From The Situation Room Sept. 24, 2009. Lady McCheney Matalin is still out there trying to say that George Bush's foreign policy made the world a safe
September 25, 2009

From The Situation Room Sept. 24, 2009. Lady McCheney Matalin is still out there trying to say that George Bush's foreign policy made the world a safer place to live. What a completely ridiculous thing to say. Walk is what keeps peace in the world. No, "walk" is called starting wars Mary. Why CNN feels the need to continue to give this woman air time as though she has anything credible to say is beyond me.

BLITZER: Mary, let's talk a little bit about the substance, though. Do the folks and the leaders in Iran or North Korea or the Taliban for that matter or al Qaeda, do they fear President Obama?

MATLIN: Well, absolutely not. And what Paul just said is emblematic of how the Democrats think about foreign policy in general. That's demean our strongest friends our greatest allies, like the Australians, like the Polish, like the Czechs, like the central and eastern Europeans who are working so hard at democracy and just demean any kind of opinion.

Look, this is not some sort of partisan or right wing or Murdoch thought. Since the beginning of time the history of the world is that weakness invites provocation. And we have -- and talking is good and relationships are fine. But our allies need to know that they can rely on those relationships and that there will be consequences for the bad guys when the talk runs out and they're not doing the walk.

As for proliferation and chairing a U.N. committee, great. Oh, isn't that wonderful? It's the U.N. that wouldn't enforce 17 of its resolutions against Saddam in the first place, so big deal. He's chairing and talking in another instance.

But the proliferation security initiative of the Bush administration was responsible for quantum leaps in the reduction of proliferation and including the disarmament of Libya, the capture and detention...

BLITZER: Right.

MATLIN: ... of A.Q. Kahn who's just been let out. So there is some substance and talk is fine but walk is what just keeps peace in the world.

BLITZER: Because as far as President Bush was concerned, Paul, I think you'll agree, the adversaries, they hated them, they didn't like him, but they did fear him.

BEGALA: I completely disagree. They didn't fear him at all because he weakened America. He tied us up in a completely unnecessary and unjust war in Iraq which allowed our adversaries to strengthen themselves. Iran became much stronger, not weaker. Iran is immeasurably a greater threat today because of Mr. Bush.

Al Qaeda used Bush as a recruiting tool and as for the Taliban, what about Baitullah Mehsud? He's the Taliban leader in Pakistan. He doesn't fear Barack Obama, because he's dead. He is dead because Barack Obama stepped up the use of lethal force in that Pakistani border region that George W. Bush was too afraid to do.

In fact when Mr. Obama was campaigning and he said he would go into Pakistan and kill al Qaeda and Taliban leaders if he found them, it was the Republicans who said that that was unwise. And so here was an example actually of a Democrat being more effective in the deployment of deadly force, than any Republican.

BLITZER: All right...

MATLIN: Wolf, if we all know the reason...

BLITZER: I want to move on.

MATLIN: Wait, wait, Wolf. No. Please.

BLITZER: I'm going to let you respond. But wait a second. Just be patient. Go ahead and respond to...

MATLIN: He just says so many things that are so completely patently false.

BEGALA: So Baitullah Mehsud is alive?

BLITZER: I know. I want you to respond, did the adversaries fear President Bush?

MATLIN: They feared the power of America and that we used it judiciously and that when we do use it, we use it not just for might or imperialism but to defend ourselves. And we're serious about it. We do -- did we do what we say we're going to do.

The reason that -- we've been able to take out so many of these Taliban and al Qaeda leaders recently in Waziristan, in Iran and with the drones in conjunction with assistance from the pacts, which was a Bush breakthrough to have a different relationship with the Pakistanis, is because of the intelligence we gathered under the system set up by Bush, which this president is dismantling.

So we can have these little political shows. But if the notion is that if we just all talk and we just all hold hands and we're transnational, the world peace, one world, that's great in adolescent aspirational dorm room conversations. It's not the way the world works today. It's not the way the world has ever worked since Adam and Eve.

BLITZER: All right, we'll leave that on that note.

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