comments@captioncolorado.com from washington, "the mclaughlin group," the american original. for over two decades, the sharpest minds, best es for the ♪ [music] ♪ issue one, russia reboots. >> we've made meaningful progress in demonstrating through deeds and works what a more constructive u.s./russian relationship with look like in the 21st century. >> on monday in moscow, president obama met with russian president medvedev, the first summit in seven years with the russians. the goal this time was to build a detente, an openness or glass note, the word used by mikhail gorbachev in his 1986 glass note with ronald riggen. the centerpiece of the current reboot, an agreement that both

countries will cut their nuclear warheads by one-third from 2,200 warheads to 1,600 roughly. but both nations are cautious. >> in spite of the fact in several hours we cannot remove the burden of all of the problems, we have agreed that we will go forward without stopping. >> reporter: chief among the "burden of all problems," is perceived encroachment. both america and russia militarily involved in each other's backyards. obama, like his predecessor george w. bush wants an antimissile defense system in poland and the czech republic, the backyard of russia. and dimitri medvedev and his predecessor vladimir putin has exported russia's military presence to latin america, our backyard. with medvedev it's a fleet of

1,600 naval officers and conducting exercises late last year off the ven venezuelan coasts and using venezuela and cuba for bases for strategic bombers. russia is now supplying $150 million in military helicopters to bolivia. and $4 billion, repeat, $4 billion in military hardware to venezuela. both bolivia's morales and chavez are tight with russia and with each other. question, what advantage does this mutual nuclear warhead agreement give to the u.s.? >> not much at all, john. i hope we're not going to cut delivery systems. i'm less worried about warheads. let me say this. what you put up there is russians are clearly reacting to what we did in the 1990s. reagan, of course, called it the evil empire and was being patted on the back in red square. we had a tremendous relationship. we moved nato into their front

porch and into their backyard. we've tried to cut them out of the oil of the caspian. we put missiles in eastern europe, antimissile missiles, helped dump over governments ukraine and tried to do it in belarus. they are reacting very hostiley to what the united states did in the 1990s and under george w. bush. i give barack credit, he's been open and dealing with in putin a tough customer who feels russia was really had in the 1990s. i think barack is on the right course but i don't put too much stock in this agreement. >> russia is also modernizen its submarine fleet so maybe the savings that it incurred by getting rid of the warehousing of the old missiles they have to keep up some kind of usable state. they say that and put it right into submarines up. >> are exactly right. this is great news for russia. they have to maintain these. >> it's also great news for us

because there's a lot of loose nukes floating around the old soviet union and russia. that can only pose the danger of getting into the wrong hands. and president obama didn't give away anything. we still have enough, you know, warheads to destroy the world many times over, and they are ex expensive to keep up. they are expensive to keep up in this country, too. last time i checked, our economy wasn't doing so well. what this agreement mostly gives him is some moral high ground because he's got his eye on trying to keep iran from going nuclear, and it's very difficult to try to persuade other nations not to become nuclear powers when you are sitting atop the huge arsenal. so it gives him some bragging rights going forward towards his goal, however, unrealistic it may sound today towards a nuclear-free world. >> you think that obama changed russia's thinking, medvedev's thinking about nato expansion? >> not one iota.

the problem with this is not the numbers. 1600, 2200 nuclear missiles, doesn't really make that muchch a difference in terms of the numbers. what makes the difference is, are we maintaining what we have however many we have? we aren't, they are. >> really? >> absolutely. >> you mean we're not servicing those old warheads? >> we do not resurge, haven't conducted a test to make sure they still function, i think in nine years. >> didn't we have a security problem with one of them being flown out and discovered later? >> yes. >> we've had several security problems there, john, that's right. but i think there's an advantage to us in that we, too, can save some money on these systems that we've always had more nukes than we needed. and the threat posed by russia to western europe is not what it used to be to say the least. all this posturing that russian why's doing with venezuela and doing their replay of the cuban missile crisis without the

nuclear warheads is largely designed to increase their leverage with us. it's interesting to me that obama wasn't greeted in the streets with big crowds in moscow like he was in paris or london and berlin. russians see him, hey, wurn more american president coming over here to fleece us. what's in this deal for us is what they're thinking about. that's what's important because we need russia to help us with iran. >> do you think that their latin american presence that was described in that brilliant set up, do you think that that's motivated only by playing tit for tat with the united states or are the russians kirned, as we are, with the growing chinese presence in our hemisphere? >> play it both ways as they always have. they are very concerned about china and at the same time, they're concerned about us getting too big for our britches. >> iabout -- >> they say let's just put missiles in the caribbean and see how you like it.

>> this game can be moved a little farther. is there any concern by russia of china's presence in, maybe that's an overstatement, its desires on siberia where there is oil? >> well, it's -- >> you understand -- >> therefore -- [all talking at once ] >> it it's a race for resources and it's about oil. i think it's fascinating that the american government is standing up in opposition to the coup in honduras, even though the displaced president is a buddy of the venezuelan president. >> right. we're on chavez's side. >> yeah. but it takes away chavez's argument that we're somehow over there with the cia doing things that we've done in the past. so i think it's smart diplomatically. >> john, to your point, you are exactly right. russia is losing population at the rate of 750,000 to a million people a year. you take the russians east of euro mountains all the way over

to the pacific, there's a few million of them out there. that's the last great storehouse of oil, timber, gas, gold, all of the things you can think of. the chinese are moving in there, crossing the border as immigrants, moving into that area. that is going to be one of the great collisions. the fact that russia's fooling around in latin america where it's got no interest is tit for tat. >> you want to pick up any of that, mark? >> it's not china, though obviously russia has to be concerned about china. it is simply because super powers always play in each other's backyards. that is what this is about. >> right. >> high noon for iran. the other big international news this week, time is ticking for iran. g8 leaders gave iran until september to quote unquote compromise on its nuclear program or face greater sanctions. >> we're not going to just wait indefinitely and allow for the

development of a nuclear weapon, so my hope is that the iranian leadership will look at the statement coming out of the g8 and recognize that world opinion is clear. >> question, was president obama's stern warning to iran made possible because of ahmadinejad's disputed election win and iran's state brutality? >> the european allies were more outspoken in condemning the iranian government, and so i think it was easy for president obama to get what you'd call the stern warning from a consensus of these nations, but they stopped short of calling still leaving the door open, as he put it, if iran wants to walk through the door and engage, the outstretched hand is still there. >> you're not going to be able to get u.n. sanctions.

there is legislation, as you know, john, in the congress of the united states very, very tough stuff which would cut off gasoline and punish companies that sold gasoline to iran. my guess is they're gonna push in that direction. i don't know why obama's doing this because i don't see how the iranians can say by september we're gonna get going. resident obama, what line and do you think about vladimir putten? >> i think this is a very smart, very tough, very unsentimental person. >> vladimir putin is unsentimental. [ laughter ] >> there's news there, huh? >> do you think that was an appropriate balance of diplomacy with accuracy? >> i think it was unfortunately an indication of the fact that in some critical areas, president obama does not have the kind of experience and ability to take the kind of position that is needed. >> well wait a minute.

george w. bush looked into putin's eyes and he said -- [ laughter ] >> okay, president obama, what do think about merv va derve? medvedev? >> i found him to be straightforward, professional. he is clear about the interests of the russian people, but he's also interested in finding out what the interests of the united states are. >> question. do you think that's a good balance between diplomacy and precision on the president's part and his description of medvedev? >> for the time being, i think obama's kind of holding his position right now in regard to these western leaders. i thought it was interesting with his outreach to gorby. >> you mean glass notes? >> yeah, sort of isolated out there. here, obama's bringing him back in. >> he made a mistake when he said putin's got one foot in

the cold war. >> yeah, right. >> it may be true, but you don't say that. >> he did say that. good point. >> i don't know if that's a mistake. i think he did everything he could. >> you don't say that about a foreign leader. >> well, he did everything he could to build up medvedev and acknowledged that there are two powers since he did meet with putin as well. he's dealing with two people. he clearly would prefer to deal with medvedev who doesn't come out of the kgb. zero recess, computers frozen solid, hard drives clean, rate how much obama changed the u.s. relationship with russia. >> three. >> three? >> yeah. >> i don't think it's very extensive. >> i put it between five and six. i mean, i think because he does want to end the old cold war and doesn't want to start a new cold war, but it's still pretty chilly over there. >> it was skillful, wasn't it? >> i thought it was. >> mark? >> five, but it's headed to four and probably worse.

>> i'm more in the four to five bracket as well. i don't think he moved it that much, but he showed we're consistent in this country even if our leaders changed. >> the correct answer is five. you two closest to me are correct. it was a reboot but not a reset. when we come back, is sarah palin washed up? when planning for retirement these days, the forecast is full of ifs. if i'm too exposed to downturns.

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i've determined it's best to transfer the authority of governor to lieutenant governor parnell. >> two seminal decisions last week from sarah palin, alaskan governor. one, she will not seek re- election for 2010. two, she will resign as governor effective in two weeks, the 26th, three days after her announcement. the governor was asked whether the 26th of july would, in fact, turn out to be the end of her political career. palin was philosophical, even fatalistic. >> you know, politically speaking, if i die, i die. so with it. >> question was sarah palin hounded from office by the democrats? was she driven out? did she do the only thing that was feasible? i ask you, pat? >> yeah, i think she did do the only thing. i don't think she handled it well. the problem is this, she's $500,000 in debt. >> why? >> ethics charges that the democrats keep bringing against her. >> how many suits? >> 16 or 17 charges.

they've thrown out -- >> pat, 30 suits have been brought against her and only two have any validity. >> frankly, she's got five kids, one with down syndrome. >> how much money has she spent on lawyers? >> terrible things $500,000. they are hassling her in the legislature and what she's saying is, look this lieutenant governor gets a leg up toward nomination and election. >> who can tell me what her total assets are, her net worth? >> it's gonna be a lot more than it is now that she's penning a $7 million book. >> she can flip it. >> she isn't flipping it. >> they are very mean to sarah. >> she has 1.2 million in net worth including the husband's business holdings. ic that away, she has $700,000. >> she's about to cash in on the election su it. >> does she have any other feasible alternative? >> sure. she could have finished the job

she was elected to do. >> how could she when she was being hounded by suits from your party? >> i think the republicans are not her friends in alaska, either. >> they are not bringing suits against her. >> look, she made the right decision for her pocketbook. i don't know that she made the right decision for her political future, but she will be a side kick for right wing conservative candidates, but she will not be invited to campaign for the republican who wants to be governor of virginia -- >> are you -- >> she is radioactive. >> i won't describe it as vehement but vehement against this woman. can you describe why it exists? >> that was civil. that was civil compared -- [all talking at once ] >> why are they so worked up about this woman? >> here's why. you said her net assets are $1.2 million. you missed the biggest, most important asset. she connects with america, common sense conservative america like nobody has since

ronald reagan. >> 20% of the country. >> she is blue collar. >> she is. >> she went to a state university but we have a big cultural difference between the aristocratic, that group within the democratic party -- [all talking at once ] >> the literati cannot stand her. >> hey -- >> she is middle american. she's attractive. she's a woman. she's pro life. she's a pace car babe, rodeo queen. >> she's also not alone in those demographics. ty want to speak up for middle america that went to state school, and i come from john boehner's district, the original middletown, ohio. i want to tell you, i've got so many republican women friends back there who after the katie couric interview called to say where is our barack obama headquarters? it was incredible. i'm hearing the biggest criticism coming from republicans. democrats enjoy her. i hear them talking about how they hope she does run again. >> at the end of the campaign,

she was the only one getting tout 10,000, 15,000 people. >> okay. >> that's fine. she's like newt gingrich. she's a great fund-raiser. >> newt can't get crowds like that. nobody gets crowds like that. >> i think he has a better chance n rattle your cage . >> eleanor. >> don't underestimate palin. in the august issue of "runner's world," palin describes her 35-year passion for oor running. the 4,100-word interview reveals a lot more about sarah palin than about politics? if she goes for a day or a week without run rg, what does she learn about herself? "i feel so crappy if i go more than a few days without running. have i to run no matter how rotten i feel before or during ways worth it to worth it to my tynisa. "what is running toward her about politics? "same thing has taught me about life.

you have to have determination and set goals. ni you don't complain when something's hurting because no one wants to hear it. you get bummed and burned out sometimes and running in and out of politics. if you're in for the long haul and your in it because you know that it is a good thing, then you get out there and you do it anyway." cot governor beat president obama in a race? "what i lack in physical strength, i make up for in determination and endurance. so if it were a long racelot of i'd win." question, what accounts for palin's running addiction. mark, can you speak to that? >> that is the perfect analg for sarah palin. she is in it for the long run. the must-resignation situation is simply a pulled hamstring from which she will recover. >> her mother and fathers were runners, too. her father ran in the marathon. they don't like to lose, either. >> middle class america understands sweat. [all talking at once ] >> i'd like to see her and obama go one-on-one.

>> competitiveness, real and authentic, ?ot not syntheticp. >> this interview's quite fascinating. she didn't want to run with anyone because she doesn't want to talk. she wants the solitary moment. [all talking at once ] >> as somebody who has been running for probably longer than sarah palin who feels crappy if she doesn't run for more than, probably two days, i identify with everything she said, but it doesn't comport with the way she walked away from her job as governor. you can decide not to run again, but quitting is not a good platform. >> what do you do. >> but if she becomes. >> what do do you with 30 lawsuits that have come from democrats. $500,000. [all talking at once ] >> excuse me, they are not going to go away. second of all if she ever does become president, i hope she does walk away and quit. we'll be right back.

sources, hardest talk. "the mclaughlin group" is brought to you by metlife, guarantees when planning for retirement these days, the forecast is full of ifs. if i'm too exposed to downturns. if i'll go through my savings too fast. to help you feel more confident consider putting a portion of your savings in a metlife variable annuity. when the market goes up, it gives your assets a potential to grow. while protecting you if the market goes down with a steady stream of income. let america's number one annuity provider help you stay on course with guarantees for the if in life. get answers about annuities at metlife.com.

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switch to suntrust checking today suntrust. live solid, bank solid. is palin washed up, yes or no? >> nonsense. chief republican surrogate in 2010. >> eleanor? >> i agree with that. nobody's ever washed up in political america. >> no, liberals, get used to it. she's around for the long run. >> great future in tv talk. she's an experienced interviewer. >> not politics. >> she'll never get past the primaries. >> wait until the financial crisis kicks in and affects the middle class. she's gonna have a on twitter. bye-bye. ( rock music playing )

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