"Face the Nation" transcript: March 11, 2012
(CBS News) - Below is a rush transcript of "Face the Nation" on March 11, 2012, hosted by CBS News chief Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer. Guests are former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and President Obama senior campaign adviser Robert Gibbs. A roundtable with CBS News correspondents Norah O'Donnell and David Martin also joined the program
BOB SCHIEFFER: Today on FACE THE NATION, the Republican campaign goes South, and a terrible turn in the Afghanistan war. As tensions grow in Afghanistan in the wake of a Koran burnings, an American soldier apparently opened fire for no legitimate reason on Afghan civilians. We'll have the latest from Mandy Clark in Kabul.
Back home, the Republican campaign grinds on. Rick Santorum swept the Kansas caucuses, and Mitt Romney won in Wyoming, but there was no mistaking that the big battles were down South.
MITT ROMNEY: Good morning, y'all. Good to be with you. I got started right this morning with a biscuit and some cheesy grits. I'll tell ya. Delicious.
NEWT GINGRICH (Republican Presidential Candidate/Former House Speaker): It was the first time he'd ever tasted grits.
(Crowd cheering)
NEWT GINGRICH: I just wanted to reassure all of you that I have had some acquaintance in a variety of forms with-- with shrimp, with cheese, with gravy. I get it.
BOB SCHIEFFER: It was one of those you can't make it up weeks on the campaign trail. So where do things stand now? After winning Georgia, Newt Gingrich is still dancing, but can he or Santorum stop Romney? We'll ask him. Then, we'll talk to a top Obama campaign advisor Robert Gibbs. The latest on the campaign and Afghanistan with analysis from correspondents, Norah O'Donnell and David Martin.
This is FACE THE NATION.
ANNOUNCER: From CBS News in Washington FACE THE NATION with Bob Schieffer.
BOB SCHIEFFER: And good morning again. The overnight news from Afghanistan is sober. At least fifteen Afghans by some counts are dead, and more are wounded after an American soldier went on a shooting spree. It happened in Kandahar province just at a short distance from a U.S. Military base where villagers stood in silent shock this morning when officials collected bodies and tried to sort out what had happened. CBS News correspondent Mandy Clark is in Kabul this morning. Mandy, what have you been able to find out?
MANDY CLARK: Well, we understand the American soldier left his remote base in Kandahar province this morning around dawn. And he went house to house shooting villagers. According to an Afghan official, in one home, he killed eleven civilians including women and children. He has been detained and an investigation is ongoing.
BOB SCHIEFFER: Do we have any idea what prompted this?
MANDY CLARK: No. American officials have been asked what caused the attack to happen. There is no indication of what the motivation could be. And they haven't made any link to the victims and the soldiers, so it's very unclear why he went on this shooting rampage.
BOB SCHIEFFER: All right, Mandy Clark in Kabul. Mandy, thank you so much. Security correspondent David Martin is with us in the studio. David, can you add anything here?
DAVID MARTIN (CBS News National Security Correspondent): Well, as she said, the soldier is in custody so sooner or later presumably they will find out his motive. But the motive seems almost beside the point. The number one mission for U.S. troops in Afghanistan is to protect Afghan civilians and for an American soldier just to open fire on Afghan civilians just undercuts the mission of U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
BOB SCHIEFFER: David, thank you. You'll be back later and we'll be joined by our White House correspondent Norah O'Donnell who will have more on all this. But let's turn now to the campaign, and Newt Gingrich who is with us this morning in Birmingham. Mister Speaker, good morning. What would you do this--
NEWT GINGRICH (Republican Presidential Candidate/Former House Speaker): Good morning.
BOB SCHIEFFER: --morning if you were President?
NEWT GINGRICH: Well, I think you have to reassure the Afghan people that there will be transparency, that justice will be done. We're the opposite from al Qaeda and the Taliban. They kill civilians deliberately. We protect civilians and when a tragedy like this occurs, we have an absolute obligation to deal with it out in the open and to do so to ensure that justice is done and that they know how serious we are about protecting the innocent of-- of every background and every nationality.
BOB SCHIEFFER: You were pretty strong about the President's apology over the burning of the Koran. Well, what-- what can he say now? What should he say now?
NEWT GINGRICH: Well, look this-- this is a total different situation. With the burning of the Koran, they were killing young Americans. And no American President should apologize to people who're in the process of killing young Americans. This is a different situation. We obviously want to offer condolences to the families. We-- I think we want to offer compensation. We want to recognize this is a terrible event. And as I said, we-- we're in the business worldwide of protecting the innocent. Our enemies, the terrorists, are in the business worldwide of killing the innocent. And we need to make very clear that moral distinction. And then we have to live up to that distinction.
BOB SCHIEFFER: Is it time for us to leave Afghanistan, Mister Speaker?
NEWT GINGRICH: I think it is. I think that we have to reassess the entire region. I think the-- the revelations about Pakistan having hidden Bin Laden for seven years in a military city near their national defense university, and then hunting down not the people who were protecting Bin Laden, but hunting down the people who were helping America, I think the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and you look around the region, this is going to get much worse. It's why I've called for an American energy policy. We need to decide that we're going to produce our own oil and we're going to frankly be capable of surviving without having to define or dominate the region because I don't think we have the willpower or the capacity to do the things you have to do to fundamentally change the region.
BOB SCHIEFFER: You-- you say it is time to leave. Do you mean just let's leave. Let's start leaving right now. Not, go, wait around.
NEWT GINGRICH: I think we need to reconsider the whole re-- I think we need to reconsider the whole region. We need to understand that our being in the middle of countries like Afghanistan is probably counterproductive. We're not prepared to be ruthless enough to force them to change. And yet, we are clearly an alien presence. That was the real meaning of-- of the reaction to the Koran burning. I mean the fact is those Korans had been, in fact, defaced by Muslims who were prisoners. They had been abused by Muslims not by Americans. And yet, the instantaneous anti-foreigner sentiment is so deep that I think we need to recognize-- we're walking on eggshells in places like Afghanistan. And after twenty billion dollars in the last decade, it's pretty hard to argue that the Pakistanis are seriously our allies when they hide Bin Laden for seven years.
BOB SCHIEFFER: All right. Let's talk a little politics here. Last week you told us you had to win Georgia and you did win. But now it looks like you've got a little competition shaping up in Alabama and Mississippi. Are these must-win states for you, Mister Speaker?
NEWT GINGRICH: Well, they are the states I want to win. I think they are the states that we are going to do very well in. We're going to get a lot of delegates in both Mississippi and Alabama. And I think the odds are pretty good that we'll win them. We're campaigning in both Alabama and Mississippi today and tomorrow. We've had great reaction, great crowd response. And we have good organization in both states. You're always playing catch-up a little bit to Romney because of the scale of his money and how early he starts advertising. But the truth is we've caught up pretty dramatically. And I think we'll have a good day on Tuesday.
BOB SCHIEFFER: But--
NEWT GINGRICH: And I am committed-- I am committed to going all the way to Tampa. I've got, I mean part of this, Bob, is I have a hundred and seventy-five thousand people who donated to the campaign. Ninety-five percent of them have given under two hundred and fifty dollars. They want a visionary conservative in the Reagan tradition. And I think they deserve to have a voice and I'm doing everything I can, starting with our American energy policy and our proposal for two-fifty a gallon or less for gasoline--
BOB SCHIEFFER: Let me--
NEWT GINGRICH: --to outline the kind of future we'd like to have.
BOB SCHIEFFER: --let me just play for you something that John McCain, your Republican colleague said, he is a Romney man, of course. But he told me this week that the longer this campaign goes on, the more he worries about it. Here's what he said.
JOHN MCCAIN: So every day between now and November that is devoted to winning the primary is lost on winning the general election. And that I have to tell you it makes me very worried about our chances of winning in November.
BOB SCHIEFFER: Now, a group of conservatives, social conservatives, people like Tony Perkins, the family research council, and-- and others, said this week that you could be a king maker. That you ought to get out of this and throw your support to Santorum. What about that?
NEWT GINGRICH: Well, first of all, Senator McCain's memory is exactly backwards. It was Senator McCain who won the nomination early. It was Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton who fought all the way into mid June. It didn't seem to hurt Barack Obama to have a vigorous contest. He won the election, remember? So I think that Senator McCain has it backwards. Second, the same people who-- who have been for Santorum are for Santorum. I get it. But the fact is I have significant differences with Senator Santorum. And, you know, all conservatives aren't the same. As leader of the House, we balance the budget for four straight years. As a member of the Senate leadership team, Senator Santorum ran up a trillion-- seven hundred billion dollars in deficits and-- and had to raise the debt ceiling five times. I am for less regulation. I have called for repealing Sarbanes-Oxley which is really hurting American business. Senator Santorum helped pass it. On economic issues, I am much, much more conservative than Senator Santorum. But more importantly, on big long-term vision level things like an American energy plan, like a personal social security account for young Americans, like a-- a project on brain science of Alzheimer's and autism and Parkinson's and mental health. We're just-- we're-- we're different kind of people. I represent the Reagan tradition of very large ideas. He represents being a team player on a Washington team. This is not the same kind of conservatism.
BOB SCHIEFFER: Mister Speaker, we always appreciate you stopping by and answering the questions. Thank you so much. And I'm sure we're going to--
NEWT GINGRICH: (INDISTINCT).
BOB SCHIEFFER: --be talking to you further down the trail much by. Returning now to Robert Gibbs, who comes to us from a different side of the street? He of course is the former press secretary to the current President, Barack Obama. And he's one of the senior advisors in the campaign. Robert, how does all this look to you right now? How are the Obama people feeling about this?
ROBERT GIBBS (Obama Campaign Advisor): Well look, I tend to agree with what Republican pollster who does national polling for the Wall Street Journal said this week. This entire process for them has become corrosive. I think it's become destructive. I think, as you see them roll out tax plans that cut taxes for the wealthy and add trillions of dollars to our deficit, it drives independent voters away. So it's a fascinating process to watch.
BOB SCHIEFFER: You're also from Alabama. I noticed Governor Romney was trying to get in good with the folks down there in Alabama talking about the y'all and all that kind of thing.
ROBERT GIBBS: Bob, I would normally give advice to Republicans particularly Mitt Romney, but-- but as a Southerner, I would tell him that kind of stuff doesn't really go over well in Deep South. I will tell him this. He-- he might not have heard this. But if somebody says they love the SEC, it's not the investigative body that looks into offshore Cayman Bank Accounts. In fact, it's the world's greatest college football conference. So, I hope he'll sort of go with the flow if he's-- if he's down there.
BOB SCHIEFFER: So where do you see this campaign going now? Do you think it's still going to be about the economy and is it still going to be a referendum on President Obama or it's more than that?
ROBERT GIBBS: Well, I do think that the biggest issues are going to be economic issues. I think you-- you saw a-- a good economic jobs report on Friday. We took another important step in a long road to recovery. And-- and we've got a long ways to go. But we've created 3.9 million private sector jobs in twenty-four consecutive months of adding jobs to this economy. And that is tremendously important. I don't think it's going to be a referendum. I think it's going to be a choice, Bob. We're going to have a choice in this election about whether we're going to continue positive job growth or we're going to go back to the policies of cutting taxes for the wealthy and ignoring the middle class. Many of the issues and policies that got us into the mess we're trying to dig out from right now.
BOB SCHIEFFER: The President hadn't had much to say about the Republicans so far. It's almost, I mean, there was that cover on the New Yorker where he was sort of sitting back eating popcorn while they were fighting as if they were on a football field or something. Do you expect him to become more engaged in this campaign or is he going to let them just fight amongst themselves?
ROBERT GIBBS: Well, look, until we have a Republican nominee, I anticipate that the President will continue to do what he's been focused on since he got into office. And that is how do we strengthen this economy and put more and more people back to work? I-- I think he'll-- he'll watch and-- and it's clear that this Republican race is-- is going to go on for quite some time. Not a matter of weeks but likely a matter of months.
BOB SCHIEFFER: Do you think it will be Mitt Romney? Do you think that's inevitable or do you think Gingrich or Santorum might wind up with the nomination?
ROBERT GIBBS: Look, I-- I think yesterday was instructive. You know, a state like Kansas, when you've the support of somebody like Bob Dole, but you don't do that well in Kansas, you get about twenty-one, twenty-two percent of vote like Mitt Romney does. I think it shows you've got some-- some real problems on the road to this nomination. So I think anything is still highly possible.
BOB SCHIEFFER: Do you think it might actually go to the Republican convention? Do you think they might actually get there? I mean, I've been looking at these numbers. Romney keeps saying that it is inevitable, that there's no way that the other guys can get the nomination, get enough delegates before they get to the convention. But the way it looks to me, it may be difficult for Mitt Romney--
ROBERT GIBBS: Well.
BOB SCHIEFFER: --to get the number of delegates before they get to the convention.
ROBERT GIBBS: Bob, I think you hit on it. They did a call this week to say the other two wouldn't get the majority that they needed but they certainly stopped short of saying that they would have that majority before they got to the convention. I don't know. I think probably anything is possible. But I know if you look at what these candidates have been saying, tearing each other apart with negative ads, it is a process that in many ways has torn each of them down, and I think has weakened them for a fall election.
BOB SCHIEFFER: Let me ask you a little bit about this situation in Afghanistan. Obviously, you're not in the White House now, but you're in very close contact with people there. What-- what happens here? What's the President to do?
ROBERT GIBBS: Well, look, I think obviously this is a deeply regrettable incident. Any civilian loss of life, and as-- as your correspondent David Martin said, our primary mission over there is to protect Afghan civilians from the destructive nature of the Taliban. So-- again this is a deeply regrettable incident. I know that the coalition forces over there are-- are in the midst of an investigation. And our job is to do as much as we can to train the Afghans, to secure and protect their own country. And to continue the transition of giving them that responsibility so that we can bring our men and women home.
BOB SCHIEFFER: Robert Gibbs, always a pleasure to have you.
ROBERT GIBBS: Thank you.
BOB SCHIEFFER: And I'll be back in one minute with some analysis from Norah O'Donnell and David Martin.
NORAH O'DONNELL: What would like to say to Mister Romney?
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Good luck tonight.
MAN: Oh, really?
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Really.
MITT ROMNEY: Do you think that was an endorsement? I hope so.
(ANNOUNCEMENTS)
BOB SCHIEFFER: Back now with more on that shooting in Afghanistan with our chief White House correspondent Norah O'Donnell and national security correspondent David Martin. What's the latest over at the White House, Norah?
NORAH O'DONNELL (CBS News Chief White House Correspondent): Well, President Obama has been briefed about this U.S. soldier who opened fire on Afghan civilians. And, Bob, this could not come at a more sensitive time. President Obama was just speaking with President Karzai on Thursday in a video teleconference. They're in the midst of negotiating a broader strategic agreement to help transition U.S. forces out of Afghanistan from a combat role to a training role. In May, there's going to be a huge NATO summit in Chicago, where this is the discussion. How do we pull more forces and accelerate the transition? And so this really is going to be a huge story, I think this coming week for this President and our situation in Afghanistan.
BOB SCHIEFFER: You just heard Newt Gingrich say it's time to leave. That this-- this just didn't work. David, I know you left to go make a few more calls. Did you turn up anything more?
DAVID MARTIN: Well, you know, the commander in Afghanistan, General John Allen is in Washington this week because he's testifying on Capitol Hill. And I wouldn't be surprised if it was General Allen himself who briefed the President on this incident. This-- they-- they recognize this as an incident as serious as that burning of the Koran.
BOB SCHIEFFER: David, let me ask you this question. How could a lone U.S. soldier with his weapon walk out the gate, which is guarded of-- of his base and walk out into the community. I mean people don't go anywhere alone in Afghanistan.
DAVID MARTIN: Well, it's happened once before. An American soldier walked off his base. And he's been a hostage ever since. How this guy managed to do it particularly after whatever mistakes they learned had been made when that first soldier walked off, I can't tell you.
NORAH O'DONNELL: But this is now a concern about the safety of our soldiers that are over there in Afghanistan. After the Koran burning, some of our soldiers were killed. Others were shot pointblank in the back of their head. So they are really concerned that-- that Afghans will want to retaliate. This inflamed things that are already going in Afghanistan. And, Bob, already after the Koran burning you heard some Democrats on Capitol Hill saying it's time to get out more quickly of Afghanistan. I bet we'll see more of that this week from Democrats who say, why are we in Afghanistan? It's time to leave. And it's just coming at this time when this discussion is underway about pulling forces out.
BOB SCHIEFFER: And with the people like Newt Gingrich joining in. You already have Ron Paul who-- who says we had no business there in the first place. But now the Gingrich was pretty strong today. I mean, it was almost like he said, you know, we made a mistake here. And there's not much else to be said about it. It's time to kind of pick up our stuff and leave.
NORAH O'DONNELL: Well, it just goes to show you in a presidential election, I mean, this was a good news week for President Obama because of the jobs numbers and then foreign policy enters into the debate. This is going to be a difficult thing for President Obama to manage, and the Republicans will have to talk about how they would do things differently and explain how they would position our forces in the coming year in Afghanistan.
BOB SCHIEFFER: Isn't it-- isn't that the truth though, David? I mean, it always we never seem to talk about foreign policy very much in-- in presidential campaigns. And then, you know, all of a sudden--
DAVID MARTIN: Yeah.
BOB SCHIEFFER: --the presidency becomes all about-- all about foreign policy.
DAVID MARTIN: Well, if you look at the last several months, look what's happened to our policy in Afghanistan. First, we had that cross-border incident with the Pakistanis in which American aircraft shot up at Pakistani hot-- border post and killed twenty-five Pakistani soldiers. Relations with Pakistan still haven't recovered. The supply routes through Pakistan are still closed. Then you have the burning of the Koran which forces the commander in Afghanistan to pull all of his-- his advisors out of the Afghan ministries for fear of retaliation. They're still not all back in the ministries. And now you have this which is obviously going to be another setback. War is a huge undertaking. It can-- it can withstand a number of mistakes. But when they start to pile up and accumulate in an atmosphere of war weariness.
NORAH O'DONNELL: And I think it doesn't change what are the fundamental, you know, basics of this which is that this administration has already decided to accelerate the transition. Secretary Panetta told a group of Pentagon reporters that we were going to be transitioning out of a combat role probably by the end of this year. So we'll be down to sixty-eight thousand troops in Afghanistan this summer. I think he could see a significant drawdown after the fighting season. And that's going to be part of this debate-- this presidential debate about bringing U.S. troops home and out of Afghanistan.
BOB SCHIEFFER: In an-- in an odd kind of way, I wonder if this doesn't sort of help the President speed up that, because I think you are going to have more people like Newt Gingrich, for example, who say, wait, this-- we-- we just got to get ourselves extricated from this thing.
NORAH O'DONNELL: Well, I think politically it will be difficult for those Republicans that argue to stay in Afghanistan to make that argument given these current situations certainly.
BOB SCHIEFFER: All right, well I want to thank both of you this morning for bringing us some insight into this awf-- awful, awful development. I'll be back in a moment with some lighter thoughts, in a minute.
(ANNOUNCEMENTS)
BOB SCHIEFFER: Finally today you knew this campaign had gone south when Mitt Romney offered an ode to grits, but it just reminded me of how dangerous it can be for a candidate when local food becomes the topic. Like in 2004, when John Kerry went to Philadelphia and ordered the local favorite cheese steaks, then asked for it with Swiss cheese, not good, sort of like asking for mayonnaise on corn beef in New York. Or when Republican candidate Gary Bauer got in a pancake flipping contest in New Hampshire, and like an outfielder misjudging a fly ball fell off the stage. So as the campaign moves across the south toward Texas, my home territory, here as a public service are some tips for all the candidates. First, they may call them cheesy grits in Mississippi, as Governor Romney referred to them. But in Texas, they are called cheese grits like cheese burgers. Nobody says cheesy burgers. Same with grits. Second, Texans love Mexican food. And someone is bound to offer you candidates a tamale. They're great. But remember they are wrapped in a corn husk. It's called a shuck. You take it off before you take a bite. During the '76 Campaign, someone gave President Ford a tamale right in front of the Alamo. He didn't know about the shuck and took a big bite, shuck and all. Nearly choked. No one remembered anything else about the day. So just remember candidates, shuck the tamale, then eat it. You're going to really like tamales. Back in a minute.
(ANNOUNCEMENTS)
BOB SCHIEFFER: Well, that's it for us today. Thank you for being with us this morning. We'll be here the same place, same back channel next week on FACE THE NATION. See you then.
ANNOUNCER: This broadcast was produced by CBS News which is solely responsible for the selection of today's guests and topics. It originated