mccain and graham conveyed the u.s.nuing the progress of the bilateral relationship, and today politico obtained a response from the communications director, and read in part at no point did senator mccain ever promise to help the gadhafi >> all right. so what does this mean about the john mccain foreign policy world view? at some level, okay, granted, yes, he just told gadhafi what gadhafi wanted to hear. that said, what the cable reveals is that john mccain jz that the universe of foreign policy isn't the cartoonish vision of bombs and war that he is constantly using as a political bludgeon against his political opponents. sometimes diplomacy is ness in certain instances. in fact, he knows it because he was there as an instrument of that diploma as where i. but this blood-thirsty monster that he now touts the expull shon. john mccain understands in his private contact that the cartoonish everyist heroes and villains clashing and the picture of foreign policy that is all about the moral blackmail of your opponents is f

mccain: 14 minutes. i'll tell you what, i'll be glad to engage in a short colloquy with the senator from illinois if he would like. the senator from illinois, i believe that we are close to an agreement here? mr. durbin: i hope so. mr. mccain: does the senator from illinois agree that most likely that agreement will not have an increase in taxes associated with it, at least in the short term? mr. durbin: i hope is not. mr. mccain: you hope so. mr. durbin: i heard there is revenue included in the agreement. mr. mccain: everything i've heard, the agreement does not have tax increases in it. mr. durbin: i honestly am not a party to this, but as gang of six and fiscal commission, we believe everything should be under consideration to reduce our national debt. mr. mccain: i assume that would also mean that the senator from illinois would advocate another stimulus package? mr. durbin: i want to make sure we have some stimulus to the economy to create jobs and help those out of work find work with training and

so what was the point of view senator mccain was trying to express. well senator mccain has got a very far far fetched that's for sure he's for the so-called arab spring will rage on and will make it to countries like china russia which according to mccain need democracy just like libya does by the way at some point even said libya has already achieved a democracy which judging by the situation on the ground is really far from reality because even as the transitional national council takes over in tripoli that's not the government that was chosen by the libyan people and many libyans are outraged by the fact that foreign powers of essentially made those choices for them and looking back at it gyptian is to don't have to seem to have achieved were actually worth fighting for so as far as democracy is concerned in those countries there are still lots of questions but according to mccain it's all great and the fire of our pricing should move on to other countries first stop syria according to the senator right after could be said it's bashar assad is nex

only started with the search instead of the mccain as a decorated war vet he will sell it as a p.o.w. in north vietnam for five years he is entitled to speak his mind but it's comments come off as pretty naive in this case if mccain really thinks the war just started three years ago maybe you should tell that to the soldiers who lost their lives in the first years of this non-war or maybe americans who have had billions of their taxpayer dollars spent and golf like that mccain is trying to erase from history now is dive into those numbers in late two thousand and nine when obama ordered thirty thousand more troops to the country the congressional research service estimated the cost of the war at that time a two hundred twenty seven billion dollars barely that money doesn't count now take a look at this information from two thousand and one to two thousand and nine the u.s. lost nine hundred forty seven soldiers in the war so i wonder how these soldiers families feel about mccain's assertion that the war is just getting started now during the same eight year period and estimated forty

home country but to senator mccain obviously you know hell is other people as one wise french writer said. north korea is ready to resume long stalled six sponsored talks and its nuclear design and without any preconditions the statement was made by the countries in the new talks with president dmitri medvedev on wednesday the two leaders also struck a deal on the transit of russian natural gas for north korea to south korea. will impose a moratorium on the country's nuclear missile tests and production during the negotiations you can see reports now from the council of the russian republic of. after a meeting with the russian president the north korean leader kim jong il has announced his country's willingness to return to the six party negotiations aimed at denuclearizing the korean peninsula but it will only reimpose its moratorium on production and testing of nuclear weapons once those six party talks begin the rest of the six party talks members like south korea japan the united states they all want the north korean leader to implement the moratorium first and then have north ko

not to excuse what senator mccain did.ut remember at the time of those meetings, moammar gadhafi was being brought into the fold by europe and by the united states because he gave up his weapons of mass destruction program. and that's how he became an ally in the war on terror. remember, the folks trying to kill us over here were looking for places to buy their weapons in order to do that. in order to be successful. libya was one of those places, having been a state sponsor of terrorism. now it is easy for senator mccain to say that gadhafi has blood on his hands because, you know, the now former libyan leader turned around and turned his back on the west and the united states. but yes, it's due plis us to, hypocritical, and for senator mccain not to give the president credit makes me wonder, for this, which is clearly a success until right now as we are speaking. i wonder what he would say if the united states had committed boot on the ground and more aircraft and there had been loss of life of american men and women over

i'm sorry that i was here john mccain correctly is he then simulating that the war in afghanistan has really only been going on for three years can't go and he's trying became but sorry you can't simply claim with the war started it when it's convenient for your particular stance the this october seventh the us will mark the ten year anniversary of this war ten a long costly years but he is now thing of this war only started with a search and senator mccain is a decorated war vet he will sell is a p.o.w. in north vietnam for five years he is entitled to speak his mind but it comments come off as pretty naive in this case if mccain really thinks the war just started three years ago maybe you should tell that to the soldiers who lost their lives in the first years of this non war or maybe the americans who have had billions of their taxpayer dollars spent and it's awfully good mccain is trying to erase from history and all of the dive into those numbers in late two thousand and nine when obama ordered thirty thousand more troops to the country the congressional research service estimate

because there's a lot of discontent in mccain's home country but to senator mccain obviously you know hell is other people as one wise french writer said. he's going to write that for us now and are some e.u. countries are calling for an arms embargo and wider sanctions to be imposed against syria following the crackdown but russia and china are opposed to the plan with moscow saying countries should be encouraging dialogue in syria not punishing it with reports from the country it's hard to verify it the way it's perceived from the outside is decidedly one sided as autism or if national reports began around four o'clock in the morning this is how the world has been watching the unrest in syria through mobile phone cameras and to footage from the war stricken country has flooded international news or rather blooded killings and executions supposedly at the hands of president arsons military filmed on cell phones have become a trademark of the regime syrian officials though insists the scenes a staged the you tube is not credible and eye witness account is not credible after we come on

home country but to senator mccain obviously you know kelly is other people as one wise french writer. in the united states and some even countries are calling for an arms embargo as well as wider sanctions to be imposed against syria when the crackdown there russia and china are opposed to the plans saying that country should be encouraging dialogue in syria not punishing it in our ports from the country with reports from the country completely scares at the moment it is difficult to verify the way that it is proceed from the outside is decidedly one sided as many open ocean reports. began to work part of the morning this is how the world has been watching the unrest in syria through mobile phone cameras i wanted food is from the was stricken country has flooded international news or rather. killings and executions supposedly at the hands of president our son's military coupe and cell phones have become a trademark of the regime syrian officials those seized the scenes a staged the you tube is not credible and eye witness account is not credible become. and shout help they're killing

home country but to senator mccain obviously you know kelly is other people as one wise french writer said. well the united states and sunny you countries are calling for an arms embargo as well as wider sanctions to be imposed against syria following the crackdown there but russia and china are opposed to the plan with moscow saying the country should be encouraging dialogue with syria and punishing it now with reports from the country scares and also difficult to verify the way that it is perceived from the outside is decidedly one sided as an area for notion reports. began a long work walk in the morning this is how the world has been watching the unrest in syria through mobile phone cameras and to food from the wall street in the country has a lot of the international news or rather a lot of. killings and executions supposedly at the hands of president arsons military coup and cell phones are trademark of the regime syrian officials those who use the scenes a staged the you tube is not credible and eye witness account is not credible after we come out and shout help they're killin

home country but to senator mccain obviously you know hell is other people as one wise french writer said. he's going to write you with r.t. live from moscow now the u.s. and the e.u. both pushing for more sanctions against syria's government with an embargo on oil sales likely by the end of the week russia and china oppose the move but have called for an end to violence and for damascus to start social reforms over two thousand people are believed to have been killed in syria since march was artie's national reports what's really going on there is hard to confirm. began around four o'clock in the morning so this is how the world has been watching the unrest in syria through mobile phone cameras and to footage from the war stricken country has flooded international news or rather blooded killings an execution is supposedly at the hands of president arsons military filmed on cell phones have become a trademark of the regime syrian officials those seized the scenes a staged the you tube is not credible and i witness account is not credible i could become now and shout help they're kill

their forces have been largely ignored following mccain's logic though does that mean that americans to have to take to the streets and rebel and revolt not clear really so i want to have to ask him that question because there's a lot of discontent in mccain's home country but who senator mccain obviously you know kelly is other people as one why is french right. now the u.s. as well as some e.u. countries are calling for an arms embargo and white are saying to be imposed against syria following the crackdown they are russia and china are opposed to the plan but boss was saying that countries should instead be encouraging dialogue with syria not just punishing the country but with reports from syria scares it and also difficult to verify the way that it is perceived from the outside it is a one sided as many of the notion of reports began to work part of the morning this is how the world has been watching the unrest in syria through mobile phone cameras by means of food the trump the wall street in the country has flooded international news or rather blooded killings and executions s

arab spring will rage on and will make it to countries like china and russia which according to mccain need them ocracy just like libya does by the way at some point even said libya has already achieved a democracy which judging by the situation on the ground is really far from reality because even as the transitional national council takes over in tripoli that's not the government that was chosen by the leading people of many leaders are outraged by the fact that foreign powers have essentially made those choices for them and looking back at it egyptians who don't do seem to have achieved what they were fighting for so as far as democracy is concerned in those countries there's still lots of questions but according to became it's all great on the fire of our placings should move on to other countries first stop syria according to the senator right after could alfie he said it's a start next to fall but too many mccain's statements are not surprising really because he's seen as a mouthpiece for those forces in washington who at this hawkish mentality and would want to see some countrie

i know john mccain is prepared to do it. i would like to see the numbers of the house of representatives do it. that would avoid future confrontation. >> we are going to leave it there. thank you, as always. >> thank you. >> joining us now, senator john mccain. senator mccain, i want to return to the issue about afghanistan in a moment because of the crucial importance. i would like you to respond to your senate colleague on the issue of the downgrade of america's credit rating, which is an important development. he calls it a tea party downgrade. how do you response to that? >> well, i agree there's dysfunction in our system. a lot of it has to do with the failure of the president of the united states to lead. i would remind you, republicans control one-third of the government. the senate and the presidency are controlled by the democrats. the fact is that the president never came forward with a plan. i was gratified to hear he had a plan. there was never a specific plan. there was always leading from behind. look, we could

john mccain was an early adopter. at the top 6 his twitter feed today you can see his tweeting about libya, including a link to a statement he put out with lindsey graham. the statement congratulates all the other nato countries involved in the support mission in libya but as for the u.s., they say, we regret this success was so long in coming due to the failure of the united states to employ the full weight of our air power. one interesting thing about twitter is that it can be kind of a time machine. if you have the patience you can control down, down, down the page of john mccain's tweets until you get to, say, two years ago this week when the same john mccain today criticizing president obama for not waging enough of a war on gadhafi, even as gadhafi appears to be being overthrown, two years ago this week john mccain was instead tweeting about his, and i quote, late evening with colonel gadhafi at his ranch in libya. interesting meeting with an interesting man. >>> the war in libya does not knit neatly into americ

senator john mccain getting jabbed in a couple of chapters.one the vice president takes a shot at how mcdane handled himself in a 2008 white house meeting on the financial crisis. the vice president writing the president came back to mccain this time he spoke, but only for himself. it was a marked contrast with obama whose words carry the authority of all the democrats in the room. senator mccain added nothing of substance. let's start with you. this story isn't new. we heard at the time about what went on at that meeting. why do you think cheney included it in his book? is he trying to settle old scores here? >> i think so. clearly these two don't like each other. it's probably a huge temptation if you're to write a memoir to put things in there, some jabs at your adversaries and foes. i'm not sure about the economy, but i will tell you this, john mccain was right about iraq. and as much as i think cheney got a lot of things right, the iraq war did not turn around until 2006 when general petraeus was brought in. a big guy pushing for that cou

regardless of what you think that or john mccain went out on t.v. to just prove the idea that the transitional council is after shari'a law reporting about this statement from them back in march on march eleventh of they have issued a manifesto and i quote just from one sentence of it the state were guaranteed the rights and empowerment of women and all the gore political economic and cultural spheres i have detected no. effort or motivation amongst the national transition council many of whom i know well to impose shari'a law. yeah that's the same mccain mind you who two years ago but isn't supporting the rebels he was meeting with khadafi and was on his ranch that he'd shared an interesting meeting with an interesting man afterward that was widely quoted and less well known until now reportedly promised to help khadafi get u.s. military hardware as a u.s. partner in the war on terror that's according to a us cable just released released by wiki leaks which revealed a very friendly meeting between gadhafi and mccain and this debate isn't new over s

you heard a hint of that between john kerry and john mccain. listen to this exchange. >> i believe this s. without question, the tea party downgrade because a majority of people in the house of representatives countered even the will of many americans in the united states senate prepared to do a bigger deal. >> the members of the house of representatives had a mandate last november and it was jobs and the economy and it was spending. and for them to then agree to tax increases and spending increases, which obviously repudiation of the mandate that they felt they had. >> reporter: notable that john mccain said the mandate they felt they had because there was, as john kerry indicated, some dissension within senior republican ranks, mark zander, a member of the leadership got behind that gang of 6 that the tea party was resisting. john mccain at one point talked about the demands from the tea party for approval of a balanced budget amendment before there could be a deal. so some of those pressures, i would expect, alex, are going to intensify with

move over mccain and lieberman there's a new neo con poster boy in town so with conservatives turn to cuban american marco rubio to win over latino votes are they forgetting something say his stance on immigration. good evening it's wednesday august twenty fourth five pm in washington d.c. i'm lauren lyster and you're watching our team well libya's moammar gadhafi is wanted dead or alive there is a one point six million dollars bounty out on his head he's a large but he did pledge overnight in an address to the nation that he will fight until victory or martyrdom meanwhile though the rebels seized the colonel's compound and rebel leaders are reportedly moving their headquarters to tripoli the question becomes now what will the government look like in a post gadhafi libya and of course who are the rebel leaders that will come to power the national transitional council they say that they are the government that matters they have a bit elected but they did release what is purported to be a draft. constitutional charter on that long line here is a look at some of it says libya is an indep

senator john mccain lashes out at fellow republicans who refused to bend. >> that is not fair. that is not fair to the american people. >> i completely, totally, 100% disagree with senator mccain. >> and if nfl owners and players can compromise, why can washington? -- why can washington not? one-bedroom first, let me brighten up your weekend with more allows it is about the economy. turns out the recession was even worse than we thought and economic growth for the first six months of the year has been the slowest since the recession ended. of course, we have the debt crisis. at the conclusion of the nfl locked up, the owner of the new england patriots at they hope they give a listen to the people in washington because the debt crisis is a lot easier to fix then this deal was. as we put this program to gather at week's end, we are faced with the same problem we had last week -- we do not know how this will end, so let's stop -- let's talk about what has happened. what will happen if congress fails to raise the debt ceiling? >> interest rates would skyrocket on credit cards, on m

lawmakers like then republican presidential candidate john mccain today we are all georgians were quick to place blame. the european union report found that not all played by only the international humanitarian law the fighting was sparked by a quote large scale georgian military operations against such a but the court of public opinion said otherwise thanks in part to one side the lobbying dollars it's certainly few days for the us for us and for other people in the us other suspects august and so i wonder why don't you get things together and say hold on wait a minute it was georgia that actually seems that started this conflict russia starts. we want to think twice going on and declare that you know we're all to work in this case that's not necessarily in the u.s. interest documents show that the government of georgia has paid lobbyists since two thousand and four to maintain close ties with washington. even after violent crackdowns and anti-government demonstrators in two thousand and seven in two thousand and eleven where there is only one in elections that were criticised for irre

washington, senator john mccain, senator oren hatch. people play political football with our lives, this is something that americans, undocumented immigrants, and american citizens want, but at the end of the day, the fact no one can agree on a compromise, people are basically still in limbo. mind you, what happened yesterday when the policy was introduced, this could change if obama is not reelected to be president in 2012, so lives are still in limbo. >> in terms of the potential calculus here and the room to maneuver that the administration has, as you heard in the introduction there, i felt like the obama administration has made it pretty clear that they felt like the investment they made in border security and also the hugely stepped up number of deportations should have bought them some political room to move in terms of making immigration reform possible. do you think they did buy themselves room to maneuver? >> i think the obama administration tried to be as forth coming with what their plans are, although mind you, the obama ad

everyone knew john mccain when he ran for president in 2000, he didn't have to introduce himself. huntsman has this trap where first of all, people don't have a good sense where he is. now they are learning about him and see him sniping at other republican candidates, so, you know, i think it is a little bit of desperation. has he disqualified himself, there are moderate voters in the republican party, and, you know, there are scenarios where the very conservative candidates splinter the conservative vote, the tea party vote, and a moderate could rise to the top by default. you know, maybe in new hampshire where that primary is open and you can have independent voters 1 going to be all religious conservatives and tea party is going to make up a lot of the electorate, but it's a real long shot for it to break his way and for him to succeed in south carolina, for instance. >> we have to leave it there, thank you. when we return, let me finish with my thoughts on science and the republican party. you're watching "hardball" only on msnbc. >>> let me finish tonight with science and the

mccain: 14 minutes. i'll tell you what, i'll be glad to engage in a short colloquy with the senator from illinois if he would like. the senator from illinois, i believe that we are close to an agreement here? mr. durbin: i hope so. mr. mccain: does the senator from illinois agree that most likely that agreement will not have an increase in taxes associated with it, at least in the short term? mr. durbin: i hope is not. mr. mccain: you hope so. mr. durbin: i heard there is revenue included in the agreement. mr. mccain: everything i've heard, the agreement does not have tax increases in it. mr. durbin: i honestly am not a party to this, but as gang of six and fiscal commission, we believe everything should be under consideration to reduce our national debt. mr. mccain: i assume that would also mean that the senator from illinois would advocate another stimulus package? mr. durbin: i want to make sure we have some stimulus to the economy to create jobs and help those out of work find work with training and

well louise seems to be just as shocked as i am that senator mccain is a green was something that i've been saying for years now luis wrote oh my god i just heard john mccain on meet the press i agree with tom and say that we should do again what we did in one nine hundred thirty seven a by people's mortgages many want to bet limbaugh tomorrow calls him a socialist he walks it back by no later than tuesday i don't know how long it's going to take for mccain to backpedal when he realizes he's echoing a progressive idea but he is on to something the program was actually started nine hundred thirty three the depths of the republican great depression when most people had five or ten year balloon mortgages that were coming due or about to and it was an epidemic of people losing their homes the homeowners loan corporation h o l c which f.d.r. started as part of the new deal use government money to buy people's exploding mortgages away from the banks toure's then rewrote the mortgages from short terms to twenty five to thirty years those lowering the payments and making them affordable while

quoting from the document, senators mccain and graham conveyed the u.s.ontinuing the progress of the bilateral relationship and pledged to try to resolve the c-130 issue with congress and defense secretary gates. they even gave gadhafi advice on how to handle bad public relations as a result of the pan am bomber coming home. let's bring in national affairs correspondent for rolling stone magazine tim dickinson. i appreciate your time now. this criticism that these senators were laying on president obama comes after they were meeting with moammar gadhafi just months before. what do you make of that. what should we take from the story? >> all this is going down the memory hole. gadhafi was our man in north africa. the signature of success, diplomatic success of the bush administration, we scared saddam and scared him straight. the bush policy and the obama policy was one of engagement, one of offering inducement to get gadhafi to live up to his commitments to give up his wmd and crackdown on insurgents, we call them rebels today in benghazi and eastern liby

republican senator john mccain is here with us on capitol hill. we're going to start with the breaking news out of libya this morning. rebel forces appear to have surrounded the capital city of tripoli and the city is under siege. we're seeing the heaviest fighting in six months of this conflict as forces loyal to moammar qaddafi are resisting the rebel advances. qaddafi addressed his followers last night by radio, but his whereabouts remain unknown. joining us now is senator mccain. senator, thank you so much for joining us. you have been to libya twice this year. you were one of the original proponents of military action. is this qaddafi's last stand? >> absolutely. it's a matter of hours, if not days. once our u.n.... our nato forces, under the leadership of the british and the french and others, became more heavily engaged with the use of air power, i think it was something that was going to happen. so i believe that it's nearing the end. it's going to be a big challenge forming a new government, uniting a country that has never known democrac