All Blog Posts from Political Hotsheet

"It sounded like President Obama was making the case that in fact war is very good for many things," CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller said of the president's Nobel Prize speech on "Washington Unplugged" Thursday. "That sometimes in order to get peace, you have to go to war."

It was obvious that the president was "aware of the apparent incongruity" of a war president receiving the peace prize, Knoller continued. "He did not back away from it. He defended it."

Republican strategist Matt Mackowiak, meanwhile, said while it was impressive to see a sitting U.S. President receive the prestigious award, he found the speech to be "unfocused" and "incoherent."

"It was given from a position of defensiveness," Mackowiak said. Watch the full program above.

"Washington Unplugged" appears live on CBSNews.com each weekday at 12:30 p.m. ET. Click here to check out previous episodes.

Wednesday's "Washington Unplugged" featured a discussion of the so-called "Climategate" scandal and its potential impact on the Climate Change conference now taking place in Copenhagen.

One of the stolen emails at the root of "Climategate" shows that Phil Jones, director of the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia in England was attempting to cover the fact that tree ring data has actually showed a cooling trend since 1960.

These leaked emails have critics up in arms, among them Rep. John Linder (R-Ga.). He spoke with CBS News Correspondent Wyatt Andrews on Wednesday's Washington Unplugged. "It shows that they're hiding data," he said. "It shows that they're suppressing opposition. They're fudging data."

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CBS News National Security Correspondent David Martin said on "Washington Unplugged" Tuesday that General Stanley McChrystal should be able to make some progress against in Afghanistan thanks to the addition of new troops.

"I certainly think that that infusion of troops will allow us them to reverse the momentum of the Taliban in parts of the country at least," Martin said. He said that was especially true in Helman province, where the initial batch of troops will go as early as next week.

"The question is not can you go in and stomp the Talian," said Martin. "The question is can you go in and convince the local population that the Taliban is going to stay stomped after you leave."

Dickerson asked if the number of troops McChrystal will get from the surge will be enough to accomplish his goals.

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On "Washington Unplugged" Friday, Politico's Patrick Gavin and Anne Schroeder discussed the saga of Tareq and Michaele Salahi, the White House "party crashers" whose unauthorized attendance at the Obama administration's first state dinner has prompted a Congressional inquiry, soul searching by the Secret Service, and a torrent of media coverage.

The couple declined to testify before Congress this week, but it now appears they are going to be subpoenaed and forced to appear as part of an investigation into how they were able to gain entry to the dinner.

"I think the lesson here is, when Congress wants to talk to you, you have to have to go eventually," said Schroeder.

Host Bob Schieffer, who believes the Salahis should be prosecuted, said that "for these people to cheapen something like that, I think it's a very serious offense." He asked Gavin if the story is going to die down.

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On CBSNews.com's "Washington Unplugged" Thursday, House Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) had this to say about President Obama's jobs summit: "I know this job summit is happening at the White House. There have been plenty of summits before. I am just hoping this is a little bit more than a photo-op."

He added that Democrats have focused too much on policies such as the stimulus, cap and trade and the card check bill, which Republicans argue are bad for the economy.

Following the broadcast, DNC National Press Secretary Hari Sevugan emailed a response to Cantor's comments.

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Republican Whip Eric Cantor, who introduced his own jobs initiative Wednesday, said he "hopes" the jobs summit hosted by the White House Thursday is more than simply a photo opportunity on "Washington Unplugged" Thursday.

With the backdrop of a 23-year high in the unemployment rate, Cantor told moderator Nancy Cordes, "I know this job summit is happening at the White House. There have been plenty of summits before. I am just hoping this is a little bit more than a photo-op."

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The New York Times' David Sanger and CBS News Chief Political Consultant Marc Ambinder said on "Washington Unplugged" Wednesday that even as emphasis is placed on President Obama's deadline for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan starting in the summer of 2011, there has been little discussion of the fact that the transition and withdrawal will like be very slow.

"There is certainly reason to skeptical about the ability to do the job in the timeframe he has described," Sanger told moderator Bill Plante. "On The Hill this morning the most interesting thing [Secretaries Gates and Clinton] were saying was, 'well the transition just begins in 2011.' But no one would say how long it would take and what at what pace."

"It could be years," Ambinder and Plante both noted.

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CBS News National Security Correspondent David Martin cautioned that President Obama's troop increase in Afghanistan may take longer than it did in Iraq on "Washington Unplugged" Tuesday.

"In contrast to the surge in Iraq, where everything happened in five months, Afghanistan is such an undeveloped country that you can't just fly troops in. You've got to build bases for them," Martin told moderator Bob Orr.

Senior administration officials said Tuesday afternoon that President Obama chose a strategy that would get troops into Afghanistan as quickly as possible. They said they expected full deployment by next summer.

CBSNews.com Special Report: Afghanistan

This morning on CBS News’ The Early Show, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan is not about "nation building."

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While the Secret Service has taken responsibility for the high-profile White House security breach, Washington insiders are beginning to suggest that the White House Social Office is partially responsible for allowing gatecrashers at President Obama's state dinner last week.

On "Washington Unplugged" today, Amy Argetsinger of the Washington Post told CBS News correspondent John Dickerson that there should have been a member of White House Social Office assisting the Secret Service at the initial security checkpoint.

The Social Office staff "are the people who are familiar with who is supposed to be on the guest list and who isn't; the names, the faces the backgrounds of people," she said. "And if there is some kind of glitch with a VIP, perhaps it shouldn't be a young guard at the front who is having to deal with an irate VIP who doesn't understand why they are not being let in right away. That is something that should be up to the Social Office to smooth over, and act sort of like an auxiliary gate-keeper."

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In a beautiful tent on the White House's South Lawn, celebrities, politicians and journalists toasted Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during the Obama White House's first State Dinner.
CBS News' Nancy Cordes and Politico's Anne Schroeder Mullins and Patrick Gavin lamented that their invitations were "lost in the mail" but had plenty to say on "Washington Unplugged" on Wednesday.

The Obamas wanted "a larger than usual State Dinner," Gavin said. "President Bush held the one in 2005 indoors which limits you to about 150 guests or so but he wanted 320 guests or so which is why they had to construct that huge pavilion on the South Lawn. So the first thing we realize is most likely State Dinners going forward, depending on the delegation of the visiting country, will probably be on the South Lawn in a tent."

Photos: White House Arrivals
Photos: Scenes from the State Dinner

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