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.

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Geithner said President Obama is willing to make cuts in places his political base won’t like. And he hopes the Republicans will also be willing to do politically difficult things, but so far they haven’t.

The secretary made it clear that on August 2, if Congress doesn’t act, credit agencies around the world will lower our credit rating for the first time in history. This will hurt all Americans and all American businesses.

When asked about the economic recovery, Geithner says things are still going to be very tough for a long time.

Next up, Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty, former governor of Minnesota. “The president is to blame for the economy,” said Pawlenty.

Pawlenty defended his, thus far, lackluster campaign. In the Iowa August Straw Poll, he says his campaign must improve on the current 6th or 7th place he has in the Des Moines Register poll.

In an interesting twist, later commented on by NBC’s Chuck Todd, Pawlenty said his presidential rival Rep. Michelle Bachmann’s record in Congress is non-existent. Pawlenty now seems to be running against Bachmann more than against the front-runner, former Governor Mitt Romney (R-MA).

Host David Gregory pushed Pawlenty hard on the issue of fanaticism and purity in the GOP keeping the country from a budget/debt ceiling deal. Pawlenty did not back down, even under threat of a credit rating downgrade or default.

In the roundtable, Chuck Todd said part of the reason Boehner walked out of the grand bargain talks is that no Republican presidential candidate was cutting him any slack on exactly those “purity” issues, especially even small tax increases.

Todd and Eugene Robinson agreed that the Obama White House now sees offering up the “big deal” on debt ceiling, and having Republicans squirm, is a political winner for them.

The show ended with a nice tribute to the late former first lady, Betty Ford.

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.

Durbin wants to cut costs in Medicare, but will not go for means testing or raising the retirement age. Graham suggests cutting ethanol subsidies as a way to pay off the debt (guess he isn’t running for president) and would do means testing and age-raising for Medicare (host David Gregory points out that the rest of the Republican Party is not with him on this).

Gregory asks if the United States is headed toward Greek-type riots over budget cuts. Durbin says we can avoid that.

On Libya, Graham stands true to the Republican position that the War Powers Act is unconstitutional. He says President Obama has done a lousy job of communicating with Congress regarding Libya, but says he will be no part of trying to defund the effort.

“If we fail against Ghaddafi, that’s the end of NATO,” Graham says. He adds that Egypt would then be overrun by refugees and the price of oil would double.

Durbin, also true to party roots, says, yes, the War Powers Act is an infringement of the president’s power as commander-in-chief, but so is the US Constitution which makes clear that the American people make decisions about war through the US Congress.

On Afghanistan, Graham is fearful of a rising isolationism in his party. He says, “If you think the pathway to the Republican nomination is to get to the left of President Obama on Afghanistan, Libya, and Iraq, you are going to meet a lot of headwinds.” He adds that this is not an Afghan war of independence, this is the central piece in our war on terror.

Durbin says, however, in 2001 I voted to get rid of Osama bin Laden and Al Queda. I did not vote to have the longest wat in US history.

(Production note: Durbin and Graham both appeared via satellite, but the backdrops and the HD signals looked great. I have been critical in the past of poor technical quality on some of these feeds, but this was perfect.)

On to the roundtable, NBC’s Chuck Todd said the focus in the GOP 2012 presidential field is now on the “player to be named later.” And it may well be Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX).

Paul Gigot of the Wall Street Journal said a new Federal Reserve report says 40% of the new jobs created recently in America have been in Texas. And this will be Perry’s selling point. But, Gigot adds, the big question will be, are northern cities and suburbs ready for another Texan as president?

NBC’s Richard Engle mentioned that in the GOP debate, former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA) called the people of Afghanistan “Afghanis,” which is actually the name of their currency. The people are called Afghans.

On Libya, there seemed to be general agreement that President Obama has done poorly in the personal politics of explaining the matter to Americans.

The show wound down with general discussion about whether or not deficit spending on infrastructure, education, and job development would be good for the economy. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D-Los Angeles) says this is the road to growth. Gigot says jobs only come from the private sector so government must cut spending.

Today’s Meet The Press transcript will be here.

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Host David Gregory pushed Plouffe on whether or not the Democratic leadership (including President Obama) failed on the budget issue last year and this year. Plouffe tries to keep the focus on the future.

Plouffe repeats that failure to raise the debt-ceiling would be catastrophic. He repeats Speaker of the House John Boehner’s quote about the need to act like adults on this issue.

The big news of the morning was Plouffe’s announcement that the president will lay out his deficit reduction plan this week.

On the plan offered by Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI), Plouffe notes that it would give millionaires a $200,000 tax break. Instead, he said the president thinks taxes should increase on people making more than $250,00 a year.

Ryan, chair of the House Budget Committee, was up next. He said he feels good about the deal which averted a government shutdown, but the cuts there are just a drop in the bucket. On the debt ceiling limits, he said the discussion must be linked to very real spending cuts.

Ryan brought charts showing an explosion in the growth of the federal debt if we do nothing. Gregory read a quote from Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles (chairs of a special deficit reduction advisory committee) which said Ryan’s plan doesn’t cut enough from defense and puts too much of a burden on the most disadvantaged people in the country.

Ryan argues that the tax cuts for the rich are offset by closing loopholes the rich use to avoid taxes. And for the disadvantaged, he says we are fixing a system which will fail them anyway if we do nothing. On Medicare and Medicaid in particular, Ryan has a lot of compelling facts about the problems facing these programs. But his plans for fixing them are controversial to say the least.

In the end, Ryan expects his budget proposal to pass the US House this Friday.

In the roundtable, NBC’s Chuck Todd says the whole government shutdown battle made everyone look very bad. Todd said the Republicans are now in the driver’s seat on budget issues. But this also shows that Democrats know how important this is to independent voters.

Gregory reads a quote from journalist Charlie Cook who predicts senior voters will go ballistic over any Paul Ryan-type change to Medicare. Which links to the 2012 presidential race since most of the GOP potential candidates have said very positive things about the Ryan proposal.

On the bright side, MSNBC’s Jim Cramer said unemployment is easing in the country very quickly. And in the end, if the economy is recovering, the roundtable seemed to think President Obama has a very good chance of being re-elected.

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.