McCain compares Sarah Palin to Ronald Reagan

By Aaron Blake and Matt DeLong



Sunday Rundown: A quick wrap-up of the Sunday talk shows.

CNN: STATE OF THE UNION - McCain compares Sarah Palin to Reagan

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said China is not doing its part to avert a conflict between North Korea and South Korea after the former launched an artillery attack on a border island that killed two marines and two civilians. China has called for emergency talks, but the United States and South Korea have been critical that it hasn't done more to reign in its enigmatic ally, North Korea. "Unfortunately, China is not behaving as a responsible world power," McCain said. "It cannot be in China's long-term interest to see a renewed contest on the Korean peninsula."

McCain compared his former running mate, Sarah Palin, to former President Ronald Reagan, noting that some viewed Reagan as divisive too. "I think that anybody who has the visibility that Sarah has is obviously going to have some divisiveness," McCain said. "I remember that a guy named Ronald Reagan used to be viewed by some as divisive. ... I think she had a positive impact on the last election, and I'm proud of her."

Outgoing Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) said Congress is likely to pass a temporary extension of all of the Bush tax cuts, including on income above $250,000 for a family. "What's likely to happen is there will be an extension of the tax cuts for everybody for a period of time," Dorgan said. "I don't know what that might be, but it's the wrong remedy for the country."



Retiring House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) said Republicans' decision to ban themselves from using earmarks is a red herring and that it will only increase the power of the executive branch, including the president. Obey is known for bringing federal largesse to his district, but he said he's OK with outlawing earmarks. "You can keep them or dump them," Obey said. "The fact is, they are inconsequential in comparison to the other problems we face and less than half a percent of the budget." Former President George W. Bush and his brother, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, sat down for a joint interview. Jeb Bush said he expects at least one of his sons - Jeb Jr. or George P. Bush - to run for office at some point. The former president said he doesn't expect either of his two daughters to ever seek office

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FOX NEWS SUNDAY - Senators: Prosecute Wikileaks

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) said that WikiLeaks, which is expected to release a huge trove of secret State Department documents, should be prosecuted. Graham called the pending release "deplorable" and said the people behind the Web site "could have blood on their hands ... if you can prosecute them, let's try." McCaskill agreed that the U.S. government should go after WikiLeaks "with the force of the law." She added: "The people who are leaking these documents need to do a gut check about their patriotism," though the organization's most high-profile member, Julian Assange, is an Australian citizen. Graham said the United States should not ratify the new START treaty until Russia clarifies its interpretation of the preamble, which Graham suggested could be read as a loophole allowing Russia to withdraw if the U.S. pursues strategic missile defense. McCaskill responded that there is "some game-playing going on with the START treaty, and it's all about politics and it's all about trying to damage the president of the United States."

On repealing the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, Graham said "there is no groundswell of opposition" to the law, calling repeal "a political promise made by [then-]Sen. Obama." He said the policy is "not going anywhere" during the lame-duck session of Congress. He said the debt commission "probably is dead" and he would not vote to increase taxes on anybody. However, he added that there would be bipartisan support for extending all of the Bush-era tax cuts for "two or three years." McCaskill, who is up for reelection in 2012, asserted her independence from the president, saying she has bucked her party's leadership on cap-and-trade, omnibus spending bills and comprehensive immigration reform.

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CSPAN: NEWSMAKERS - Norm Coleman: Joe Miller should give up



Former Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) called on Alaska GOP Senate candidate Joe Miller to concede to Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). Miller trails Murkowski by more than 10,000 votes but is challenging more than 8,000 write-in votes for Murkowski, who ran a write-in campaign. Coleman, who lost in 2008 after his own drawn-out ballot-counting process, noted that his race was much closer. "I think that race is over," Coleman said of the Alaska race.



Coleman, CEO of the American Action Network, has said he might run for chairman of the Republican National Committee but that he wouldn't challenge current Chairman Michael Steele. Coleman said he didn't think challenging the incumbent chairman would be "productive," noting that Steele has supported him in past campaigns and hasn't always been recognized for the areas where he has succeeded.

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NBC: MEET THE PRESS - Kyl: START treaty isn't that urgent

Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) said that the START treaty is less pressing than some other issues facing the nation, such as extending the Bush-era tax cuts and creating jobs. He said the nuclear treaty between the United States and Russia will not be ratified during the lame-duck session of Congress. Instead, he called for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to allow "a couple of weeks" for "full debate and amendment," adding that there are "a lot of issues" with the pact. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) called for a vote on the treaty before Christmas and said there was "no excuse" to delay the treaty,

Kyl declined to say that he would not vote for an extension of the Bush tax cuts that doesn't include upper earners, but said he supports extending the cuts for all Americans. Durbin said Congress should permanently extend the tax cuts for middle-income Americans.

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ABC: THIS WEEK - Billionaires: Raise our taxes



Billionaire investor Warren Buffett said taxes should probably be cut further for most Americans, but raised for the super-wealthy, such as himself. "I think that people at the high end, people like myself, should be paying a lot more in taxes," Buffett said. "We have it better than we've ever had it." Microsoft founder Bill Gates said he voted for a failed ballot measure in Washington State to raise taxes on the wealthy. "I voted yes and I was hoping that it would pass," Gates said. "But that's done now." Buffett dismissed the notion that cutting taxes for the wealthy will trickle down through the economy to benefit everyone. "The rich are always going to say that, you know, just give us more money and we'll go out and spend more and then it will all trickle down to the rest of you," Buffett said. "But that has not worked the last 10 years, and I hope the American public is catching on."

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CBS: FACE THE NATION - Author: Tea party is like Roosevelt's progressive movement

"Face the Nation" hosted an author roundtable featuring the Washington Post's Bob Woodward, the Huffington Post's Arianna Huffington and presidential biographers Edmund Morris and Ron Chernow.



Edmund Morris, the author of a new book about former President Theodore Roosevelt, likened the tea party to the progressive middle class movement that galvanized behind Roosevelt's third-party candidacy in the 1912 presidential election. "That movement, was white, middle class, extremely fervent," Morris said. "The passion that drew them together was rather similar to the passion that draws the tea party together, and that is exclusion."

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