sunday (monday) mtp minute

Sometimes when you are moving a friend into their new apartment, you don't get a chance to watch mtp when it first airs and instead have to watch the online addition.

This was one of those times.

On this Sunday's edition of the show, Mr. Gregory hosted Secretary of Defense Gates and a political roundtable consisted of "Morning" Joe Scarborough, Harold Ford, Jr., Dee Dee Myers, and Mike "beardo" Murphy.

- Sec. Gates: I was impressed with the Secretary's ability to carefully articulate the president's vision for moving forward in Iraq and advancing the war in Afghanistan. The moves from the administration seem to indicate a real understanding of what scaling up the effort in Afghanistan means: Secretary Gates made no attempt to hide the fact that the fight there is going to be a long and arduous one. Its really good to hear realistic analysis and forthrightness coming from those making some of the most serious and consequential decisions at the highest levels. I am concerned, however, about developments occurring in Iraq that would make a responsible scale-down there less than feasible. If something were to occur there, it would set off a domino effect that would have ramifications on both foreign and domestic policy. As the domestic agenda, made clear through the president's release of his budget, relies heavily on economic savings derived from a scale down in the effort there, any change to the plan could necessitate some cuts in other avenues.

- Roundtable: Fairly standard, barely worth commenting on except for the fact that Mike Murphy was sporting a closely kempt beard.

David Gregory match rating: 7.5
Another solid interview with a big name, yet he let the panel descend into one too many shouting matches.