MTP PostGame: Talent

The first question Sen. Jim Talent faced in his post-debate interview in Washington centered on the Foley scandal and Speaker Denny Hastert.

WAIT AND SEE

Talent was non-committal to Hastert but said calling for his head would be premature.

"I don't ask people to resign until I know what they did," Talent said, while advocating a full investigation.

Quickly, the questioning then turned to Iraq. Sen. Talent had mentioned during the debate that the level of sectarian violence in the country is unsustainable. What did he mean?

TRAIN THE IRAQIS

"I just think the level of it is such that it threatens the ability of the government to sustain itself long term. Now, some level of violence, particularly in the early stages of a democracy, is, there are certainly historical precedents for that. But this level is too high," Talent said.

Talent said the main goal of U.S. troops should be to complete the "training and seasoning of the Iraqi army."

"The piece that requires the largest number of American troops is the piece that's gone the best and likely to go the best is training the Iraqi Army, because we know how to fight, we know how to train people," Talent said.

Catanese - Do you think it is smart to have some sort of private timeline to get out of Iraq - not a public timeline, but a private one?

"I think what's inevitable to the extent you are familiar with the situation, you have in the back of you mind some idea about what you are going to do in the future and when you are going to do it. You may be thinking to yourself, this is how fast things are going. I'm kind of thinking that maybe by this time next year, so in the back of your mind, you do. But what you don't do - in war especially - you make your plans fit circumstances. You don't try to force circumstances to fit your plans. You don't say this is when you are going to leave regardless of the situation on the ground. It's like a telegram to the terrorists that you are going to quit at some point, another example of weakness that represents the Auditor's policies on the war on terror."

Talent was asked what questions are the right questions to ask as a member of the Armed Services Committee.

"I've been asking the right questions time and time again, which is what is the state of the mission? What can we do to complete it faster? What is the state of the training of the troops? Over and over I've been pushing them on the economic reconstruction on the ground. In the long term for this government to succeed, it needs to make the economic structure meaningful for the average person in Baghdad."

Talent then spoke about his strategy of battling the insurgency: SWEEP, HOLD, BUILD.

Catanese - Do you think Missourians are willing to support 2 or 3 more years of substantial troop levels in Iraq?

"I think the people have the resolution to do what we need to do to win the War on Terror on all fronts. Look, I'm not going to give a timetable. I think one of the things we learned is it is dangerous to predict here," Talent said.

He said people didn't predict the latest round of sectarian violence that sparked up in June. But he said the good news is the training of Iraqi soldiers. He reiterated that the training part is our main job, and much easier than economic reconstruction.

STATE OF DENIAL

Catanese - Do you think Bob Woodward's book is credible?
Talent - I have not read it.
Catanese - Do you plan to read it?
Talent - I've got a stack of books. I really do. This is not a time when I can do a lot of reading.
Catanese - But what about the pieces and claims you have heard?
Talent - Well, like a lot of what goes on in Washington, it's he said, she said. This whole Tenet thing. Tenet testified something different, is my understanding, before the 9-11 Commission. There's a limit to how useful it is to chew over what happened 5 years ago.

Talent said it is easy to find many books about what FDR knew before Pearl Harbor, but that he generally believes people at the highest levels of our government are truthful and doing their best to protect the country.

"I generally believe that people - and I don't agree with them on a lot of things - that people in the highest leadership positions - whether it is Madeleine Albright or Condi Rice - don't, aren't recklessly indifferent to concrete threats to the government. I have to be convinced that they are. Obviously, you can miss something, you can overlook something, but I gotta read the book and make a judgment," Talent said.

Q & A

Talent expressed some frustration of not being able to address some of his legislative accomplishments during the Meet the Press debate. But he said Russert has the right to ask whatever questions he wants. He expected questions about national issues and current events, but noted, "people back home understand what's important on the ground better than they do here."

A LATE OCTOBER SURPRISE?

Catanese - Is President Bush coming to Springfield the last week before the election?

Talent - I don't think we have plans for that, but I don't know what we've decided.

I had to ask because I've heard speculation among local politicos, including some Republicans, that a visit by the President is being contemplated.