Sunday Morning "Talking Heads" Guests 6-21-2009

George Wenschhof

NBC "Meet The Press" - David Gregory lands Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. This will be important to watch as Netanyahu just delivered a speech offering for the first time to recognize Palestine as a state under certain conditions. President Obama is trying to restart the peace talks between Israel and Palestine.

Also appearing are formers Senators Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) and Fred Thompson (R-Tn.). Chuck Todd and Nina Easton will also provide some commentary.

ABC "This Week" - George Stephanopoulos has Senators Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC). He is expected to discuss the health care and financial regulation reforms before Congress.

The roundtable will include George Will, Cokie Roberts, Sam Donaldson, Robert Reich, and Bill Keller.

CBS "Face The Nation" - Bob Schieffer will interview senator John McCain (R-Ariz.). Expect to hear discussion on the recent Iran election as McCain has expressed dissatisfaction with statements coming from the Obama White House.

Fox News Sunday - Chris Wallace has Senators John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Evan Bayh (D-Ind.). Also appearing will be Representatives Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.) and Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.). More discussion on the Iran election is sure to transpire.

CNN "State of The Union" - John king has Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calf.), Richard Lugar (D-Ind.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). Health care and Iran will continue to be the subject of discussion.

CNN Fareed Zakaria GPS - this continues to be a favorite of mine and airs at 1:00 PM ET. Zakaria will take an in depth look at Iran and the power of Ayatollah Khamenei. He will also discuss the impact information technology (Internet, Facebook, Twitter) has had in Iran.

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Sunday Morning "Talking Heads" Guests 4-26-2009

George Wenschhof Bio

President Barack Obama's first 100 days in office will likely be examined by the pundits Sunday morning as day 100 is the following Wednesday. It will tough on them to wait until the following Sunday!

As to the last week, talk of a "torture probe" intensified after the release by the CIA of memos which provided more detail surrounding the use of "harsh" Interrogation techniques during the former George W. Bush administration.

It now appears Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice approved the use of waterboarding on detainees as early as 2002 contingent on Justice Department legal review. Information detailing how some prisoners were waterboarded over 100 times in a single month has lead many to wonder how any reasonable person could conclude information obtained under these circumstances could be credible.

This has put President Obama in an awkward position as he has wanted to focus on moving forward and not getting caught up in a lengthy review and investigation of individuals from the Bush administration. However, Attorney General Eric Holder realizes he must follow up on information presented to him.

With thousands of prisoner abuse photos being released as a result of a ACLU lawsuit, expect the cry for further investigation to ratchet up even more. House Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calf.) is in favor of further investigation and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is following the lead of the president.

The increased violence in Iraq as a result of suicide bombers will receive discussion along with the Islamic extremists in Pakistan posing a threat to the government in Pakistan. In the span of one day at the end of the week, 140 were killed and 240 wounded in Iraq as a result of suicide bombers. Over in nuclear armed Pakistan, the Taliban had control of the Buner district, only 60 miles from the capitol city of Islamabad.

On the domestic side, President Obama called for revisions of unreasonable credit card rates and fees to consumers. President Obama also called for Universities across the country to reduce their tuition fees as a College education is becoming unaffordable.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner began the review of the government stress tests with the largest 19 banks in the country at the end of the week so expect some of these reports to have leaked by Sunday morning. They are scheduled to be released to the public at the beginning of next week.

In the NY district 20 special election, Republican Jim Tedisco conceded on Friday. The unofficial lead by winner Democrat Scott Murphy was 399 votes. This effectively put a damper on any early jubilation by Republican leaders who had hope for a victory in a district with a majority of Republican registered voters.

Expect all of the above and more to be discussed this Sunday morning. As always, remember to check your locals listings for time and channel. The scheduled guests are as follows:

NBC "Meet The Press" - Dick Gregory will have Jordan King Abdullah II, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, Doris Goodwin, and Jon Meachum.

ABC "This Week" - George Stephanopoulos will interview Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The roundtable discussion will include Donna Brazile, George Will, David Sanger, Chrystia Freeland, and Matthew Dowd.

CBS "Face The Nation" - Bob Schieffer will interview Senators John McCain (R-Az.) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.).

Fox News Sunday - Chris Wallace will interview Lawrence Summers Director White House Economic Council. He will also have as guests, Senators Kit Bond (R-Mo.) and Carl Levin (D-Mich.).

CNN "State of The Union" - John King will interview Valerie Jarrett, Senior White House Adviser. Also appearing will be Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calf.), Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).

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Sunday Morning "Talking Heads" Guests 2-8-2009

George Wenschhof Bio

This will be the third Sunday morning following the inauguration of President Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States. The honeymoon period is effectively over as the President suffered setbacks with several of his Cabinet nominees withdrawing from consideration and his much ballyhooed Stimulus bill receiving critical scrutiny in the Senate.

With unemployment at 7.6% and consumer borrowing dropping at record numbers, expect the President's American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan to receive plenty of discussion. In spite of Obama saying there would be no pork included in his Stimulus bill, the House passed a 819 Billion bill which had many questionable funds which caused the bill to stall in the Senate. Many Republicans criticisms center on some of the funding is not creating jobs.

Friday night the Senate was still working on crafting a compromise with a target figure of 780 Billion which is down from the original 900 Billion Senate version of the bill. Currently, it looks like this will go to a vote with Sunday being a target date. It takes 60 votes to take it to a vote and that may be all the President gets on this bill.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is also scheduled to announce Monday new rules and guidelines for the remaining 350 Billion of the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) - more commonly known as the bailout bill. This is likely to receive plenty of analysis from the pundits today as well.

White House counsel Larry Craig has now taken over the vetting process after repeated embarrassment, so let's see how the pundits feel he will do with those chosen to replace Tom Daschle for Secretary for Health and Human Services and Nancy Killefer for Chief Performance Officer. Latest rumor to be named for HHS Secretary is Governor Phil Bredesen (D-Tenn.) so expect this name to be floated along with former DNC chair Howard Dean.

On the foreign policy front, some discussion this morning may focus on George Mitchell, the Middle East Envoy just back from a visit of the region. He met with the President and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for a briefing of his visit this week.

The vice-President is also off to Germany to attend and speak at the annual Munich security conference. He is scheduled to speak Saturday so this speech may be dissected Sunday morning along with a comment from earlier in the week where he said there was a 30% chance they will get the Stimulus bill wrong. The latter comment drew a rebuke from White House Senior Adviser David Axelrod.

As always, plenty to discuss Sunday morning. Below is the list of the Sunday morning "Talking Heads" shows with the scheduled guests. Remember to check your local listings for time and channel.

NBC "Meet The Press" - David Gregory will have Senators John Ensign (R-NV) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO) along with Representatives Barney Frank (D-Ma.) and Mike Pence (R-In). Also appearing will be Washington Post senior Pentagon correspondent Tom Ricks.

ABC "This Week" - George Stephanopoulos will have chief economic adviser Lawrence Summers and newly named chair of the Republican National Committee, Michael Steele. The roundtable discussion will include Newt Gingrich, George Will, Claire Shipman and Robert Reich.

CBS "Face The Nation" - Bob Schieffer will have Senators John McCain (R-Az.) and Kent Conrad (D-ND). Also appearing will be Christina Romer, chair of the Council of Economic Advisers.

Fox News Sunday - Chris Wallace will also have Lawrence Summers and Senator John Coryn (R-TX).

CNN "State of The Union" - John King will have a busy Sunday morning with lots of guests starting with Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. Also appearing will be Senators Richard Shelby (R-AL) and Charles Schumer (D-NY). Other scheduled guests include Governor Mark Sanford (R-SC), Jack Welch, former GE CEO, Katie Couric, CBS News Anchor and Dee Dee Myers, former White House press secretary.

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Sunday Morning "Talking Heads" 1-11-2009

George Wenschhof Bio

This Sunday will mark nine days until Inauguration Day and this morning will feature the incumbent President George W. Bush and President-elect Barack Obama. As always, there is plenty to discuss.

Expect analysis of the impeachment vote by the Illinois House of Governor Rod Blagojevich and of course what to do with Roland Burris. Burris was appointed by Blagojevich to the vacant Obama Senate seat and this move has set constitutional lawyers and Democratic Leaders scrambling trying to figure out the correct action to take in regard to the appointment.

Did someone mention the economy continues to tank? Two bills in this area likely to receive some attention this Sunday morning. One is the 700 Billion Troubled Asset Relief Bill (TARP) of which 350 Billion remains to be allocated by Congress. The biggest issue is no one knows how the first 350 Billion was spent other than it wasn't on troubled assets. The other bill the President-elect wants to have introduced this week in Congress is his American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan which could reach a price tag of 1 Trillion.

Sure to also receive some discussion from the pundits is the current Israel - Hamas conflict in the Gaza strip. The UN voted 14-0 with the U.S. abstaining for an immedtiate cease fire. Was this action by Israel timed to take advantage of the last few weeks of the lame duck administration of George W. Bush?

Following is the list of the Sunday Morning "Talk Shows" with their scheduled guests. Remember to check your local listings for channel and time.

NBC "Meet The Press" - Dick Gregory settling in as the new host, has Bill Cosby, Dr. Alvin Poussaunt, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty, Representative Maxine Waters (D-Calf.). The roundtable discussion will include John Harwood, David Bonior, Paul Gigot, Mark Zandi and Bethany McLean.

ABC "This Week" - George Stephanopoulos interviews President-elect Barack Obama. The roundtable discussion will have Peggy Noonan, Newt Gingrich, George Will, and Tom Friedman.

CBS "Face The Nation" - Bob Schieffer lands Senator in limbo Roland Burris (D-Ill.), Representative John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.).

Fox News Sunday - Chris Wallace interviews former President George H.W. Bush and current President George W. Bush.

CNN "Late Edition" - Dick Cheney and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calf.). Political analysts David Gergen and James Carville.

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