David Gergen

Egypt I think has a very good case for democracy. The people in the streets were peaceful.

They were very wobbly in the beginning. ... Where I think they do bear some blame is in not developing some alternative plans should something like this occur.

No, they have had lots of mixed messages. They were very wobbly in the beginning.

But I think you would agree that every administration in recent years has made the bargain on the side of security as opposed to supporting in a forthright way the forces of democracy that were building up and the protests against the…

Every administration in recent years has made the bargain on the side of security as opposed to supporting in a forthright way the forces of democracy.

But did they have a backup plan? No. Have they been consistent on this? No.

The administration still stands for orderly transition but it wants a faster transition.

And there's a great fear in the administration of two things: One, they're being lied to by the government, just as the government is lying to the people. And, secondly, the government is really digging in and is going to resist change.

At first they were very surprised and, I think, they were wobbly. They weren't quite sure how to handle this.

They seemed to issue a statement that supported the demonstrators. On its face, I thought it was an ambiguous statement, but it was interpreted by the White House, accepted by the demonstrators as a strong pro-demonstrator statement.

I think they need to be very tough about that. But I would just urge you that, in their public statements, I think they ought to be fairly cautious and quiet and not, you know, we better have a reaffirmation ultimately that this is going…

But I have to tell you something. Neither side has really given us a bold, courageous, road map for dealing with the deficits.

The president's call to civility and decency in the way we treat each other is very important.

I thought she made a terrible mistake trying to go toe to toe with Barack Obama on the same day.

Well, Anderson, I do think that he may have helped to cool things down. Rick Davis with CNN has sent a note to several of us pointing out some Tweets from some conservative commentators, both 'National Review' and the 'Weekly Standard,'…

Tucson, Arizona, if that doesn't make the case, I don't know what does.

I'm very much for toughening the gun laws. And in fact, the Arizona law was loosened with regard to concealment.

But I also think for Bill Maher to call it the Assassin's Lobby is pretty deeply offensive to a whole lot of people.

We have lowered the standards. The NRA has been behind this.

I do think it's an opportunity for President Obama and the Republican leadership to come together and jointly try to sort of see if there are ways they can get everybody to calm down, to tone down the rhetoric in our political discourse.

I think it's insane that people like this are able to get guns. How many incidents does it take like this for us to realize that people who should not have guns are able to get them too easily?

The law has been loosened in Arizona, unfortunately. And he could carry a concealed. What are we doing allowing a 22 year old to carry a concealed weapon around like this?

This will be a moment for real bipartisanship, to try to get us pulled together.

If they come in, and they're simply the party of no at every turn, they're recalcitrant, I think they pay a price.

I think both parties are on probation, on probation as they head into 2011.