Rubio: President’s Inaction Has Led to ‘Worst Possible Scenario’ in Syria

Joe Raedle/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- During an exclusive interview on ABC’s This Week, Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio criticized President Obama for not intervening sooner in Syria’s civil war, saying the inaction has led to the “worst possible scenario” in the war-torn country.

“It behooved us to kind of identify whether there was elements there within Syria fighting against Assad that we could work with, reasonable people that wouldn’t carry out human rights violations, and could be part of building a new Syria. We failed to do that. This president failed to do that,” Rubio told ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl.

“The fact that it’s taken this White House and this president so long to get a clear and concise policy on Syria has left us with the worst possible scenario right now,” Rubio added.

“So now your options are quite limited. Now the strongest groups fighting against Assad, unfortunately, are al Qaeda-linked elements. That doesn’t mean that they all are, but it certainly — this group has become the most organized, the best armed, the best equipped. Our options are now really narrower than they were a few months ago,” he said.

The United States will provide arms to Syrian rebels after determining this week that the Syrian regime used chemical weapons. President Obama has said the use of such weapons would cross a “red line.

More than 90,000 people have died in Syria since March of 2011 according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, while the Obama administration estimates that 100 to 150 people have died from chemical weapons attacks in the country.

Rubio was also asked by Karl if he supported his own immigration bill, which he helped author with the “Gang of Eight” members in the Senate.

“Obviously I think it’s an excellent starting point and I think 95 — 96 percent of the bill is in perfect shape and ready to go,” Rubio said. “But there are elements that need to be improved,” citing the border security portion of the current bill.

The immigration bill currently in the Senate will need some Republican support in order to overcome a potential filibuster. Many in the GOP want to see the border security measures in the bill strengthened before they would consider supporting it.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

Jeb Bush Says His Father is the 'Best Man I’ve Ever Met'

ABC News(WASHINGTON) -- In a special Father’s Day edition of the Sunday Spotlight on ABC’s This Week, former Florida governor Jeb Bush reflected on lessons learned from his father and hinted about his own political future.

In an exclusive interview with ABC News’ Jon Karl, Bush spoke about Father’s Days spent in the Bush household and called the 41st president “the best dad and the best man I’ve ever met.”

“He’s a humble guy,” Bush said. “Every day was Father’s Day as I’m concerned.”

Bush said his father’s lessons on humility have stayed with him. As Bush reflected on his loss in a 1994 Florida gubernatorial run, he recalled the resiliency his father taught him.

“I ended up learning that losing actually turns out to be pretty good,” Bush said. “It makes you better. You learn and grow.”

Bush said his father’s reaction to losing his 1992 presidential bid also inspired him.

“I think my dad’s post-presidency, he didn’t miss a beat,” Bush said. “He didn’t get into any kind of ‘woe is me.’ He dusted himself off and led an incredible life since 1993.”

Bush opened up about his father’s health challenges. President Bush celebrated his 89th birthday on June 12th and donned a signature pair of colorful Superman socks for the occasion.

“I think it was hard at first for my dad to transition to being immobile,” Bush said.

“I think he’s in a good place. He’s mentally alert,” he added. “He’s spiritually in a place that we should all envy.”

The former Florida governor is frequently mentioned as a potential 2016 presidential candidate -including by family members.

His father and brother, George W. Bush, have encouraged Jeb to enter the race in 2016, while his mother, Barbara, concluded that there have been “enough Bushes” in the White House.

“I think we’ve got a split ballot amongst the Bush senior family. Pretty sure that’s the case,” Bush said smiling.

For now, the Bush family is focused on their Father’s Day letter writing contest, recently launched to honor fathers and promote former First Lady Barbara Bush’s Foundation for Family Literacy.

Bush says the project honors his father’s love of writing letters and encourages families to get involved in the “process of teaching kids how to read and giving them the joy of reading.”

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

Cheney: Edward Snowden May Be Spying for Chinese Government

JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Former Vice President Dick Cheney called NSA leaker Edward Snowden a “traitor,” during an appearance on Fox News Sunday this weekend, and warned that he may be spying for the Chinese government.

“I think he's a traitor,” the former vice president said. “I think he has committed crimes in effect by violating agreements given the position he had.”

Cheney, who defended the NSA’s domestic spying program, said the leak was one of the worst in recent memory, and did serious damage to the national security interests of the United States. He expressed concern over the fact that Snowden fled to China of all places.

“I'm deeply suspicious obviously because he went to China, that's not a place where you ordinarily want to go if you're interested in freedom and liberty and so forth,” Cheney said.

“I am very, very worried that he still has additional information that he hasn't released yet, that the Chinese would welcome the opportunity and probably willing to provide immunity for him or sanctuary for him, if you will, in exchange for what he presumably knows or doesn't know,” he continued.

“I don't think this is just a one-off disclosure. I think there's a real danger here that he'll go beyond that.”

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

Sarah Palin on U.S. Intervention in Syria: 'Let Allah Sort It Out'

Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin criticized the Obama administration’s decision to supply weapons to the rebels in the civil war in Syria on Saturday, arguing that the U.S. should “Let Allah sort it out” until there is a stronger leader in the White House.

“Militarily, where is our commander in chief? We’re talking now more new interventions. I say until we know what we’re doing, until we have a commander in chief who knows what he’s doing, well, let these radical Islamic countries who aren’t even respecting basic human rights, where both sides are slaughtering each other as they scream over an arbitrary red line, ‘Allahu Akbar,’ I say until we have someone who knows what they’re doing, I say let Allah sort it out,” Palin said at the Faith and Freedom Coalition Conference.

Earlier this week, the White House announced it confirmed that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime has used chemical weapons in the fight against its own people, and the Obama administration will provide more “direct support” to the Syrian opposition since the president’s “red line” has been crossed.

The White House said on Saturday that Obama discussed the civil war in Syria with European leaders in a teleconference Friday, and the issue is expected to dominate much of the conversation at the G-8 Summit in Northern Ireland next week.

Palin, speaking at the conclusion of the three-day Faith and Freedom Coalition Conference, also took a swipe at another speaker at the conservative forum, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who argued Friday that one of the reasons to support the Senate’s immigration reform plan is because “Immigrants are more fertile.”

“I think it’s kind of dangerous territory, territory to want to debate this whole one race’s fertility rate over another, and I say this from someone who’s kind of fertile herself,” Palin said. “I don’t think that’s where we want to go in deciding how will we incentivize the hardworking responsible families who want to live in the light, follow the law, become Americans, versus those whose very first act on our soil is to break the law? There are different ways that we can debate this.”

As she warned the conservative crowd of “tyranny” in government, Palin said that the recent scandals involving the Internal Revenue Service and the National Security Agency make the country feel “so Orwellian around here, you know, 1984.”

Calling Washington, D.C. “one hot mess,” Palin also doled out some advice to Congress, who she said should follow the lead of a young senator whom she backed in his 2012 race — Texas. Sen. Ted Cruz.

“You know what I wish Congress would do? If they would just for one week perhaps, put themselves on Cruz control, on Ted Cruz control,” Palin said. “Just for a week and let’s see where things go. I think we’d see some solutions.”

Though she has often served as the butt of jokes on NBC’s Saturday Night Live, Palin joked about the frequency with which the comedy show makes fun of her, saying she’s provided an ample amount of jokes and jobs for comedians.

“They should think of me as a friend. For a while there, I was providing more job security for the Tina Feys of the world and doing more for those employment numbers than Obama’s ever done,” Palin said.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

Hillary Clinton Snaps a Selfie With Daughter Chelsea

@ChelseaClinton/Twitter(CHICAGO) -- It’s been quite a week for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — from joining Twitter to a speech in Chicago, and even to snapping selfies.

“Having so much fun with Chelsea, taking selfies back stage. MT:@ChelseaClinton http://bit.ly/11BgawY,” @HillaryClinton tweeted Friday.

Clinton and her daughter Chelsea were at a Clinton Global Initiative America event in Chicago where the former Secretary of State spoke on Thursday.

Clinton is no stranger to the selfie phenomenon.  At a State Department Dinner for the Kennedy Center Honors gala last year, Clinton posed for a selfie with actress Meryl Streep, who snapped the picture from her iPhone.

Hillary Clinton entered the social media sphere on Monday when she made her first tweet, racking up nearly half a million followers in just five days.

“Thanks for the inspiration @ASmith83 & Sllambe – I’ll take it from here… #tweetsfromhillary,” Clinton’s first Tweet read.

And as she leaped into the age of social media this week, Clinton left an opening for her future career aspirations as she described herself as a “Wife, mom, lawyer, women & kids advocate, FLOAR, FLOTUS, US Senator, SecState, author, dog owner, hair icon, pantsuit aficionado, glass ceiling cracker, TBD…”

President Bill Clinton highlighted the selfie, noting he was left out of the picture by tweeting, “Is someone missing?”

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

Rick Perry Mistakes Lebanon for Libya

Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry had a bit of an “oops” moment on Saturday when he mistakenly referred to the administration’s response to the attack on the American consulate in Benghazi as occurring in Lebanon instead of Libya.

“I fear where we’ve come to in America, where our administration won’t make one phone call to save our men and women in a embassy in Lebanon,” Perry said at the Faith and Freedom Coalition conference.

Earlier in his speech, Perry referred to his brush with forgetfulness during the 2012 Republican presidential primary and shared with the crowd why he personally relates to Peter the Apostle.

“It was the same Peter whose mouth sometimes ran faster than his brain,” Perry said. “Let me tell you I can relate to Peter.

“I’ve learned a little bit about humility, particularly on national television,” Perry said. “But the fact is, God hadn’t called the perfect to go into the arena of public service. He’s called people just like you and just like me.”

Despite the mistake in his speech Saturday, Perry urged Republicans to adopt the demeanor of a “happy warrior” and doled out a simple piece of advice for conservatives.

“Smile when you disagree with a liberal,” Perry said. “Shake your head as Ronald Reagan once said, he said you know, liberals know so much that isn’t so.”

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

Leaders Debate Effectiveness of No-Fly Zone in Syria

Stockbyte/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- The announcement that President Obama is planning to step up aid to the Syrian rebels, including sending small weapons and ammunition, is a significant change in the administration's policy on Syria.

But with 90,000 people already killed, a refugee crisis being called the worst in the world, and evidence of Iran and Hezbollah's growing involvement in the crisis, critics question whether the move will be enough to make a difference on the ground.

On Thursday, Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham, two of the most outspoken critics of the Obama administration's Syria policy, applauded the decision to provide arms, but called for the U.S. to go further and establish a no-fly zone

"The goal is to end the war. And the only way this war is going to end quickly and on our terms is to neutralize the air assets that Assad enjoys," Graham said on the Senate floor. "We can crater the runways. There are four air bases he uses. We can stop the planes from flying. We can shoot planes down without having one boot on the ground."

McCain and Graham are not the only ones calling for a no-fly zone. Some of America's allies in the region, including Turkey, also have said they would support the action as way to help strengthen the opposition's position on the ground and allow more humanitarian aid to get through.

But the administration maintains a no-fly zone is not the easy solution some are claiming.

"People need to understand that the no-fly zone is not some type of silver bullet that is going to stop a very intense and, in some respect, sectarian conflict, that it's taking place on the ground," National Security Advisor Spokesman Ben Rhodes told reporters on Friday.

So what exactly is a no-fly zone?

A no-fly zone is just what the name indicates; it's an action that stops planes, usually military, from flying in the skies of a designated area. The idea is to keep the military from a rogue nation from using its air power to attack other areas in its own territory or beyond.

No-fly zones are usually authorized by international bodies, like the United Nations or NATO, and the air forces of participating countries are authorized to a nation's air capabilities. They can disable runways at air bases, striking at air defense systems and possibly going as far as shooting down any military aircraft violating the no-fly zone.

The effectiveness of the ban hinges on enforcement, as was the case in Libya, where NATO enforced a no-fly zone though it was the U.S. that bore the brunt of the operations.

It was considered a success that gave the opposition the space and time to take control of the country and overthrow Moammar Gadhafi's regime.

Many critics of the administration's Syria policy have questioned why President Obama is so reluctant to push for a no-fly zone in Syria, as well.

The administration has said Syria is very different from Libya.

"It's dramatically more difficult and dangerous and costly in Syria for a variety of reasons," said Rhodes. "In Libya, you already had a situation where the opposition controlled huge portions of the country and you could essentially protect those portions of the country from the air. You do not have the same types of air defense systems that exist within Syria."

Experts say that Syria's air force is more capable than Libya's and, more importantly, has a complex air defense system that could target military aircraft enforcing a no-fly zone. But that doesn't necessarily preclude putting elements of a no-fly zone in place.

"A no-fly zone is not a monolithic thing," Joseph Holliday, a fellow at the Institute for the Study of War who focuses on the Syria crisis, said at a United States Institute for Peace event last month.

Holliday said that there is a "spectrum" of military options within a no-fly zone, from a full-scale air campaign to finding other creative ways to restrict the Syrian air force's capability. Still, Holliday, who tracks Syria's military capability, warned that the Assad regime seems to be keeping some military fighter jets in reserve specifically to deal with any possible foreign threat.

The Syrian Air Force is "not on its way out," said Holliday, who added that Syria retains "one of the densest air-defense systems in the world."

Administration officials have also questioned whether a no-fly zone would be an effective way to help the opposition defeat Assad and stop the slaughter of civilians.

"In Syria, when you have a situation where regime forces are intermingled with opposition forces and they're fighting, in some instances, block-by-block in cities, that's not a problem you can solve from the air," said Rhodes.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey told reporters in April that he doubted a no-fly zone could be effective in limiting civilian casualties

"About 10 percent of the casualties that are being imposed on the Syrian opposition are occurring through the use of air power," said Dempsey, who noted that the remaining 90 percent are by direct fire or by artillery. "So, the question then becomes: If you eliminate one capability of a potential adversary, will you be inclined to find yourself in a position to be asked to do more against the rest?"

Dempsey said the United States needs to be careful not to get drawn deeper into the conflict without having clear military objectives. If a no-fly zone was ordered, Dempsey said, the Pentagon would have to factor in the need to knock out Syrian air defenses and develop a search-and-rescue plan for any U.S. fighter pilots that could be downed. Military planners also would have to consider the prospect that Syria might launch retaliatory attacks both within Syria and beyond.

"Now, none of these reasons are reasons not to take action," Dempsey said. "But they all should be considered before we take that first step."

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

President Obama's Weekly Address: A Message for Father's Day

The White House(WASHINGTON) -- In his weekly address, President Obama wished all dads a Happy Father's Day with a special message.

Here is the full text of the president's address:

"Hi, everybody.  This Sunday is Father’s Day, and so I wanted to take a moment to talk about the most important job many of us will ever have – and that’s being a dad.
 
Today we’re blessed to live in a world where technology allows us to connect instantly with just about anyone on the planet.  But no matter how advanced we get, there will never be a substitute for the love and support and, most importantly, the presence of a parent in a child’s life.  And in many ways, that’s uniquely true for fathers.
 
I never really knew my own father.  I was raised by a single mom and two wonderful grandparents who made incredible sacrifices for me.  And there are single parents all across the country who do a heroic job raising terrific kids.  But I still wish I had a dad who was not only around, but involved; another role model to teach me what my mom did her best to instill – values like hard work and integrity; responsibility and delayed gratification – all the things that give a child the foundation to envision a brighter future for themselves.
 
That’s why I try every day to be for Michelle and my girls what my father was not for my mother and me.  And I’ve met plenty of other people – dads and uncles and men without a family connection – who are trying to break the cycle and give more of our young people a strong male role model.
 
Being a good parent – whether you’re gay or straight; a foster parent or a grandparent – isn’t easy.  It demands your constant attention, frequent sacrifice, and a healthy dose of patience.  And nobody’s perfect.  To this day, I’m still figuring out how to be a better husband to my wife and father to my kids.
 
And I want to do what I can as President to encourage marriage and strong families.  We should reform our child support laws to get more men working and engaged with their children.  And my Administration will continue to work with the faith and other community organizations, as well as businesses, on a campaign to encourage strong parenting and fatherhood.
 
Because if there’s one thing I’ve learned along the way, it’s that all our personal successes shine a little less brightly if we fail at family.  That’s what matters most.  When I look back on my life, I won’t be thinking about any particular legislation I passed or policy I promoted.  I’ll be thinking about Michelle, and the journey we’ve been on together.  I’ll be thinking about Sasha’s dance recitals and Malia’s tennis matches – about the conversations we’ve had and the quiet moments we’ve shared.  I’ll be thinking about whether I did right by them, and whether they knew, every day, just how much they were loved.
 
That’s what I think being a father is all about.  And if we can do our best to be a source of comfort and encouragement to our kids; if we can show them unconditional love and help them grow into the people they were meant to be; then we will have succeeded.
 
Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there, and have a great weekend."

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

GOP Weekly Address: Sen. Alexander on Preventing an Increase in Student Loan Interest

United States Senate(WASHINGTON) -- Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., calls on Senate Democrats in this week's Republican address to put politics aside and support a long-term fix to prevent an increase in student loan interest rates.

Here is the full text of the Republican Address delivered by Sen. Alexander:

"I’m United States Senator Lamar Alexander.
 
This is the season for high school graduations.  And more than two million of those graduating are going to college.
 
Both Republicans and Democrats agree that college is the surest ticket to the middle class and we want to help by making it simpler and smarter to get a student loan.
 
That’s why the Republican House of Representatives has passed, and President Obama and Senate Republicans agree, on the same idea: A permanent solution to all student loan interest rates before some automatically rise on July first.  The idea is to allow the market to set interest rates.
 
It’s fairer to students and fairer to taxpayers.
 
Now some Senate Democrats want a short-term political fix that will only benefit forty percent of new student loans, but they stand alone.
 
Between now and the end of the month, Senate Republicans will work hard with the President and with the House to produce an agreement that ensures all student borrowers benefit from today’s low interest rates.  That would mean that 100 percent of all new student loans made this year would have a rate below five percent.
 
We may be in agreement on student loans, but we have a major disagreement about who should be in charge of our 100,000 public schools that educate 50 million American children.
 
To put it simply, Democrats want a national school board; Republicans favor local control.
 
Over the last decade, the United States Department of Education has become so congested with federal mandates that it has actually become, in effect, a national school board.
 
If you remember the childhood game, ‘Mother, May I?’ then you have a pretty good sense of how the process works—states must come to Washington for approval of their plans to educate their students.
 
This congestion of mandates is caused by three things: No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top, and the administration’s use of waivers.  Together, they’ve imposed federal standards for what children must know in reading and math, they’ve coerced some states into adopting Common Core standards, and they’ve imposed federal definitions of how a state should measure school, teacher, and principal performance.
 
This week, Senate Democrats reported to the full Senate an eleven-hundred-and-fifty-page plan that would not only freeze these mandates into place, but double down, creating more than twenty-five new programs as well as more than 150 new reporting requirements.
 
Republicans voted to move in a different direction.  We offered a two-hundred-and-twenty-page plan to help children in public schools learn what they need to know and be able to do by restoring responsibility to states and communities, and giving teachers and parents freedom, flexibility, and choice.
 
We call it, ‘Every Child Ready for College or Career.’
 
Our plan emphasizes state and local decision-making.  It puts Washington out of the business of deciding whether local schools are succeeding or failing.  It rejects federal mandates that create a national school board, and prohibits the Education Secretary from prescribing standards or accountability systems for states.  It continues the requirement that states have high standards and quality tests, but doesn’t prescribe those standards.
 
Our proposal makes it easier for states to offer low-income parents more choice in finding the right public school for their child.  And it gives teachers and principals more freedom by encouraging the expansion and replication of successful charter schools.  It encourages states to create teacher and principal evaluation programs, free of federal mandates, and offers states flexibility in spending federal education dollars, while cutting waste.
 
This is not a proposal just for Republicans.  We believe this proposal represents the views and will attract the support of governors leading the charge for education reform, teachers who value the freedom to teach, parents who want more choices for their children, and state legislators who are working for better schools.
 
The Democratic proposal establishes a national school board.  What such a proposal really says is they don’t trust parents and they don’t trust classroom teachers and they don’t trust states to care about and help educate their children, and they want someone in Washington do it for them.
 
“We completely reject that.  Our proposal places responsibility for helping our children learn squarely where it ought to be —on states and communities, and it does that by giving teachers and parents more freedom, more flexibility and more choice.”

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

At Clinton Event, NJ Gov. Chris Christie Reaches Across Party Lines Again

Scott Olson/Getty Images(CHICAGO) -- Two political heavyweights shared center stage on Friday in Chicago as Bill Clinton and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie joined forces to headline the former president's two-day conference there.

"Now we're going to have a little fun," Clinton said in introducing Christie at the Clinton Global Initiative America event.

While Clinton started by joking about the two men's love of college basketball and heartbreak over the collapse of the Big East conference -- "Even as effective as you are and as I once was, we couldn't stop the Big East from dissolving," he quipped -- the tone of their conversation was far more serious, focused on Superstorm Sandy and Christie's leadership in the wake of the storm.

Christie said on a visit to the Jersey Shore last month he was struck by the emotional attachment that residents there have to the area.

"I can't tell you how many people just came up to me, grabbing at me, and saying, 'Thank you for giving us the shore back.' There's an emotional connection," Christie said. "I think as a leader you have to recognize that part of it -- that it's not just going to be a calculation that's arithmetic. It's an emotional connection. And you have to do things to try to give people that emotional connection to the place they grew up, where they took their children, and now those children are taking their children there."

In a disaster such as Sandy, he noted, people turn to government for help.

"When this kind of thing happens -- Republican, Independent, Democrat -- no matter who you are, what you are, you turn to government," he said.

Friday evening's appearance was only the latest in a string of bipartisan gestures by Christie, who opted to attend the Chicago event instead of the Faith & Freedom Coalition's conference in Washington, D.C.

In the aftermath of Sandy, Christie forged a relationship with President Obama -- highlighted by a late-May tour of the shore -- that alienated some of his fellow Republicans.

Christie should be praised, not blamed, for that, Clinton said.

"The enduring image most Americans have of you is standing there in your jacket grieving with your people, working with them, and working with the president -- and you got both praise and damnation for ignoring the political differences that you had then and still have with the president and all of us who are in the other party -- to do something that was really important," Clinton said.

It seemed that the two leaders from opposite sides of the political aisle could keep talking through the evening. When Clinton noted that he was being warned that Christie had to depart for the airport, Christie replied, "Ignore that."

Christie was not the only potential contender for the White House in 2016 appearing at the high-profile event, held at a hotel along the Chicago riverfront. On Thursday, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton kicked off the event, giving no clues about her own intentions for 2016 while delivering a half-hour speech focused on domestic policy.

Next year's CGI America event will take place in Denver, the organization announced Friday.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio