, do not well serve the public discussion. syria coming up.

>> the experience with the war in iraq colors help people view the situation. >> we only heard one side of the story then, and we are only hearing one side of the story now. >> it is a deep concern, which i completely understand, of not wanting to get further involved in the difficulties of syria. >> of their it is,, a rack, iraq iraqere it is, iraq, iraq, . at this point, is the threat of military action and empty one? >> no, i think assad was worried about getting bombed. i think it did have an impact. but the united states is right to be wary of this. once you get involved in that regime, even if it is a limited strike, it has consequences you cannot anticipate. we do not know how iran will

react. will they unleash hezbollah on u.s. embassies? wakes i think the odds of congress getting on board are diminished by the passage of time. they dodged a bullet. they did not want to vote on this. it would have been a tough slog .o get the votes, no question the power of washington to deliver was severely tested. >> and think it depends somewhat on the whole history unfolds here. i do think there is a chance that obama would get the kind of resolution he once in the senate. it is the house that is a problem. of course, he does have the power to do it on his own. >> if the russian attempt proves to be a charade and obama does

go to congress and cannot get authorization, what then? we would probably attack. i think this means that we won't. this does buy some time. this is not pretty to watch, but the effect is to stop assad, i believe, from using gas again. i do not think he will while we are talking, and that is a victory of sorts. >> according to a new poll, americans now think republicans are doing a better job at foreign policy. >> i don't know which republican they had in mind. i think that is a referendum on obama, on the absurdity and cosmic incompetence of what he has done. the turn in all of this is when kerry sends -- when obama sends carry out to give -- since john

kerry out to give a speech about how the decency of humanity is at stake and then obama walks out the next a end says you know, i am going to wait until -- walks ouths in the next day and says, you know, i am going to wait until congress weighs in. he had lost the british, our closest ally. he had no support in nato. he had half an ally in france. he had no one else. he goes to congress to get some cover. he obviously had none, he was not going to get support in congress, and he was stuck. putin frees him by offering this sham negotiation. most likelye outcome is that the negotiations

will drag on, the issue fades away and obama will slink away. goodu think that is a outcome, fine, but it certainly was not intended. and the word of the united states among our allies is deeply diminished. >> are the president and his secretary of state on the same page? >> there do seem to be moments of less than total agreement. do we want this to work? yes, we do. pre-destiny, predetermining it is going to be an abject failure john kerry brings the passion of somebody who feels he was duped. he had personal negotiations with bashar al-assad. he is now angry, and rightly so.

i think he is going to be a tough negotiator. there have to be deadlines. there have to be scheduled. -- schedules. and there has to be the threat of military action. >> do you know how long it took to disarm it off he's chemical weapons? eight years and they still are 'st -- to disarm gaddafi chemical weapons? eight years and they are still not disarmed. was still a better outcome than going to war. >> obama is the one who proposed a strike. he tells the world everything .inges on this what does that do for iran developing nuclear weapons? what do you think? increases the fear and willingness to give it up or increases the brazenness?

success of the second obama administration hinge on what plays out here in syria at? what adds to this is the attention span of the american people, which lasts about 13 seconds. it could certainly doom his second term, but i think it is much more likely to unsettle it. we could see the whole thing swing the other way if republicans shut down the government. that will become the big story and he will then look like the sensible toad in the room. i am not willing, although charles certainly is, to write off the obama presidency over what is admittedly a difficult time. >> charles raises the question of this onthe impact

iran, because i think we can live with a lot of civil war in syria, however awful the impact is, i ran getting a nuclear has greater stakes for the united states. they are watching this. how they are affected by this $64 million question that i cannot even answer. if they willknow consider our threats a wet noodle or if we will avoid -- gettingolved involved in syria if we can avoid it. issue for usbigger than syria. >> two points. prior to this, the democrats were the party of international

diplomacy and international security. jeopardyhink, is in because of this. thesecond element is that american people have changed. the republican party has changed. the anti-interventionist mood in this country and in the republican party is growing. in theirngness to send marines is a lot less popular than it was 15 years ago. me go back to putin. when the anti-putin 2011strations broke out in in moscow, he blamed hillary clinton. , it is time for me to get even? >> just a week ago he called our secretary of state a liar. then he writes an op-ed in which our president for

insufficiently holding up international law or protecting the rights of women and children in wartime. >> when did he discover that? >> he has a tour contempt for the man -- utter contempt for the man. obama came to him on bended knee. he said we will give up our missile defenses in europe if you work with us on iran. week, russians announced they would provide sophisticated mobile air defenses to the ran and the second nuclear reactor. he got the cooperation on iran. he got nothing on syria, nothing on northern europe. it is a debacle. with looks at this guy contempt. >> i have news for you.

newton has contempt for all of hasall the time -- putin contempt for all of us, all the time. if there were a republican president, he would be doing the same thing. the op-ed shows me that his own status is in jeopardy. back on capitol hill, the debt limit ceiling debate looms. >> we have 20 days between now fewseptember 30, just a weeks. >> senator ted cruz. on the house side, john boehner and eric cantor having trouble keeping their troops in line. where is this going? is hard to tell, because for the be over a cliff

gop. i admire the passion and sincerity of those who do not want to pass a budget unless you get rid of obama care, but it is unrealistic in the real world. the only thing it would do is undo the gains republicans have made in the last year. i think it is a suicide caucus, and i hope enough of them will willze that so that they have a majority, even if it is a bare majority, to pass a continuing resolution. >> a longtime democratic representative looked at the left wing of its own party in the house and said, the problem is they thinks it's on the level. the world is as square as an orange. the problem john boehner has is he is dealing with up part of his party that are true believers. it is a passion for them.

it is the mission they have. they do not have a prayer to do it. boomerang ont will them. >> the interesting data is that polling shows that while obama care is unpopular, people do not want to defund it. it is peculiar. charles is absolutely right. this would be a suicide mission for republicans. >> democrats may have to save the day here. what, 43this group of, in the house that are just going to go over the cliff? aynor is going to need -- john boehner is going to need democrats. >> the huge pushback on obama care is coming from the democratic constituency. afl-cio is having to struggle to keep them from passing a asking for a repeal

of the dam thing. the unions are so unhappy. a strategy would he, let it the enacted. let opposition emerge on the liberal side, and then it elapses and then it craters. >> the parts of it are more -- parts of it are more popular than the whole. and republicans do not have an answer. they say we like all those parts, but we are against the plan. look at the new york democratic may oral primary mayoral- may oral -- primary results. voters that the candidate has an african american wife. final days of the campaign,

mayor bloomberg had something rather unattractive say about that. turned this campaign, specifically this ad, racist. he had his own family in the ad, in americanradition politics. he carried african-american males, females, whites, hispanics. it was an across-the-board sweep, and i think mike fact thatresents the he was the non-bloomberg candidate. weiner bidony farewell to the new york press corps with a digital gesture that goes back to the ancient greeks. >> let's just be glad to be rid of him -- if we are. >> new york seems determined to go back to the dinkins days when

it was badly run, spending too much money, and crime was on the upswing. i hope it does not work out that way, but it seems insane. >> wait a minute. >> you have written this guy off. a democratic city, 24 years with the democratic mayor, and i do not see a lot of people yearning for the restoration of rudy giuliani or the restoration of ofe bloomberg. >> because two leone and bloomberg, new york has become eminently him -- giuliani and bloomberg, new york has become eminently more livable. i think memories are short. they may imagine that what they have today is the new normal that comes from breathing the air. it comes from a different kind of policing, a different kind of discipline, the broken windows theory. if thebe my guest.

i live in washington, be my guest. >> first of all, to blog seo has sio has notk -- debla won the election. second, you're already condemning him to being an incompetent mayor. >> because he has all the components of the dinkins. we have seen the one percent get 95% of the economic growth. one percent represents 38% of all the income in new york city, twice as much as the national average. us againstsically an them race. >> that is the last word. we will see you next week.

. ♪ from washington, the mclaughlin group. the american original, for over three decades, the sharpest minds, best sources, hardest talk. . ♪ issue one, moving the goal post. >> america's not the world's policemen. terrible things happen across the globe, and it is beyond our means to right every wrong. but when would modest effort and risk we can stop children from being gassed to death and thereby make our own children safer over the long run, i believe we should act. that's what makes america different. that's what makes us exceptional. president obama, on tuesday night, delivered a prime time presidential address to the nation,