MSNBC "Hardball with Chris Matthews" - Transcript: Republicans Meeting With Netanyahu

Interview

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MATTHEWS: I`m joined right now by U.S. Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn of
Tennessee and U.S. Congressman Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri. I want to
start with the congresswoman. What did you make of the speech? I was
listening. I though it was very well prepared, an excellent speech, a lot
of warm-up there, a lot of charm in the beginning. But I still wanted to
know what was his plan for dealing with Iran. I don`t -- I didn`t hear it.
Did you hear it?

REP. MARSHA BLACKBURN (R), TENNESSEE: Yes, I -- I heard him move forward
with that. It was a confident speech. And as you said, he was very
gracious and thankful to the U.S. for our friendship and the support that
is there.

He pointed out three things that need to be done. We need to stop the
aggression in the Middle East. We need to stop the threat of terrorism
worldwide. And he pointed out that we need to stop the threats against
Israel.

What he did point out was that the deal that is there that would come to an
end 10 years down the road and then they have the opportunity to be from
under that and continue with their nuclear proliferation -- that that is a
bad deal for us. And you know what? He`s right about that.

MATTHEWS: OK, let me go to Congressman Cleaver. What -- did you hear
Bibi`s Netanyahu`s plan for ending Iranians` nuclear -- Iran`s nuclear
threat? I didn`t hear it.

REP. EMANUEL CLEAVER (D), MISSOURI: No, I didn`t hear it. It was a very
good speech, but telling us the things that we need to stop is not a plan,
it`s a statement. And it`s a good statement and I like the statement, but
it`s not a plan.

And I think that this -- I was trying to find out before we went on the air
who invented the eraser because this entire date (ph) needs to be erased.
This was a bad idea. All it did was played into the political tribalism
that is just destroying this place and this government.

MATTHEWS: Well, Senator Dianne Feinstein called the speech a powerful
speech. I agree it was a powerful speech and was smartly put together.
But she said he failed to answer the central question. Here`s Dianne
Feinstein. Let`s watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D), CALIFORNIA: Where it was weak is how to
actually solve the problem, how to actually prevent Iran from achieving a
nuclear weapon. And right now, this is the only game in town. And the
prime minister really didn`t come up with any solutions. He made a
profound, passionate speech against any agreement. But this isn`t just the
United States in this. This is all of the big powers. What if the big
powers agree and the United States doesn`t?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEWS: Let me ask you again about the options. What do you think our
options are, Congresswoman, in dealing with Iran? If you could list one or
two or three, what are they? What are our choices here?

BLACKBURN: Well, we do have the choice, as you had said or was said
earlier by the president, sanctions. That is one thing. But then the
other thing is to just tell them, No, we are not going to allow you.
You`ve got to open up and let the IAEA come in and do these inspections.
You can`t pull things off line. You cannot continue to build plants with
nuclear processing and enriching uranium and just not let them move forward
to do that.

This is so interesting to me that there are some that would begrudge Bibi
Netanyahu coming here and talking to his closest, longest ally and saying,
This is why -- I`m pointing out this is why you do not want the deal. And
I think it is wrong of some to say...

MATTHEWS: Yes.

BLACKBURN: ... we expect him to micromanage U.S. policy. I would hope
that we have those at the Pentagon and at the State Department who are
being more thoughtful in their approach of this.

MATTHEWS: Can you name another time in American history where we`ve
invited someone into the U.S. Congress chamber to criticize a president`s
foreign policy? I can`t think of one -- to criticize a president`s foreign
policy and offer an alternative. I`ve never heard of that done before,
have you?

BLACKBURN: I think that it was appropriate that he come here. I thought
he was gracious to the president...

MATTHEWS: Has it ever been done before?

BLACKBURN: ... and I don`t know...

MATTHEWS: Why now? Why do we break a tradition? Why do we do something,
all of a sudden, for the first time in history, let somebody from a foreign
government come into our governing chamber and tell us the president`s
wrong?

BLACKBURN: Well, Chris -- Chris, look at what is transpiring here. If
they go ahead with the deal with Iran that is going to let them 10 years
down the road have access to enriched uranium and be so close to building a
bomb and have nuclear weapons -- my goodness, look at what you`re doing!
Ten years is a very short period of time.

And I think, rather than trying to dictate policy, what he was doing is
saying, This is a warning, and I hope you do not do this, and these are
some considerations that I think that you ought to make, and we in Israel
plan to make certain that we stand against our enemies. And I thought it
was very well done and that he highlighted many of the concerns that our
constituents share.

MATTHEWS: Congressman, I want to talk to you about politics because we all
know that Bibi Netanyahu, whatever you think of him -- and I think he`s a
strong guy -- is a man of the right wing, right-wing Israeli politics. He
supported the war in Iraq. He pushed us to go into war, publicly so. No
one seriously believes he supports a two-state solution because he keeps
raising the bar. He says, Well, I want the Arab states not only to
recognize Israel but they now have to sign on and say it should be a Jewish
state. I mean, he keeps raising the bar. No one thinks he wants a two-
state solution.

It seems to me that he doesn`t agree with the president fundamentally, all
across the board, on all kinds of policies. And to bring him into that
chamber and say, Here`s your chance to blow the bugle against the
president`s foreign policy, was unprecedented by Mr. Boehner to do so.

CLEAVER: Well, you asked a question earlier that I`ve been asking all day.
We can find no instance in the history of the United States -- we`ve gone
through wars after wars, after the dropping of the atomic bomb at
Hiroshima, Nagasaki. We don`t have any precedent for what happened today.

I supported Israel all of my adult life, and most of the people here in the
Capitol do, as well, but what happened here today was bringing a foreign
leader into the U.S. Capitol to contradict whatever our president was
doing. And the truth is, we don`t know what is being developed in that
agreement. That`s one thing we don`t know for sure.

MATTHEWS: That`s true.

CLEAVER: And so we`re having a lot of discussion about something that we
don`t know anything about. And the parts that may be most difficult I
don`t think we should know about right now. This is a very delicate kind
of negotiations. And I think that the American people deserve to hear from
the president, and there are people who can stand up and say the things
that Prime Minister Netanyahu said. It would sound much better coming from
John Boehner than coming from somebody from a foreign government.

MATTHEWS: Let me go to Congresswoman Blackburn just to finish up. What
did you make of the decision by your speaker, the Speaker of the House,
today to go ahead with a clean bill on Department of Homeland Security and
to drop the effort to kill the president`s executive orders on immigration?

BLACKBURN: Well, I didn`t agree with it. I have led the effort to block
that executive amnesty, passed a bill back in August, and then the
amendment that was on the DHS funding bill that would block it. And what
we need to do is stop this. Even I`ve got Kenser Polinkas (ph), who heads
up the USCIS service union, has said -- has pointed out how dangerous this
is. And the fact that they are not vetting these individuals that are
seeking to come in here, into the country -- this is something that is a
very dangerous, dangerous move...

MATTHEWS: OK...

BLACKBURN: ... and I voted against that today. I didn`t think it was the
right move. I`d rather the Senate Democrats do their job, stop blocking
these bills from going to the floor. And I hope that Leader McConnell will
go to the nuclear option and move these things to the floor...

MATTHEWS: OK...

BLACKBURN: ... get them to the floor, have the debate...

MATTHEWS: OK...

BLACKBURN: ... have it in a transparent fashion...

MATTHEWS: OK...

BLACKBURN: ... so that the American people can say these people are for
it, these people are against it. They called the vote, and this is how
they voted. They need to stop hiding out and trying to avoid...

MATTHEWS: OK...

BLACKBURN: ... taking a vote on tough issues!

MATTHEWS: Thank you so much, U.S. Congresswoman...

BLACKBURN: Thank you.

MATTHEWS: ... Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and U.S. Congressman Emanuel
Cleaver of Missouri. Thank you both for coming on.

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