SOTU Crib Sheet 7/21

Show Highlights

Another packed State of the Union this week. We covered a lot of ground with Sen. John McCain; including the Zimmerman trial and “Stand Your Ground” laws, the controversial Rolling Stone cover, the situation in Syria and Liz Cheney’s Senate run.

Candy was then joined by Rep. Xavier Becerra and Rep. Cedric Richmond for a discussion about race relations in the wake of George Zimmerman’s murder acquittal and President Obama’s Friday remarks. The conversation continued with our panel, which included Newt Gingrich, Crystal Wright, Sherrilyn Ifill and Charles Blow. They were joined in the discussion by Rep. Bobby Rush.

Sen. John McCain (R) Arizona on “Stand Your Ground” legislation
"I can also see that stand your ground law may be something that needs to be reviewed by the Florida legislature or any other legislature that has passed such legislation… I'm confident that the members of the Arizona legislature will and - because it is a very controversial legislation.”

Sen. McCain on the Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Rolling Stone cover
“I thought it was stupid. It thought it was glorifying an individual that represents a great threat to innocent lives and was responsible for the taking of innocent lives. And I thought it was stupid and I thought it was inappropriate, but for me to tell them to pull their magazine from the book shelves at newsstands, it's not up to me to do that. I think most Americans surrender to judgment on that. And, but - also, "Rolling Stone" probably got more publicity than they've had in 20 years.”

Rep. Xavier Becerra (D) California on race relations and President Obama’s remarks
“This is bigger than one man. No one man, including the man in the White House, including a Black man in the White House, can solve this by himself or herself. And the president said something very important. We have a history on these issues. I think the more important thing that he said - and I loved his speech - was our children know how to deal with this better than we do. And, that's the hopeful part of this. Every generation, we do it better. So, as you said, it's not going to be just a matter of instituting a particular problem, it's about doing this as a collective, as a people, that we're going to try to move together. We're going to heal and move forward together.”

Rep. Cedric Richmond (D) Louisiana on President Obama’s record on race
“It's a systematic problem, and if you look at the fact that 42 percent of all African-American kids go to schools that are underperforming. You look at all of the socioeconomic factors. I think it's a lot harder. Now, I will say I'm very happy that the president has come out to say and specifically say Black on Black crime, urban youth violence, and all of those things, because I think we have to be very specific in defining the problem before you can ever start to fix it.”

VIDEO LINKS

Sen. John McCain:
Calls for review of ‘stand your ground’ laws

U.S. non-intervention in Syria “a disgrace”

Rolling Stone cover was ‘stupid’

Maintains support for Sen. Enzi

Reps. Becerra and Richmond: A national dialogue about race

Panel discussion, Part one: Racial fault lines in America

Panel discussion, Part two: Where does the race discussion go next?

ur website or cnn.com/video

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