for example--. >> ifill: or by senator john mccain or senator lindsey graham or any number of people on capitol hill. >> you're talking about people i greatly respect, but they can speak for themselves. our position is extremely clear. as the troops draw down , the afghan security forces will replace them. so-- and, furthermore, as the president and secretary clinton have said repeatedly, economic and development assistance will and must continue. we are not going to repeat the abandonment of afghanistan that took place in 1989 and which left the country , after the soviet withdrawal, in a state of collapse , which led to the warlords which led to the taliban which led to 9/11. we cannot afford that. the american public understands the direct connection between our presence in afghanistan and our efforts in pakistan on one hand, and our national security on the other. >> ifill: i do want to ask you about pakistan. in pakistan, where you've also spent some time, you mentioned this question about relationships with the taliban. these things are all integrated, and you're the integratin

let me ask you about the comments of senator lindsey graham, alluding to the decision from 2005 that the senate would not put it in a filibuster except in cases of extreme situations with regard to supreme court nominees. does the elena kagan nomination reach that level? guest: it probably does not. senator lindsey graham was referring to a deal five years ago in which there was a huge partisan standoff in the senate where democrats were refusing to bring a collection of george w. bush's more conservative nominees to a vote. the republicans were threatening with a call the nuclear option, essentially a very aggressive parliamentary move to end the filibusters of judicial nominees. now the situation has the issue of your foot. it is the republicans now who would have the power to filibuster. the deal was it would be only an extraordinary circumstances that judges were out of the mainstream that a filibuster would be allowed. you did not even here is senator tom coburn, one of the more conservative, saying that yesterday. the odds of a filibuster nominee are small. host: as tributes co

i'm watching lindsey graham to see what he does because he was one of the republicans who voted to confirm sonia sotomayor. one of the only ones. i just wish we knew a bit more about the documents that clinton library is releasing. we only have a quarter of the memos that she authored because she does have razor thin experience. i look at that and put that in context with some of the things that she said and some of the people she's looked up to and people with whom she's sort of organized herself with. i just wish that she had a bit more of a record and that we were able to read a little bit more of more than 160,000 pages of memos and documents and a quarter of which has been released so far. it seems tough to make a decision based on that. >> larry: stephanie, william rehnquist was chief justice and was never a judge and he was a presidential assistant. >> someone just an upper east side liberal as of friday and just moved back to l.a., she's a centrist. for many on the left, she's not a liberal justice. she shouldn't replace who she's replacing. this court has skewed very much to the r

. >> ifill: but republican senator lindsey graham said the administration has sent mixed messages. >> the vice president has been quoted as saying about this particular topic, come july, we're going to begin leave in large numbers. you can bet on it. is his view of the policy correct? >> secretary gates has said, i believe in testimony, that he never heard vice president biden say that remark either. for what it's worth. >> well, it's worth a lot because he's saying one thing to one person allegedly and he's saying another thing to you. they don't reconcile themselves. that is exactly my point. it depends on who you seem to be talking to. because a lot of liberal people in this country are being told directly and indirectly we're getting out beginning july 2011. how fast, i don't know, but we're beginning to leave. somebody needs to get it straight without doubt what the hell we're going to do come july because i think it determines whether or not someone in afghanistan is going to stay in the fight. (gun fire). >> ifill: for now that fight is still a struggle. control of the southern

. >> reporter: south carolina's lindsey graham was the only committee republican to vote for sonia sotomayor's nomination to the supreme court last year. he said it's hardly unexpected that kagan is a political liberal. >> what did i expect from president obama? just about what i'm getting. there are a lot of people who are surprised. well, you shouldn't have been if you were listening. i look forward to trying to better understand how you will be able to take political activism, association with liberal causes, and park it when it becomes time to be a judge. that to me is your challenge. >> reporter: after listening to committee members' views for several hours it was the nominee's turn to have her initial say. in her opening statement the 50-year-old kagan promised to be impartial and fair. she told senators she would be properly deferential to the wishes of congress. >> what the rule of law does is nothing less than to secure for each of us what our constitution calls the blessings of liberty. those rights and freedoms that promise of equality that have defined this nation since its foundin

lindsey graham as well on the legal war -- were on terror. there is some substance, but it is surrounded by platitudes that we have come to expect. host: it seems that yes today and there was more talk yesterday and the day before about thurgood marshall and "the roberts scored." depending on whether you are democrat or republican. democrat -- democrat spring of the roberts scored and -- why all this talk about justices? guest: democrats clearly want to make a point of comparing and contrasting this nominee with what the roberts court has done the past couple of years. there is a feeling that chief justice john roberts came before them in 2005 trying to get that seats and he said he would be a neutral umpire, and yet he voted conservatively in virtually every single case, especially in cases involving big business. that is something that bothers the democrats. republicans are trying to link elena kagan, some of them, to the very liberal views of thurgood marshall. which, she said that, you are not voting for justice thurgood marshall, he has

. >> a live look here at senator john mccain and lindsey graham. we are alive at -- live at a senate armed services committee meeting. you may have seen a few moments ago they were hearing from general david petraeus, who took ill. he has left the room. they gaveled the meeting into recess. as you can see, conversations going on at that hearing table. this. the house in session today. they are in recess until about 11:30. on c-span3, a hearing on the gulf coast oil spill. you are watching live coverage on c-span. >> general petraeus appears to be doing very well, and we will make a decision as to whether to proceed in hopefully a few minutes. he is eating and has enough water to drink coming in here this morning. he appears to be doing much better. again, we will make a decision hopefully in a few minutes as to whether we are going to proceed this morning or not. until then we will stand in recess. >> we are looking live at the senate armed services committee. the hearing in recess now. they were hearing from general david petraeus, who took ill to

in the meeting will be reset rakowski, republican of alaska, richard lugar, lindsey graham, and joe liebermanpublican line, go ahead. caller: i had a question. $2 billion was given to a brazilian oil company down there. i believe george soros had $900 million invested in it. if the oil wells are shut down and they move somewhere else, who take their place? guest: i think the caller has a great question. one of the concerns about an overly broad moratorium is thht these rigs, which are multimillion dollar rigs, will be moved to other parts of the world, perhaps including south america, brazil, maybe off of africa. and they will never come back. when they leave, we lose the jobs that are now held by americans that work on the rigs. we lose the jobs of all the people that work on the supply chips -- the supply ships and all of the steel manufacturing and everything associated with that industry. your point about mr. soros an illustrates the point that we have a lot at stake. we have american jobs, the american economy at stake, and if we act irrationally, if we enact an overly broad moratorium,

in the words of senator lindsey graham who worked closely with senator kerrey on the initial climate change energy legislation, he said republicans to work on the bill for months, there is "no where near the 60 votes to save the polar bear to get from the new orleans newspaper, what about the local seafood? the headline, as the local seafood supplies dwindle, restaurants are forced to get credit. the coast guard is telling bp, a little too slow. bp officials are expected to come back with alternatives today. the president will meet with executives on wednesday. if you go to a certain website, uppight citizens brigade -- this is their take on the situation of the oil spill. calm down. >> it will destroy all the fish. >> look at that. >> it is encouraging on my map . of map >> laptop. >> wait, i have a brilliant -pidea. >> ok, you have to hurry up. i think the public is getting suspicious. >> didn't workk >> oh my god, we are really screwed now. >> now there's coffee and garbage. >> wait, i have an idea. >> damn, i really thought that would work. >> well, maybe it does not work right a

announcement from members of the house senate armed services john mccain, for joe lieberman, lindsey graham, and carl levin who has sent a confirmation hearing no later than next tuesday. this is for the minister if -- this is for the men if -- this is 40 minutes ahead >> we are here as fears of the armed services committee how and if individuals who have travel often to the region and have involvement in the hands of iraq and afghanistan: and to him if our involvement goes all away hah to hough we think if there is no one more qualified than general petreaus to achieve a successful conclusion for the afghan conflict treehouse we think of general mcchrystal for his service to our nation and wish him well in the ffture. we're confident that general petreaus's leadership will have a positive effect on the situation in the region. he still have concerns about the civilian side it might suggest that consideration be given to reuniting the crocker-petreaus team, all of ambassador carper will probably never forgive me for saying that since he is retired rehouse we have concerns about the civilian

we will hear from senators john mccain, lindsey graham, joe lieberman, and committee chairman, carl levin, and a senate confirmation hearing for general petraeus will begin no later than next tuesday. this is 40 minutes. >> here to rebut the last speakers. [laughter] good afternoon. we are here as members of the armed services committee and as individuals well-traveled quite often to the region and have had involvements about iraq and afghanistan for a number of years. in fact, our involvement goes all the way back to right after the fall of the airport based in the middle of the night, meeting president karzai for the first time. we applaud the decision of the president of the united states to ask general petraeus to serve again in defense of our nation. we think there is no one more qualified or more outstanding leader than general petraeus to achieve successful conclusion of the afghan conflict. we praise the service of general mcchrystal and thank him for his service to our nation and wish him well, every success in the future. we are confident that general petraeus'leadership will ha