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American Morning
Comparing Pelosi and DeLay
Aired November 15, 2002 - 09:15 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Congress has a whole new look this week. House Democrats elected a new leader. Representative Nancy Pelosi, the first woman ever to hold that post. She starts that position in January, and Republicans who have actually regained control of the Senate are busy on a new agenda.
Jonathan Karl, who covers Capitol Hill was good enough to join us to take Bill's place and talk about some of the Washington matters now.
Good morning.
JONATHAN KARL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is great stuff, because you've got really a polarization in the House of Representatives based off of reporters be covering. Fireworks on the Hill with this new leadership. You have Nancy Pelosi on one side, the new liberal from San Francisco, heading up the Democrats in the House.
But the new majority leader over in the House is Tom DeLay. Now, we all now Tom DeLay is one of the most conservative members. So let's take a look at these two, DeLay versus Pelosi, majority leader versus minority leader, conservative hardliner Tom DeLay. That's his reputation. Nancy Pelosi is seen as one of the most liberal in the Democratic caucus.
And to go further, look, they've nicknames, or at least Tom DeLay does. Tom DeLay is known as "The Hammer." Nancy does not have a nickname yet that I know of. She is definitely seen as a can-do leader, but in contrast to Tom DeLay, Nancy Cannot stop smiling, even when she is savaging her critics.
ZAHN: That can be pretty disarming, can't it?
KARL: It's really something to watch. Tom DeLay, she is every bit as tough as DeLay and hard-edged, but she just has that smile that never goes away. Tom DeLay, by the way, they gave him a hammer covered in velvet when he got the majority leader spot, and the comment that was made was, it doesn't make any noise, but it hurts just as much.
So look at some of the other differences on virtually every top issue you can think of, abortion, you've got Tom DeLay as one of the staunchest antiabortion. And Nancy Pelosi as strongly pro-choice as you can possibly be. And if you go further on gun control, Tom DeLay is one of the favorites of the National Rifle Association. Nancy Pelosi is in favor of very strict gun control. You can go further. You can go taxes, welfare reform. On virtually every hot button issue, these two represent the polar extremes of their parties. And even where they're from. Tom DeLay is from the suburbs of Houston, about as conservative as it gets, and Nancy Pelosi, she represents Haight-Ashbury, San Francisco, two different worlds.
ZAHN: Absolutely. So do these two have anything in common?
KARL: They do. They actually have -- they actually have more in common than you might think. First of all, they are both master fund- raisers. Nancy Pelosi gave more money personally from her political action committee to candidates this year than any other member in Congress. Number two, Tom DeLay. They are both huge fund-raisers. They know how to take care of people.
The other thing is, Nancy Pelosi is a hard-liner on the issue of communist China, and she stands with people like Jesse Helms and, yes, Tom DeLay, in taking a very hard line approach to communist China. So she has stood side by side with some of the most conservative members of Congress, at least on that issue.
ZAHN: How do you expect the two of them get along?
KARL: DeLay has already come out and expressed great respect for his opponent, and calls her a worthy opponent. I think that...
ZAHN: That is a smart thing to do.
KARL: Of course it is. And I think Nancy Pelosi will never stop smiling, even when dealing with Tom DeLay. The only thing is they both know how to take care of people. I mean, it's almost like the old style machine politics, which is, of course, how Nancy Pelosi grew up as the daughter of the mayor of Baltimore. What you do is you give favors. You give favors to the people you are going to have to ask for favors in return. They both do that extremely well within their caucuses, which is why Nancy Pelosi has support among the moderate to conservative Democrats in her party, she really does. And Tom DeLay, some of his strongest boosters are the moderates in the Republican Parties.
ZAHN: They are both survivors. Why didn't she show up today? She was supposed to come talk to you.
KARL: We will find out about that.
ZAHN: Her throat is bothering her? Her eye is bothering her? What is it?
KARL: We heard throat, we heard eye -- we don't know, but I'm sure she will be back.
ZAHN: We look forward to hearing from her and from you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired November 15, 2002 - 09:15 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Congress has a whole new look this week. House Democrats elected a new leader. Representative Nancy Pelosi, the first woman ever to hold that post. She starts that position in January, and Republicans who have actually regained control of the Senate are busy on a new agenda.
Jonathan Karl, who covers Capitol Hill was good enough to join us to take Bill's place and talk about some of the Washington matters now.
Good morning.
JONATHAN KARL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is great stuff, because you've got really a polarization in the House of Representatives based off of reporters be covering. Fireworks on the Hill with this new leadership. You have Nancy Pelosi on one side, the new liberal from San Francisco, heading up the Democrats in the House.
But the new majority leader over in the House is Tom DeLay. Now, we all now Tom DeLay is one of the most conservative members. So let's take a look at these two, DeLay versus Pelosi, majority leader versus minority leader, conservative hardliner Tom DeLay. That's his reputation. Nancy Pelosi is seen as one of the most liberal in the Democratic caucus.
And to go further, look, they've nicknames, or at least Tom DeLay does. Tom DeLay is known as "The Hammer." Nancy does not have a nickname yet that I know of. She is definitely seen as a can-do leader, but in contrast to Tom DeLay, Nancy Cannot stop smiling, even when she is savaging her critics.
ZAHN: That can be pretty disarming, can't it?
KARL: It's really something to watch. Tom DeLay, she is every bit as tough as DeLay and hard-edged, but she just has that smile that never goes away. Tom DeLay, by the way, they gave him a hammer covered in velvet when he got the majority leader spot, and the comment that was made was, it doesn't make any noise, but it hurts just as much.
So look at some of the other differences on virtually every top issue you can think of, abortion, you've got Tom DeLay as one of the staunchest antiabortion. And Nancy Pelosi as strongly pro-choice as you can possibly be. And if you go further on gun control, Tom DeLay is one of the favorites of the National Rifle Association. Nancy Pelosi is in favor of very strict gun control. You can go further. You can go taxes, welfare reform. On virtually every hot button issue, these two represent the polar extremes of their parties. And even where they're from. Tom DeLay is from the suburbs of Houston, about as conservative as it gets, and Nancy Pelosi, she represents Haight-Ashbury, San Francisco, two different worlds.
ZAHN: Absolutely. So do these two have anything in common?
KARL: They do. They actually have -- they actually have more in common than you might think. First of all, they are both master fund- raisers. Nancy Pelosi gave more money personally from her political action committee to candidates this year than any other member in Congress. Number two, Tom DeLay. They are both huge fund-raisers. They know how to take care of people.
The other thing is, Nancy Pelosi is a hard-liner on the issue of communist China, and she stands with people like Jesse Helms and, yes, Tom DeLay, in taking a very hard line approach to communist China. So she has stood side by side with some of the most conservative members of Congress, at least on that issue.
ZAHN: How do you expect the two of them get along?
KARL: DeLay has already come out and expressed great respect for his opponent, and calls her a worthy opponent. I think that...
ZAHN: That is a smart thing to do.
KARL: Of course it is. And I think Nancy Pelosi will never stop smiling, even when dealing with Tom DeLay. The only thing is they both know how to take care of people. I mean, it's almost like the old style machine politics, which is, of course, how Nancy Pelosi grew up as the daughter of the mayor of Baltimore. What you do is you give favors. You give favors to the people you are going to have to ask for favors in return. They both do that extremely well within their caucuses, which is why Nancy Pelosi has support among the moderate to conservative Democrats in her party, she really does. And Tom DeLay, some of his strongest boosters are the moderates in the Republican Parties.
ZAHN: They are both survivors. Why didn't she show up today? She was supposed to come talk to you.
KARL: We will find out about that.
ZAHN: Her throat is bothering her? Her eye is bothering her? What is it?
KARL: We heard throat, we heard eye -- we don't know, but I'm sure she will be back.
ZAHN: We look forward to hearing from her and from you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
