- Welcome back.
Time now for our panel.
Joining us today, CBNChief Political Analyst,
David Brody, and veteran andaward-winning journalist,
Ray Suarez, former seniorPBS NewsHour correspondent
and current host of WorldAffairs.
Gentlemen, thank you for being here.
- Thank you, John.- Great to be here.
- Let's start off with a new poll showing
front-runner Joe Biden inpotential trouble in Iowa.
Joe Biden has 18%, ElizabethWarren nipping at his heels
at 17%, and South Bend,Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg
surging ahead at 13%.
Ray, David, I'd love to getyou both to comment on this,
but what are we to make of these numbers?
Ray, starting with you.
- Well look, it's stillmonths before people
wander through the snowto school gymnasiums
and other places to caucuswith their neighbors.
In a field this big,it's not just politics,
it's mathematics.
It's gonna be fluid.
You can win with 18 to20, 22% of the vote.
You can win the first several primaries
with results that bad.
So it's interesting, themovement, who's up, who's down,
who's shaving points, who's adding them,
but it doesn't tell you anythingdeterminative about Iowa.
- And Biden is down six, andElizabeth Warren's up four
in Iowa overall.
Buttigieg in third place, that'sa nice place for him to be
because he needs to be inthat three or four spot
coming out of Iowa.
- Bernie Sanders justrecovering from a heart attack,
Congressman Ro Khanna,who we had on earlier,
he says his candidate is back.
Ray, what do you think?
Are we seeing the revivalof Bernie Sanders?
- Well, he looked prettysolid when he did his rally
in Queens the other day.
Huge crowd there,
an endorsement fromAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
You know, if he says,unless there's good evidence
to the contrary, if he says he's okay,
we have to take him at face value.
It's hard to run forpresident, I mean physically.
It's hard to be president.
So it's reasonable to ask if he's better.
- A quick 10 seconds onthat, can I just say?
Everybody made a big deal ofthe crowd, 26,000 in New York.
Okay, hold on.
Ray, you're from New York, correct?
It's a liberal town, twoultra-liberals speaking,
and they're giving liberal orthodoxy.
So I mean, we would expect 26,000 people
in liberal New York Cityto hear liberals speak.
I mean, it kinda makes sense.
- Perhaps even more.- Good point.
- Well, the White Housestill playing cleanup
after a rough week last week,
including the acting chief of staff slip,
mounting pressure on Syria,and the G7 reversal on Doral.
David, are we beginning tosee the GOP, some of the GOP
break with the administration?
- I think that's a little overblown.
I know there was a big storyin the Washington Post today.
Look, Lindsey Graham had some tough words,
but Lindsey Graham, youknow, that's significant,
don't get me wrong, butthen if you look deeper
into the article, they'retalking about a House member
or two that might be off the reservation.
I think it bears watching.
I'm not sure if it's actuallythis big deal at this point.
It does bear watching, though.
- So, Beto O'Rourke, he saidthat he would like to see
churches lose their tax-exempt status
if they don't support same-sex marriage.
Today, Housing and UrbanDevelopment Secretary
Ben Carson, he weighed inon church and state matters
during a prayer at a cabinet meeting.
We have sound of that.
Let's listen to that, andwe'll get your reaction.
- [Ben] Help us all torecognize as a nation
that separation of church and state
means that the church doesnot dominate the state,
and it means the state doesnot dominate the church.
It doesn't mean that they cannot--
- Ray, this could become a 2020 issue.
- And it sure could, andmaybe all the other candidates
should mug Beto O'Rourke ontheir way out of a debate
one day, because after 20 years of saying,
"We're not gonna mess withyour interior operations,"
and 20 years of saying, "We'renot coming for your guns,
"and we're not gonna bother the churches,"
O'Rourke is overturningall those orthodoxies.
He's just one candidate pollingat 3%, but it's a problem.
- Yeah, and Beto's gonna takeyour guns, too, by the way,
while you're at church, so there you go.
So yeah, he's been adisaster for the Democrats
having to answer this.
Elizabeth Warren answeredit in Abby's piece,
saying she does not agreewith Beto O'Rourke on this.
Good move if you're gonna run
in the general election, for sure.
- All right, David and Ray,thank you both very much.
- Good to see you.
