Washington Week

Each week, the country's top reporters join moderator Gwen Ifill for an in-depth discussion of the week's top news from Washington and around the world. The longest-running news and public affairs program on PBS, "Washington Week and National Journal" features journalists -- not pundits -- lending insight and perspective to the week's important news stories. Now, Ifill brings "Washington Week" online.

Ifill will be online Thursday, June 28, at Noon ET to take questions and comments.

Ifill is moderator and managing editor of "Washington Week" and senior correspondent for "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer." Ifill spent several years as a "Washington Week" panelist before taking over the moderator's chair in October 1999. Before coming to PBS, she spent five years at NBC News as chief congressional and political correspondent. Her reports appeared on "NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw," "Today," "Meet the Press" and MSNBC. Ifill joined NBC News from The New York Times where she covered the White House and politics. She also covered national and local affairs for The Washington Post, Baltimore Evening Sun, and Boston Herald American.

" Washington Week with Gwen Ifill and National Journal," airs on WETA/Channel 26, Fridays at 8 p.m. and Saturdays at 6:30 p.m. ( check local listings).

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Arizona: Hi Gwen -

Great story on the NewsHour regarding the Washington Post series on Cheney. Do you think that series set in motion anything that will affect Cheney's noncompliance with an executive order? Or has the new development with the supoena of the White House docs caused the administration to close ranks against outsiders? It feels like checks and balances are going out the window in lieu of executive power. Very distressing & frustrating.

Gwen Ifill: Hello everyone. Happy to be back.

I read every word of the Washington Post series, and learned a great deal. It has been very tough for reporters to peel away the layers of self-protection that encase this White House, but I think Barton Gellman and Jo Becker did as good a job as can be done.

Having read all that, it should probably have surprised no one that the White House would resist the Senate subpoenas. In fact, I bet Sen. Leahy would have been shocked if the White House had meekly complied. Now THAT would have been a change of course.

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Boston, Mass.: How would the front running Republican presidential candidates tack if/when Bush changes course in Iraq and reduces troop levels? They've all been fairly pro-war, pro-Bush on Iraq. Will they all fall in line behind the president?

Gwen Ifill: I don't know where the candidates would head, but it has been interesting to watch Senators like Lugar, Voinovich and possibly Warner start to steer away from the White House on Iraq.

As Democrats have discovered, it is a lot tougher to change course on issues on which you have had to cast a vote, than on issues on which you were able to watch from the sidelines.

That makes the next few months tougher for, say, John McCain, than for Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney.

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Ex-Washingtonian who lived inside the Beltway during Watergate: Do you see many parallels between Republicans starting to turn against Bush now, and what occurred in the latter months of Nixon's administration?

Gwen Ifill: Not yet.

I am also not willing to easily make the Iraq-to-Vietnam, Bush-to-Nixon comparisons.

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Rochester, N.Y.: Thanks for doing this chat, Ms. Ifill.

Has the Washington Post's excellent series of reports on Dick Cheney changed the consensus about this administration? Will we see more support from the media for Congressional investigations into wiretapping and the DOJ scandal? It seems to me that given how much secrecy Cheney has operated under that many who had previously opposed other investigations might think a little more sunlight is necessary elsewhere as well. Is this the case?

Gwen Ifill: Consensus takes a while to build, in Washington and elsewhere. Unlike, say, the Walter Reed series -- which had names and faces and stories of heroism -- the story about Cheney may strike many as more of an inside game.

I am not downplaying their significance. I just think stories that are easily translatable to television stand a better chance of changing minds on a broad scale. We have not seen that with the Cheney series so far. (How many pictures of closed doors can you show in a television piece, anyway?)

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Pittsburgh, Pa.: As a lifelong Democrat I'm naturally hoping that a Democrat is elected president next time. But I'm worried about how badly hamstrung s/he could be by a Supreme Court that's splitting conservative 5-4 on so many cases. What's your opinion of this prospect?

Gwen Ifill: If this week's Supreme Court's decisions proved anything, it was that elections do matter. It is not an accident that the President's last two appointments -- Justices Roberts and Alito -- played a huge role in the outcomes.

As far as I could tell, however, the future-of-the-Supreme-Court argument did not seem to work for the Democrats in 2004 -- even after the way the 2000 election played out.

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Bush/Clinton/Bush/Clinton: Gwen: I think this will be a major problem for Hillary Clinton in this race. Why should we allow two families to control the Presidency in this way? Yes, the same argument could be (and was) made against George W. Bush, but in Hillary's case, it's compounded by the fact that her husband, the former President, would return to the White House and certainly a position of great influence. While not exactly a violation of the Constitution, it seems like an end run. What are your thoughts on this?

Gwen Ifill: I keep hearing this theory being bruited about, but I have not seen any evidence that it's true. If I'm missing a poll that asked this question, please alert me.

But will we really know the answer before people are actually given the chance to vote with their feet next year?

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Washington, D.C.: Re: the Edwards/Coulter confrontation. Do political pundits like Coulter, etc. ever frustrate you and other journalists? These people get a lot of airtime because they are entertaining but do little to raise the level of discourse. I suppose political static like this will always exist, just like we'll always follow the life of crazy starlets. Yet what could the media industry do to promote a better discourse?

Gwen Ifill: Yes they frustrate me. I cannot begin to tell you how much.

And, yes, we who control access to newsprint airwaves do have to give more than passing thought to how to cover these phony debates.

I can only speak for our work at the NewsHour and Washington Week. We are not coverng it. If it rises to a level where it demands analysis, we will revisit.

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Philadelphia, Pa.: Gwen... three years ago today was the historic day that Bremer handed Iraq back to the Iraqis. Do you remember that? Rice announced the event to Bush in a note saying "Iraq is sovereign" and Bush answered "Let freedom reign." Will the Iraqis be celebrating w/ fireworks? Will Bush be commemorating this milestone in democracy?

Gwen Ifill: How could I doubt the sincerity of your inquiry?

I will respond in kind.

Consulting my daybook here, I see no fireworks on the White House schedule. The Secretary of State held a bilateral meeting this morning with the South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

That is all I have for you.

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USSC: From what I hear, the next president's first decision, whether Republican, Democrat, or Broder-Bloomberg '08, will be replacing Stevens and Ginsberg.

Gwen Ifill: What a remarkable and speedy Constitutional amendment that would require...stripping justices of their lifetime appointments!

And, has anyone alerted Mr. Broder to his imminent career change?

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Arizona: Regarding the resistance to give over White House docs - what happens next? If Congress goes forward to the next step - and if that procedure takes longer than this admin will be in the White House - does everything stop? Can this course of inquirey still be persued after the elections?

Gwen Ifill: A couple of options.

I'm not a lawyer, but this is my understanding, courtesy of the Associated Press....

The two sides could find a middle ground. This is essentially what has happened in these types of disputes before.

The Senate could cite the Administration witnesses for contempt and send this into a historic court fight.

This could result in a sort of High Noon at the Supreme Court. Does the executive branch really want to risk a "no" from the High Court?

And does Congress really want a law on the books that permanently shuts down such challenges?

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Washington, D.C.: Having notice that Bush is again exerting "executive privilege" to make an end-run around a Congressional investigation, is there any substantial way in which his definition of "executive power" differs from "autocracy?" I can't seem to find the fine line.

Gwen Ifill: Executive privilege is a principle, not a law. He is not the first -- and likely will not the last -- President to invoke it. And Democrats like it just as much as Republicans do -- when they are the ones in power.

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New York, N.Y.: Gwen, as a fan of your show, I'm pretty familiar with many of your guests. But every so often I miss the intros or forget who I'm listening to. Is it possible, during each guest's segment, to display their names and affiliations for your forgetful viewers like me? Just wondering... Thanks for the chat.

Gwen Ifill: Sure. We try to do that, but will also try to do better.

Thanks for watching!

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Henderson, N.C.: As a PBS bigwig, can you explain the reasoning behind Frank Lutz serving as an analyst for PBS following the Democratic Debate. Why does your network expect this known Republican pollster (author of terms like "death tax" and "healthy forests initiative") to fairly evaluate candidates from a party that he has spent much of his professional life fighting against? Do y'all have any comparable Democratic pollsters signed up for the Republican debate? Thank you for your time and I hope you have a good day.

Gwen Ifill: I see Media Matters has gotten through to you too. I am always impressed how good you all are at following their mass e-mailed instructions word for word.

To your question: I am not involved with tonight's debate except as a viewer. But I have no problem with Frank Luntz's participation. Would you be objecting if they'd hired Peter Hart?

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Los Angeles, Calif.: If Congress asserts that it is investigating possible criminal activity by the White House of other Administration Officials, would that be a strong argument against Executive Privilege in Federal Court? Don't the matters under investigation by Congress include possible criminal violations of wire-tap and other laws? And didn't Ken Starr and the Republican led Congress demonstrate that a criminal investigation thumps Executive Privilege?

Gwen Ifill: OK, you've got me in too deep. Some other chatter will have to tackle all that.

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Dale City, Va.: People may be a little nervous about the dynasty thing, but I bet there are many who count Bill coming back with Hill as a big plus. Love him or hate him I don't remember anyone calling him incompetent. Do you think that the Bush experience will make the country less likely to vote for "outsiders"?

Gwen Ifill: You don't remember anyone calling him incompetent? Not even during the gays-in-the-military stuff? Or the early under-vetted efforts to pick an Attorney General? Or the travel office fiasco?

The point is that, even though the Clintons' fan base does run deep, their enemies have long memories.

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New York, N.Y. -- Channel 13!: Gwen, do you ever miss print journalism? Thanks.

Gwen Ifill: Yep. I miss it every time I run out of time on the air when I have more questions to ask. Which is, basically, every day.

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Maryland: Looking ahead, is the genie out of the bottle in terms of executive power? What, really, is the likelihood that the next president will rollback what Bush has accomplished in terms of his power grab to pre-Bush levels? The bar is now set so low that the next administration only needs to raise it a little in order to say, "We are not as bad?" Can we truly expect a politician of either party to not enjoy at least some of the spoils of the Bush administration?

Gwen Ifill: See earlier answer. Everyone likes power when he or she is the one wielding it.

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Vancouver, B.C., Canada: In your last session, you provided Jon Stewart as an example of opinionated news reporting. Doesn't this response expose your own anti Democratic bias? FOX news would be a more appropriate example of biased reporting. Don't you know Stewart is a comedian hosting a comedy show, not a news show?

Gwen Ifill: Did I really say that?

If so, please allow me to clarify.

Jon Stewart is a comedian. I find him very amusing. I would never confuse what he does with journalism. To his credit, neither does he.

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Philadelphia, Pa:"Would you be objecting if they'd hired Peter Hart?"

Peter Hart hasn't spent a career influencing people with misleading statements. Luntz has. Peter Hart is well-respected in his profession by pollsters on both sides of the political spectrum. Luntz isn't.

Gwen Ifill: Thanks for the answer, but as I pointed out, you need to take your complaints about Mr. Luntz to him, or to the debate organizers. I am neither.

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Anonymous: We mainly heard of those opposing the immigration bill because they wanted stricter controls on immigration. Did any groups wanting more leniency for immigrants oppose the bill? I wonder how Florida¿s senators voted. I assume that opposing the current regulation allowing Cubans coming to the US for whatever reason to achieve legal status immediately upon setting foot on American soil would not, would anger many Cuban-Americans, including conservatives (North Koreans in the US do not have much political weight, in contrast).

Gwen Ifill: In today's vote, both Sen. Mel Martinez, R-FL, and Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fl voted to continue debate on immigration. They were on the losing side.

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San Francisco, Calif.: What do you think, Ms. Ifill, of Meet the Press asking Christian Broadcasting Network blogger David Brody to join the panel this coming Sunday? Will WW be asking bloggers to join your panel? Will they be CBN bloggers also?

Gwen Ifill: I believe Mr. Brody is a correspondent, and not just a blogger.

We have no plans to invite bloggers to join the Wash Week panel, if only because we have such a terrific bench to choose from.

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Washington, D.C.: Gwen,

Love your approach and views. I consider myself as an independet, and I can't believe how many of the writers during the day are nothing but Bush and Republican haters. I don't think I like either party, however you are very fair in your responses.

Gwen Ifill: I do try. Thanks for the feedback!

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Washington, D.C.: Regarding incompetence... gays in the military, white house travel office, attorney general vetting -- good points all as they were important, but they seem almost slight compared to the current array of quagmires.

Gwen Ifill: Nothing like hindsight to put everything in perspective.

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Bethesda, Md.: Why, in these discussions, do the Answer People always fall back on snark and sassing their questioners?

Gwen Ifill: I'm tough. I can take a little snark every now and then.

If you're looking for snark-free analysis, though, tune in to Washington Week tomorrow night.

We'll hear from Linda Grenhouse of the New York Times and Joan Biskupic of USA Today on this week' big Supreme Court decisions, Alexis Simendinger of National Journal on the executive privilege showdown, and Doyle McManus of the LATimes on the Republican shift on Iraq.

We'll chat again next month!

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