Bachmann was host David Gregory’s first guest today, and she was clearly going out of her way to appear calm, collected, and nice. She avoided any swipes at Pawlenty (a longtime rival) and talked about how she has attracted Democratic and Independent votes in Minnesota. She even said, “most Democrats are reasonable, fair minded people.”

Her tone felt like a deliberate and strategic pivot to make sure she looks presidential and can shake the “crazy” label. Gregory pushed her fairly hard on a few things and, for the most part, she stuck to this game plan. She gave the same answer she had in the debate on the “wives must be submissive” question.

Gregory played a clip where Bachmann says the gay life is sad, part of satan, and a type of sexual dysfunction. In response, she said she is opposed to gay marriage and tried to dodge the other characterizations.

Gregory kept pushing, and Bachmann did seem to wilt a little. She couldn’t back down on her statements about homosexuals, but she also knows she can’t win the national race with those views. A friend of mine said Bachmann’s “brain failed” in this section. Maybe, but she did remain calm and restrained which was apparently job number 1 for this interview overall.

At one point, Bachmann threw out a statistic about the number of people at the US Department of Transportation earning over $170,000. She said there was only 1 at the start of the Obama Administration and now there are over a thousand. She uses this as part of her usual stump speech. In the past, Meet The Press has declined to do post-show fact-checking on their guests. But this is the kind of statement which cries out for more detail and could have been anticipated. I did a quick Google search and found that while the basic fact is true, the context is also important and the timeframe may differ from Bachmann’s claims.

In the roundtable, NBC’s Chuck Todd declared Perry, Bachmann, and Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA) as the “top tier” of candidates. Gov. Terry Brandstad (R-IA) said Romney needs to get to Iowa and start competing.

Republican strategist Mike Murphy wondered out loud if his party is about to nominate “our own McGovern” or instead nominate someone who can win.

The Washington Post’s Eugene Robinson said Bachmann is going to drive Perry and Romney crazy throughout this process. But Murphy said Perry is a barracuda who will eat Bachmann for lunch.

Todd’s analysis is that the rest of the field has to keep running to the right to get the nomination, while Bachmann, after winning in Ames, may now have a chance to run toward the center. On the other hand, he adds that the GOP presidential nomination race looks like it could go all the way to June. If so, it will be a race to win the right wing which will leave the ultimate nominee in a very tough place for competing in the general election.

Today’s Meet The Press transcript will be here.

Also follow the show on the MTP Facebook page, track Twitter feeds from host David Gregory, Meet The Press, and Executive Producer Betsy Fischer, watch the midweek PressPass interview, and don’t forget Gregory’s blog.

Priebus was critical of the slow reaction by Democratic leadership to the Weiner scandal. Wasserman-Schultz pointed out that Republicans showed no leadership on a number of their scandals (Vitters, Ensign, etc.). Priebus danced around this and tried to make this story about the economy and unemployment. When Wassermann-Schultz called him out on this, Priebus smirked and rolled his eyes.

When they finally got around to discussing the economy, it was a bunch of talking points from both sides which were no doubt infuriating to anyone who is unemployed or hurting from the current situation. When host David Gregory tried to move on to discuss the current GOP field, Priebus could not help but mention, one more time, the 2.5 million jobs lost.

A new poll shows President Barack Obama and former Governor Mitt Romney tied at 47% each in a theoretical head-to-head race. Wasserman-Schultz pointed out that when Romney was governor, his state ranked 47th in job creation.

At the end of the segment, Gregory showed a new photo of recovering Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ). Wasserman-Schultz said she had talked to Giffords on Wednesday and is making great progress. Priebus refrained from linking this to the economy.

Next up was presidential candidate and former Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA). Gregory first mentioned that Santorum has lost his most recent election by 17%. Santorum described plans for health care and Social Security reform.

Gregory asked Santorum if he thinks Romney and Ambassador John Huntsman will have trouble in the GOP primaries because they are Mormon. Santorum replied, “I hope not.”

Santorum said that people are concerned about conservative candidates who run on conservative issues and then govern in a very different way. He says that won’t be him. He made a passionate argument for his ability to create more manufacturing jobs. He also argued in favor of some corporate tax breaks.

He says education should be reformed in a way that reflects the dynamism of the real world. He also made a case for Constitutional protection of human life beginning at conception.

In the roundtable, GOP consultant Mike Murphy discussed how changing demographics in the US (43% more Hispanics) may work in Obama’s electoral favor.

Kim Strassel of the Wall Street Journal says the release of all those Sarah Palin emails turn out to be a great big “nothing-burger.”

Today’s Meet The Press transcript will be here.

Also follow the show on the MTP Facebook page, track Twitter feeds from host David Gregory, Meet The Press, and Executive Producer Betsy Fischer, watch the midweek PressPass interview, and don’t forget Gregory’s blog.

Today’s broadcast began with Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL). My DVR ate part of the broadcast, but MTP Executive Producer Betsy Fischer tweeted: “Durbin on Terry Jones: ‘this pastor w his publicity stunt w the Koran endangers the lives of our troops and a lot of innocent people.’”

Host David Gregory tweeted: “Sen. Durbin on #MTP: POTUS working behind the scenes with both political parties telling them not to allow the gov’t to shut down.”

Gregory asked Durbin if he would be interested in becoming chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Durbin did not sound the least bit enthusiastic about taking that job, but he also did not rule it out.

Next up was Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), chair of the House Select Committee on Intelligence. On the Libyan rebels, he said we know they are against Moammar Gaddafi, but we don’t know what they are for. He did, however, play down speculation that the rebels include terrorist elements. He simply said we need to know a lot more.

He said Republicans agree that, “Gaddafi remaining in power is not an option,” and this should not be a partisan issue. Gregory asked if events in Libya are in the US vital interest. He then replayed Secretary of Defense Bob Gates’ fumble on this question from last week’s show… but Gregory did not replay the much more relevant and cogent answer from the Secretary of State. To his credit, Rep. Rogers answered that the military action in Libya is in our interest, and said we should all stand with the president.

Rogers adds that if this action ends in a stalemate with Gaddafi still in power, we will have to be worried about Gaddafi’s terrorist potential.

When asked about the Koran burning in Florida, Rogers said it “absolutely has consequences.” He noted the First Amendment rights involved, but also said it jeopardizes our men and women in uniform and in harm’s way.

Gregory asked, “If we leave Iraq, will Iran become the dominant actor there?” Rogers says no, but we have to keep an eye on it. He then makes a vague reference to potential Iranian influence in Bahrain.

In the roundtable, Republican strategist Mike Murphy says the real budget battle, much bigger than the battle over continuing resolutions, will begin next week when House Republicans unveil their proposal. (Note that next week’s guest on Meet The Press will be Rep. Paul Ryan [R-WI], chair of the House Budget Committee, to talk about the new plan.)

Daniel Yergin, author of The Prize, was asked about President Obama’s effort to lower American oil imports. He says we have already made significant progress on this, and he highlighted the unsung growth of oil production in North Dakota. The state is now the fourth largest producer of US oil, ahead even of Louisiana.

Everyone around the table, including Mike Murphy, seemed to support the US military action in Libya even if some thought President Obama’s speech was muddled. E. J. Dionne quoted Nick Kristof’s column on the subject this morning, “We are inconsistent. There’s no doubt that we cherry-pick our humanitarian interventions. But just because we allowed Rwandans or Darfuris to be massacred, does it really follow that to be consistent we should allow Libyans to be massacred as well? Isn’t it better to inconsistently save some lives than to consistently save none?”

In a quick discussion of unemployment, Gregory noted that even though the overall rate dropped to 8.8% this week, the rate among blacks rose .2% to 15.5%. Marc Morial of the National Urban League added that government budget cuts will lead to more urban unemployment and more black unemployment.

And as tradition dictates, the roundtable ended with talk of 2012 presidential politics. There was some talk about the impact growing minorities and changing demographics will have on the race. But overall, I heard nothing new in the conversation.

Today’s Meet The Press transcript will be here.

Also follow the show on the MTP Facebook page, track Twitter feeds from host David Gregory, Meet The Press, and Executive Producer Betsy Fischer, and don’t forget Gregory’s blog.

Clinton said (paraphrase), what was possible for these kind of regimes in the 20th century is no longer possible in the 21st century.

Gregory asked, if Mubarek leaves would the United States offer him sanctuary? Clinton responded that we are only at the beginning of what is happening in Egypt. “I am not going to get into hypotheticals.”

“We need a transition to real democracy, not a faux democracy,” said Clinton

NBC’s Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engle gave a live update from Cairo where you could hear the fighter jets overhead.

Next up was Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). He largely supports Secretary Clinton’s comments but he also commented on the geo-strategic importance of Egypt to US national interests, particularly the Suez Canal and the Middle East peace process (the underlying meaning here is that a new government in Egypt may or may not be good for the United States).

In domestic politics, despite the Tea Party, he says there is more unity in the Republican party than there is among Democrats. He also said our entitlement programs can’t be fixed on a partisan basis. “But I am not going to negotiate the deal here with David Gregory,” McConnell said.

McConnell pointed out the we have votes on the continuing resolution and the debt ceiling coming up soon and these should be seen as opportunities to do something about the crises facing America. Gregory pushed him on whether or not there would be a government shut down, but McConnell sidestepped.

Former US Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk was the next guest. He said that where Egypt goes could have a tsunami effect on the rest of the region. “For Mubarek, his compact with the people has been broken and cannot be repaired. And there is nothing he nor we can do about it,” Indyk concluded.

New York Times columnist Tom Friedman say to watch and see if the Muslim Brotherhood hijacks the Egyptian revolution (as happened in 1979 Iran when a populist revolt was hijacked by Islamists) or will the brotherhood join the government as a participant?

In the roundtable, Katy Kay of the BBC said that for a generation or more the West has been told that for Middle Eastern governments the only choices are authoritarianism or Islamism. Are those still the only choices?

And then, proving that no world crisis is big enough to preempt talk of the 2012 US presidential race, NBC White House Correspondent Chuck Todd said President Obama is doing a little better among independent voters but still faces an uphill slog. The best news for Obama is that no Republican has emerged as a viable, uniting candidate.

My note: Last week’s sole, scheduled political guest on Meet The Press was Republican leader Eric Cantor. This week’s sole, scheduled political guest was Republican leader Mitch McConnell. And now next week’s show will be a commemoration of the 100th anniversary of former Republican President Ronald Reagan’s birth. Can we then expect three broadcasts in a row organized around people from the Democratic Party?

Today’s Meet The Press transcript will be here.

On the START treaty, he “has no idea” if it will be ratified, and he has not made up his mind on how he will vote.

Regarding the Deficit Commission report, McConnell says the message is that you cannot do entitlement reform with just one party. He would not commit to backing the full package from the Commission even though host David Gregory pushed him hard.

On Wikileak’s Julian Assange, “I think the man is a high tech terrorist. He has done enormous damage to our country.”

When asked, do you think Barack Obama can become a born-again moderate?, McConnell answered, “I hope so.”

Finally, McConnell does not think there will be a Senate vote on “don’t ask, don’t tell” before the end of the year.

Next up was Senator John Kerry (D-MA). One production note first: When Meet The Press has two leading Senators as guests, why interview them sequentially? I think the audience would benefit more from seeing them questioned side-by-side. On Face The Nation this morning, Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) were interviewed together. Did McConnell and/or Kerry refuse to talk at the same time?

Kerry began by saying the Republicans are fighting to keep in place a tax policy which has failed. Furthermore, they are willing to hold unemployment benefits hostage in order to give millionaires tax cuts.

On our future economy, Kerry said 90% of global investment in green jobs is being done outside the United States. “Two years ago, China produced 5% of the world’s solar panels. Today they produce 60%. We are not even in the game,” he said.

Back on the tax cuts, Gregory asked Kerry to explain why the president is caving. Kerry said, “He’s not. He insisted on the votes yesterday so the American people can see what we are fighting for.” If you give a tax break to a top earner, 30 cents of the dollar goes back into the US economy. But with unemployment benefits, you get 1.60 back into the economy for each dollar given.

Kerry also said Wall Street should be singing the praises of this president. We have had a 60% increase in the stock market in the last two years. When does that happen?

Finally on Wikileaks, Kerry said this is nothing like the old Pentagon Papers. This is just voyeurism, and it has done damage.

In the roundtable, David Brooks said 65% of Americans think the US is in decline. “I can’t remember a sense of decline that has lasted this long.”

Mike Murphy predicts we will get a deal in Congress on tax cuts, unemployment benefits, and the START treaty.

Gregory mentions that Tom Friedman’s “WikiChina” column was very popular this week. Friedman said the point was that Americans are polarized about all the wrong things. (You can read the column here. I recommend it.)

Brooks agrees there is a reluctance among politicians to publicly talk about sacrifice. But, he adds, there are private, serious conversations happening all over Washington (including at the White House and in Congress) about serious entitlement reform and serious tax reform.

Friedman: We are doing things that are small and easy. Americans want DC to do things that are big, hard, and visionary.

For the second time today, Gregory displayed a poll showing that at this point in their presidencies, Reagan and Clinton both had a 43% approval rating while Obama’s rating is at 45%. So perhaps the president is not a politically weak as some people think?

Brooks dumped cold water on that idea. He said those numbers are national, and we don’t elect presidents nationally. Obama is weak in Ohio and Indiana, where it matters. And, according to Brooks, the other big story regarding the president’s political standing is the collapse of liberal morale. They are disappointed that Obama is not fighting for their beliefs.

Today’s Meet The Press transcript will be here.