KILMEADE KONDENSED: 12/18/2012
BRIAN’S OPENING THOUGHTS
As the funerals continue in Newtown, Brian thinks the steps going forward should be less about guns and more about the mentally ill. Plus: There’s been major progress with fiscal cliff negotiations, but will Republicans actually sign off on the deal Boehner and President Obama cut? Brian doesn’t think so!
HOUR ONE
FOX & Friends co-host Gretchen Carlson stopped by to talk to callers about whether or not the gun control laws should change. Carlson said that although she does not want to take away anyone’s second amendment right, she does not understand why anyone would need an assault weapon.
Ambassador John Bolton joined Gretchen and Brian, and weighed in on who President Obama might choose as the next Secretary of Defense. Bolton discussed the possibility of Obama choosing Chuck Hagel, a Republican, and said that Obama wouldn’t necessarily choose him to just to look like he’s reaching across the aisle.
HOUR TWO
“They’re getting very close to a deal. It’s small ball stuff,” said Senior Economics Writer for the Wall Street Journal Stephen Moore in regards to fiscal cliff negotiations. Although Moore believes a deal is in sight, he believes that the real negotiations will start in 2013. “I believe that the real negotiations start next year… This is just dancing around the issue.”
Watch the interview with Stephen Moore here
Marty Brounstein, author and management consultant, talked to Brian about why some individuals act like heroes while other do not. Brounstein said that “these are people who were willing to care,” and explained that when these people saw that others desperately needed help, they stepped in not thinking about being a hero, but thinking about the tough situation.
Listen to the interview with Marty Brounstein here
HOUR THREE
Larry McDonald talked to Brian about the fiscal cliff negotiations. McDonald said that while the negotiations are moving along, there could be a potential breakdown at the last minute surrounding Medicare and Social Security.
Watch the interview with Larry McDonald here
Rich Lowry, editor of National Review, weighed in about the mentally ill in the U.S. He said that part of the problem is that we had insane asylums that were horrors 40-50 years ago. “The movement to reform them and change them was understandable, but it went way too far; and it was deinstitutionalizing and closing down these places based on the premise that these people would actually get treatment out in the community. Now that they are out in the community, it is almost impossible to get treatment unless they are a threat to themselves or to others.”
