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In his Crib Sheet, CNN's John King looks back at Sunday's talk shows and ahead to the topics that will be making news this week.

The dramatic late Saturday House vote in favor of sweeping health care changes was a major topic of the Sunday conversation, with the debate breaking down this way:

*Democrats saw the victory, as narrow as it was, as a major step forward and a momentum boost they say dramatically increases the odds of getting legislation to President Obama this year.

*Republicans took the 220-215 margin – and the 39 Democrats who voted “No” – as proof of jitters in the Democratic ranks, and proof that they will end up on the winning side of politics of health care.

Other major Sunday attention grabbers:

*Gen. George Casey, the Army Chief of Staff, chose his words carefully when discussing the tragic massacre at Fort Hood. But he was emphatic in his appeal that Muslims serving in the Army and other military services should not face suspicion or discrimination because of the actions of Fort Hood gunman Maj. Nadal Malik Hasan.

*Mikhail Gorbachev joined us for “The Last Word” to discuss the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, and we took the opportunity to ask his view of President Obama as a world leader, and his advice as Mr. Obama ponders sending more troops to Afghanistan.

Straight now to the Sound of Sunday, beginning with health care:

President Obama speaking from the White House Rose Garden
“For years we’ve been told that this couldn’t be done. After all, neither chamber of Congress has been able to pass a comprehensive health insurance reform bill for generations. But last night the House proved differently. The Affordable Health Care for America Act is a piece of legislation that will provide stability and security for Americans who have insurance, quality affordable options for those who don’t and bring down the cost of health care for families, businesses and our government while strengthening the financial health of Medicare.”

President Obama speaking from the White House Rose Garden
“Now it falls on the United States Senate to take the baton and bring this effort to the finish line on behalf of the American people. And I’m absolutely confident that they will.”

Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) on “Fox News Sunday”
“Nancy Pelosi last night said they were answering the call of history. I've got to tell you, if Democrats keep ignoring the American people, their party is going to be history in about a year.”

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) on “Fox News Sunday”
“With all due respect to Mike and his party, when President Bush, and they had a lock on the Congress, they did nothing about these issues, these rising costs, the fact that insurance companies could essentially abuse consumers. They did nothing about it. And people back in 2008 said it's time to step up on some of these issues. And that's what we did last night.”

Governor-Elect Bob McDonnell (R-VA) on CNN’s “State of the Union” on whether he wants his state to opt out of a government-run insurance program

“My preference would be not to have Virginia participate from what I know, this plan contains However they structure it, if it gives flexibility to states, I think that's a good thing.”

Republican pollster Bill McInturff on CNN’s “State of the Union”
“This is one of those interesting cases where both parties think they’re helped. The Democrats want to demonstrate to their base they’ve made big action. I think Republicans see this as a flawed bill, too much government, too much spending, in a way that will make those issues a huge and stronger part for Republicans in 2010.”

Democratic pollster Peter Hart on CNN’s “State of the Union”
“This is a big, big step forward for America and it is an important step. And getting it through the House, it’s not going to be easy through the Senate. But at the end of the day, my guess is that we will have a health care bill that will be signed by the President. And that will be a huge achievement for the President.”

General Casey stopped by three Sunday programs to discuss the Fort Hood investigation and the broader questions about the strain on the Army caused by eight years of war and multiple deployments.

He was careful in answering questions about whether the Army missed warning signs that Maj. Hasan was perhaps sympathetic to the goals of Islamic extremists, but promised a thorough investigation not only of the horrific crime, but of Hasan’s military tenure and behavior.

FORT HOOD FALLOUT
U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey on CNN’s “State of the Union”
“We have to go back and look at ourselves and ask ourselves the hard questions. Are we doing the right things? But again, we'll learn from this incident. It’s way too early to draw any specific kinds of conclusions from it. But we'll ask ourselves the hard questions about what we're doing and what changes we should make as a result of this incident at Ft. Hood.”

U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey on CNN’s “State of the Union”
“Frankly I am worried...not worried, but I’m concerned that this increased speculation could case a backlash against some of our Muslim soldiers.”

U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey on CNN’s “State of the Union”
“Right now there is no operational impact of this particular incident. That may change over time as we look at specific impact on some of the units that were scheduled to deploy. But broadly across the army this will not have an impact on our ability to provide trained and ready forces to Iraq and Afghanistan.”

U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey on CNN’s “State of the Union”
“Back to your question here about the levels of stress. I mean, the Army remains out of balance. But we started in 2007 with a program to get ourselves back in balance by 2011. And since 2007, we have added 40,000 soldiers to the active force, which is a significant step forward, and we’re off of 15-month deployments. We’re beginning to come off stop-loss, and we’re beginning to gradually increase the time the soldiers spend at home between deployments.”

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) on “Fox News Sunday”
“I'm intending to begin a congressional investigation of my homeland security committee into what were the motives, what were the motives of Hasan in carrying out this brutal mass murder. If a terrorist attack, the worse terrorist attack since 9/11, and to ask whether the army missed warning signs that should have led them to essentially discharge him.”

BERLIN WALL LEGACY
Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev on CNN’s “State of the Union” when asked about students growing up not having a memory of the Berlin Wall falling

“A great deal happened 20 years ago. And during those 20 years, first of all a very important event happened in the Soviet Union in 1989, and that was free elections. The first free elections in the history of Russia. For the first time will, the voters could vote in a competitive election, in an open way. They elected the Parliament of the state and the Parliamentary system was launched as well as separation of powers and that was a big breakthrough in the country's development. It was the creation of a new state, in effect. Pluralism, economic, political pluralism, all of that was testimony that our country was moving along the path of democracy.”

Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev on CNN’s “State of the Union”, on the possibility of additional U.S. troops in Afghanistan

“I think that what's needed is not additional forces. This is something we discussed, too, years ago. But we decided not to do it. I think that our experience deserves attention. We decided to emphasize the domestic developments in Afghanistan, national reconciliation.”

Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev on CNN’s “State of the Union” when asked if he views President Obama as a transformational figure in history

“I do believe that the president, the new president, Barack Obama, really is facing a very difficult challenge. He needs to express, to give expression, in his policies to the changes that are expected today.”

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday and the week ahead,
John King