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Oh yes, who better to bring in than Hank Paulson and Alan Greenspan to ask how we get the economy and the job market turned around in the United States? I know I always want to hear from the people who helped take a wrecking ball to something for advice on how to put it back together. Paulson says we need more certainty with how the financial markets are regulated for job growth. I'd love for someone to explain to me how letting the bankers and Wall Street know that we don't want them to act like casinos with our money any more has anything to do with whether we have businesses hiring Americans or not. Both of these guys didn't think we needed any regulations when they were running the show. Now that our economy is in the ditch, David Gregory thinks we should be taking their advice on how to fix it.

DAVID GREGORY: We're back and joined now by Henry Paulson, the Former Treasury Secretary and Alan Greenspan, Former Chairman of the Federal Reserve. Welcome both of you back to-- Meet The Press. Dr. Greenspan, here was the headline in the New York Times yesterday, after that Friday jobs report. And it was this. Jobless rate falls to 9.7 percent giving hope that the worst is over. Does this jobs report signal a turn around?

ALAN GREENSPAN: It doesn't signal a turnaround, but what it does say that a turnaround, which has already occurred is moving, but not in any aggressive manner.

DAVID GREGORY: And-- and-- Secretary Paulson, if you look at the jobs lost since the recession began, 8.4-- million jobs over that time horizon. The question is-- what's gonna cause a turnaround. When do you see this-- this jobless rate actually stay in the single digits?

HENRY PAULSON: Well, the economy is clearly recovering. And I have-- great confidence that-- we have such a dynamic private sector in this-- in this country, that they're eventually gonna begin creating jobs. Now, one of the factors, not the only factor, but one of the factors that will help is more certainty-- with regard to-- to actions out of Washington. And for instance-- certainty with regard to-- financial regulatory reform will-- will help.

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Steve Benen made a really great point about this segment from Meet the Press yesterday.

The remarks should make it pretty clear that Republicans have no interest in working with Democrats on finding solutions to pressing policy challenges. But here's the thing that so often gets lost in the discourse: Republicans are the minority party, which means it's their job to oppose the majority's agenda.

[...]

But if Boehner's right about this -- and I believe he is -- then why in the world is it incumbent on the Democratic majority to work with Republicans to find "bipartisan" answers to every question? If Boehner has no intention of "coming together" with Dems in the middle -- a reasonable, albeit rigid, position -- why must the political establishment maintain the fiction that the governing majority is doing something awful unless they bring the discredited minority on board with every proposal? Read on...

Good question Steve. If Republicans can't even be honest with their arguments and have to continue with this "most liberal Senator" lie and calling compromised positions "leftist" and have made it crystal clear that they aren't going to work with Democrats, why are the Democrats constantly propping up the minority when they don't have to?

Transcript below the fold.

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Unbelievable. Everyone knows the Republicans think we need absolutely no regulation of anything what so ever but they generally don't say it out loud this bluntly. Of course we didn't get any follow up from David Gregory asking him how being smart has anything to do with making insurance companies behave.

Gregory: You don't want government in charge of health care, yet you're a supporter of portable health insurance; the ability to take health insurance across state lines, but I thought the Republicans were states' rights guys and didn't want -- because you'd have to have some kind of Federal regulatory agency to monitor that kind of portability, wouldn't you?

Boehner: No, you wouldn't have to. What we're saying is the American people ought to buy health insurance across state lines. They ought to buy health insurance where they get the policy that they need for themselves and their family at the best price.

Gregory: And there wouldn't have to be some sort of Federal regulatory agency...

Boehner: Well no! That's the whole point. The President said I'm for that but you know there has to be some bureaucrat in Washington that needs to make sure that this is done fairly. The American people are smart enough to do this on their own.

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Sometimes it's all I can do to stop myself from throwing something through the TV screen, like this morning when David Gregory kept pushing David Axelrod about moving to the center.

Now, I have to admit: It's been a shock for America to adjust to our radical new single-payer health care system, having the troops pulled out of the Middle East, and the president nationalizing the banks and resurrecting FDR's WPA, putting America's unemployed back to work -- all in the first year.

Yeah, in what freakin' universe?

If I ever have occasion to be in an elevator with David Gregory, I will have to ask him one burning question: "Just where the hell do you think the middle is?"

MR. GREGORY: Let me move on to domestic matters and that pretty extraordinary appearance on Friday in Baltimore at the House Republican retreat. The president came there, a kind of British style question-and-answer period. He even gets the blueprint for the Republican agenda from the House side. I wonder whether the decision to accept that invitation-- was there recognition on the president's part that if he wants to be more than a one-term president, he's got to govern from the middle?

MR. AXELROD: You know, David, I'd say a few things about that. First of all, the decision to attend was not a last-minute decision on our part, it was, it was, it was on the calendar, we were aware of it. The Republican caucus had been good enough to extend that invitation. And this is something that--we had visited the caucus before. But it's interesting the way you asked the question: Does he, does he--did he do it because he wants to be more than a one-term president? We don't sit around in the White House making calculations on that basis. The president of the United States has one concern, which is how do we move this country forward, how do we get people back to work, how do we lift incomes, how do we build some security for the middle class who have been facing economic challenges not just through this recession but for a decade or more? And, and that's what he's thinking about. And if we can get some cooperation from the other side to do that, we're going to be a stronger country for it. That's why he went to the caucus, and that's why we're going to continue to have a dialogue with Mr. Boehner and others.

MR. GREGORY: Does he feel, does he feel like he has to move to the middle to achieve?

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The Congress shouldn't consider important civil rights issues while the country is facing a recession and two wars, according to the House Minority Leader. NBC's David Gregory asked John Boehner about President Barack Obama's call to end the military's controversial "Don't ask, don't tell" policy. Boehner believes this is the wrong time.

"In the middle of two wars and in the middle of this giant security threat, why would we want to get into this debate?" Boehner asked.

"While at a time when Americans are asking where are the jobs, why do we want to get in this debate?" he continued.

The House Minority Leader continued his argument, "While we're fighting over health care and trying to find some way to come to common ground, why do we want to get into a divisive debate that will do nothing more than distract the real debate about helping to get our economy going again and getting American people back to work."

Obviously not all Americans agree with Boehner. People took to twitter to voice their dissent. "Boehner, there will NEVER b a perfect time 2 address #DADT. if not now, WHEN? what a load of crap!" Jenci Spradlin wrote.

Simon Byrd of Burnsville, Minnesota sees an economic benefit to ending the discriminatory military policy. "'Why are we debating DADT when we should be debating getting people back 2 work?' sez Boehner. Because it WOULD result in gays having JOBS??" he asked.

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I think I like the Bobblespeak translation of Peggy Noonan's hackery on Meet the Press better than the real thing. For a good laugh go read the whole post then compare it to the actual transcript.

Dionne: Obama needs to be like Reagan and speak in nonsensical parables

Gregory: he also needs have mindless optimism

Noonan: yes Reagan and Obama were both young Presidents

Gregory: um what?

Noonan: also Reagan had a clear plan - incite racial resentment, appear in front of a lot of flags and, build up the deficit and leave the problem for later

Gregory: people loved that

Actual hackery below the fold with Peggy Noonan still banging that we're a center-right country drum. Sorry Peggy, but we're not.

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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says that President Barack Obama would have had more support in the Senate if he just governed more towards the middle. "As I've said all year, if he wants to meet us in the middle of the political spectrum we'll be there to help," McConnell told NBC's David Gregory Sunday.

For McConnell, the president's whole problem is that he isn't moderate enough. "The president decided to go hard left," he said. "That's why he doesn't have many of my members. If he chooses to govern in the middle he will have broader support," said McConnell.

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President George W. Bush is warning Americans not to fall for scams trying to raise money off the disaster in Haiti.

"I need to put a pitch in for the clintonbushhaitifund.org," Bush told NBC's David Gregory. "One of my concerns is shysters show up and take advantage of people's good will and generosity. So people want to help, one avenue besides the established NGO's would be to tap on that website and we'll help make sure your money is spent in a transparent accountable way," he said.

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Not all Republicans are slamming President Barack Obama's handling of the failed Christmas day bombing of Northwest Airlines flight 253. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger offered praise for the president Sunday.

"I think that he's doing everything that he can," Schwarzenegger told NBC's David Gregory. "I think that, you know, Democrats, a lot of times get the rap [that] they are not strong on security and those things. I think he has talked about the issues. I think he has been fighting for the issues."

Few other top Republicans have been so kind to Obama. Former Vice President Dick Cheney told Politico that Obama was "trying to pretend" that the U.S. is not at war with terrorists. While Sarah Palin took to Facebook to criticize Obama for using the criminal justice system to prosecute the bomber.

"Now he must back off his reckless plan to close Guantanamo, begin treating terrorists as wartime enemies not suspects alleged to have committed crimes, and recognize that the real nature of the terrorist threat requires a commander-in-chief, not a constitutional law professor," wrote Palin.

But Schwarzenegger avoided the opportunity to take a jab at the president. "It's not like the president has done something wrong because he was in Hawaii or anything. It's nothing to do with that at all. What it has to do with is simply they didn't connect the dots and within the agencies," he said.

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After telling Sean Hannity that the GOP wasn't ready to take back Congress in 2010, RNC Chairman Michael Steel changed his tune Sunday. "We absolutely can take the Congress back this year," Steele told NBC's David Gregory.

Why is it if The Politico's Mike Allen decides to play stenographer for Dick Cheney, the rest of the media feels they must follow suit and ask others to respond to Cheney's remarks? David Gregory takes his turn on Meet the Press and Deputy National Security Advisor John Brennan hits back.

MR. GREGORY: Republicans have been very critical of this president and accuse him of returning to a pre-9/11 mentality, of becoming lax in the face of terror, of essentially letting America's guard down. Former Vice President Dick Cheney said this to Politico this past week. Let me put his comment up on the screen. "As I've watched the events of the last few days it is clear once again that President Obama is trying to pretend we are not at war. He seems to think if he has a low-key response to an attempt to blow up an airliner and kill hundreds of people, we won't be at war. ... He seems to think if we bring the mastermind of September 11 to New York, give him a lawyer and trial in civilian court, we won't be at war. He seems to think if he closes Guantanamo and releases the hard-core al-Qaeda-trained terrorists still there, we won't be at war. He seems to think if he gets rid of the words, `war on terror,' we won't be at war. But we are at war and when President Obama pretends we aren't, it makes us less safe." How do you respond to that?

MR. BRENNAN: I'm very disappointed in the vice president's comments. I'm neither Republican nor Democrat. I've worked for the past five administrations. And either the vice president is willfully mischaracterizing this president's position, both in terms of the language he uses and the actions he taken--he's taken, or he's ignorant of the facts. And in either case, it doesn't speak well of what the vice president's doing. The clear evidence is that this president has been very, very strong. In his inaugural address, he said, "We're at war with this international network of terrorists." We continue to say that we're at war with al-Qaeda. We're trying to give it some clarity. And we have taken the fight to them. We've continued, in fact, many of the, of the activities of the previous administration. I would not have come back into this government if I felt that this president was not committed to prosecuting this war against al-Qaeda. And every day I see it in the president's face, I see it in the actions he's taken, and so I'm confident that this country is, in fact, protected by this president's position on al-Qaeda and against terrorist activities. We're going to continue to do this, we're going to do it hard, we're going to do it constantly.

Anyone besides me think that the only person on this panel that sounds like they have anything close to a clue about why the left is angry with President Obama was Arianna Huffington? This is from the New Years eve edition of Morning Joe.

Newt Gingrich!

Um, not to put too fine a point on it, but...why?

Yesterday was Gingrich's fifth appearance on "MTP" just this year. In fact, Newt Gingrich, despite not having held any position in government for over a decade, was the single most frequent guest on "Meet the Press" in 2009 of any political figure in the United States. Literally.

From March to December, Gingrich appeared on "MTP," on average, every other month. No one else in American politics was on the show this often.[..]

Keep in mind, "Meet the Press" didn't have the actual Speaker of the House on at all this year. It also featured zero appearances from all of the other living former House Speakers (Hastert, Wright, Foley) combined.

There's just no reasonable explanation for this. Gingrich was forced from office in disgrace -- by his own caucus -- 11 years ago. What's more, he's kind of a nut -- we're talking about a former office holder who speculated, just last week, about hidden messages from God in snowstorms.

Again and again, the media just proves that informing their viewers is the furthest thing from their collective minds.

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Dr. Howard Dean wouldn't vote for the Senate's health care bill but he isn't giving up on the process. After the Senate passes their bill, Dean hopes that provisions in the House's versions of the bill can be combined with the Senate bill to create major health care reform.

"I would certainly not vote for this bill if this were the final product, but the House bill is quite a good bill. This bill is improved over the last couple of weeks. I would let this thing go to conference committee and let's see if we can fix it some more," Dean told NBC's David Gregory Sunday.

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So nice of David Gregory to make sure we all got to hear what the man who's been wrong about everything, Alan Greenspan, thinks about what we should do now to fix the economy he helped to mess up, or whether or not the Fed should be audited.

MR. GREGORY: This is an interesting question about our role in the world, how the rest of the world sees us, our commitment to capitalism and, in corporate America, Dr. Greenspan, the notion of where is the certainty? Washington is a big question mark now when it comes to climate policy, healthcare policy. A lot of businesses saying, "Look, we don't know what's coming down the pike." There's no impetus to grow, to expand, to invest.

DR. GREENSPAN: That's the key problem; that is, investment occurs when you have a stable economy and when you can foresee what's going on in the future. Because, remember, you make a risky investment which may have 10 years or 15 years life to it, and unless you have some semblance of a notion as to what is out there...

MR. GREGORY: Hm.

DR. GREENSPAN: ...you're going to be reluctant to invest. And that is key. I mean, I agree with Jim in this respect. I think it's very critical that we get the uncertainties out of the system.

MR. GREGORY: Do you think additional stimulus for jobs makes sense at this stage?

DR. GREENSPAN: No. I think what is missing in this whole discussion is that the--what I presume to be the major source of the recovery, and that is the remarkable increase in the amount of stock market wealth that has occurred in the last six to nine months. People think stock prices are just paper profits. They are not. They create real purchasing power and, most importantly, they create a fluidity into the financial system which is the reason why even though banks are not lending freely at this particular stage, they are solvent and the problems that we had six to nine months ago have disappeared, because essentially $5 trillion worth of increased equity is pouring into the economy. And you can see it in the retail sales figures. 401(k)s, for example, have increased by half a trillion dollars.

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