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CNN TALKBACK LIVE
Al Gore Decides Not To Run Again; Should Trent Lott Resign?
Aired December 16, 2002 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ARTHEL NEVILLE, HOST: We've been watching and listening, and our audience has a lot to say about Al Gore leaving an open field to Democrats in 2004.
So let's get started now with longtime Gore supporter Peter Beinart. He is the editor of "The New Republic."
OK, Peter, let's get right to the point. Why did he do it?
PETER BEINART, EDITOR, "THE NEW REPUBLIC": Well, I'm actually not a longtime Gore supporter. I'm a longtime journalist, but we do right about Al Gore, and have written favorably about him in the past. I think it seems like Gore took a look at the race and realized it would be a very tough haul. I think he was probably -- he may have been surprised over the past few months by how negative reaction there was to his reentrance into the political arena, both in the press and amongst Democratic Party operatives. My hunch is he just thought it wasn't going to be worth the trouble.
NEVILLE: OK. Cherylyn Harley, you're a former deputy press secretary for the Republican National Committee. Hello to you.
CHERYLYN HARLEY, FMR. RNC DEPUTY COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Hello.
NEVILLE: Does this make things harder or easier on President Bush in 2004?
HARLEY: Well, you know, I think it's interesting to note that, even up to about 48 hours ago, even close supporters of Gore were really surprised. They thought that he was going to run again in 2004. And now what you have is this -- you know, sort of the floodgates have opened, and you have this wide, you know, group of Democrats now that are throwing their hat in the ring. And it just sort of shows that the Democrats are not very organized; they're in a disarray.
And, of course, I think that makes it much easier for President Bush, because this is -- I think what the Democrats are really going to have in 2004 is a big primary. There's going to be maybe even now, we've heard, since today, four candidates mentioned. Probably five, six. So, you know, again, it's that divide and conquer. And I think the Democrats have to, A, come up with a message, and, B, figure out a strategy.
NEVILLE: OK. Then let's say you're the head of the DNC. Do you let Al Gore go out and make speeches?
HARLEY: Well, you know you can't prevent Al Gore from doing what Al Gore wants to do.
NEVILLE: You could persuade him not to do it.
HARLEY: Yeah. But also, I don't really know how much clout that Al Gore has or does not have right now. You know there's been whispers about that, you know, he was encouraged not to run, and his book sales were fizzling, his fund-raising operation wasn't very cohesive. So is he going to go now and become a Democratic operative? We don't know, and I think that remains to be seen.
NEVILLE: So Peter, would you let Al Gore be an active voice now?
BEINART: Sure. Yeah. I don't think it's really, frankly, going to be a problem. I mean the truth is, now that he's not a candidate, he will talk, but it won't get enough attention to overshadow the other Democratic candidates. And actually, the truth is that Gore actually is at his best, in many ways, talking about fairly kind of (UNINTELLIGIBLE) policy topics. Health care, the budget, tax cuts, and there is a debate in the Democratic Party about how the Democrats try to respond to this weak economy and to respond to the problems, for instance, with health care. And Gore could be useful in that debate, I think.
NEVILLE: OK. Listen, we have a couple of e-mails coming in right now I want to share with you. Brett in Washington, D.C., he says, "I'd place money on Howard Dean. He's fearless and vocal, but most importantly, he makes more sense than any political candidate out there."
And coming in from Joe, "Good-bye Al. Glad to see you take your name out of the hat. Now if you could only persuade Joe Lieberman to do the same, it would be a better day."
So Peter, I go back to you. Would Lieberman be a better choice for the Democrats?
BEINART: I think it's a good thing that Lieberman is going to run, because Lieberman is the most unambiguously pro-war candidate in the Democratic field. He's got a very strong hawkish record, and I think it's important that voice be there in the primary. So I think the Democratic primary really should be about the party finding an identity on the war on terrorism and the war in Iraq. An identity that right now it lacks.
And I think with Lieberman in the race, I think it sharpens that debate between him and some other people like, say, Kerry, who's been much more critical of the war. I think it's a good thing he's running.
NEVILLE: And Cherylyn, finally for you, where do you see the Democratic Party heading in the post Clinton-Gore era?
HARLEY: That's a very good question. I think they need to -- I mean, if these past elections-- November elections -- were any indication, A, they didn't have a leader, and, B, they didn't have a message. And just criticizing the Republicans is just not good enough. They have to come up with a message which is going to work for their base.
NEVILLE: OK. Peter Beinart, thank you for so much for joining us here today.
BEINART: Thanks.
NEVILLE: OK. Good to see you. It's time for another break. And when we come back, we're going to take a look at another politician who could be on his way out. Incoming Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott is in the hot seat on BET today. CNN's Jonathan Karl is on the beat. He'll be with us in a moment. Don't go anywhere. TALKBACK LIVE continues in a moment.
(APPLAUSE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NEVILLE: And welcome back, everyone. I'm Arthel Neville.
The fate of incoming Senator Majority Leader Trent Lott could be decided early next month. Meanwhile, he is scheduled to undergo some intense questioning today on BET, trying to explain away racially charged comments made at the Strom Thurmond's birthday party. From the White House to the Capitol Hill, the Republican leader is feeling the heat indeed.
And we have someone standing outside. Jonathan Karl is standing outside of BET. We'll get to him later. In the meantime, though, we have a special guest right here in Atlanta with us joining us now. Tom Joyner, everyone. He is the host of the "Tom Joyner Morning Show" -- or "Show," no longer just the "Morning Show." Mr. Joyner on ABC Radio Network.
And I ask you, is BET the best place for Trent Lott to make this case?
TOM JOYNER, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: It's one of the best places. I mean, after all, you only have a couple of media entities that reach the majority of African-Americans on a daily basis. You got us, with the "Tom Joyner Morning Show." We reach about 8.5 million. And then you have BET.
OK. So you're not looking for a statement from Trent Lott after you get through with a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) video, but it's still a way to reach black people. You know, it's better than no way at all.
NEVILLE: But if you were advising Mr. Lott, where would you have told him to go to speak out?
JOYNER: I would have told him to come on the "Tom Joyner Morning Show" and Tavis' (ph) NPR show, as well as BET.
NEVILLE: But all three?
JOYNER: Yeah.
NEVILLE: OK. Cherylyn, what does Lott have to do in this interview?
HARLEY: Well, I think he needs to, again, explain his comments, explain his past history, and just talk about why it's so important to reach out to the black community. What my former boss, Chairman Jim Nicholson, who is chairman of the Republican National Committee -- he was on BET several times. He spoke before the NAACP, he was on American Urban Radio Network, and not because he was in a jam and had to be on it, but because he wanted to. And I encourage all members of the Republican leadership to reach out to black media, as well as to the black community. Let's not wait until you have a problem before you decide to reach out to the black media.
NEVILLE: Which is precisely where I was going to go next, Tom. And that is is it too little, too late? It's like, oh, you're coming to us now. What about before?
JOYNER: Oh, yeah. I think it is too little, too late. First of all, you can't apologize to me for being a segregationist. That's wrong. If I do you wrong, an apology doesn't change that.
He is a racist, pure and simple. He has shown you he is by what he said a couple of weeks ago. You all have dug into his past. You have brought up the pattern that he has shown from the Reagan speech to defending bob Jones for the interracial dating of Bob Jones University. Hey, he voted against the King holiday.
NEVILLE: So, at this point, is there anything he can do right?
JOYNER: He can step down as majority leader. That's what he should do. He should step down.
He is the leader of the Senate. He is not just a leader of the people of Mississippi. He is the leader of the Senate. That's all of us, whether we're from Georgia, Alabama, New York or wherever.
He is racist. He has been outed as a racist, and we have no -- there's no place for a leader of this country to have those views. And more importantly, more importantly, I have a beef with the Democrats for not taking a stronger stand on this.
NEVILLE: What should they have done?
JOYNER: The first thing they should have done is the senators, the democratic senators, should demand that he step down. As far as I know, I think there's only one that has said that, John Kerry. The rest don't have the courage to come up and say he is racist. He needs to step down.
Black people voted 98 -- probably 98 percent of the black vote went to Democrats. They are in there representing our views. We voted for them. Can't they step up to the plate and say this is wrong? He needs to step down? He's racist.
(APPLAUSE)
JOYNER: There's no room in this country for a leader of this country to be racist.
NEVILLE: Let's go to the phones now. We're going to talk to Bob (ph), who is standing by -- Bill (ph), who's standing by in Kansas. Hello, Bill (ph).
CALLER: Hello.
NEVILLE: Should he resign?
CALLER: Absolutely not. This is, for lack of a better word, it's been used a thousand times, a witch hunt. They did the same to Gingrich, Buchanan and Falwell. And if you will listening to the words that Mr. Lott said, everything else is spin. And it's mind reading at the highest on the part of the Democrats, because there's nobody's saying exactly what he said. They're reading things into it.
NEVILLE: Bill (ph), thank you so much for calling in. We have to take a break right now. Then you can tell me if you think Trent Lott should be pushed to resign. We're back in a moment. Don't go anywhere.
(APPLAUSE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NEVILLE: And welcome back, everybody. I'm Arthel Neville. We're talking about whether or not Trent Lott should resign. Joining me right now, Tom Joyner, ABC Radio Network.
You know, Tom, over the past -- the past couple of weeks -- people have been criticizing other politicians who have misspoken in the past, apologized, moved on. Is Trent Lott being held to a higher standard?
JOYNER: Yes, because he's the leader of the Senate. He's not just -- as I mentioned before, he was elected by the people of Mississippi. Now, the people of Mississippi don't want him there, that's the people of Mississippi's business. But he's not just the leader of the people of Mississippi. He's the leader of the Senate.
That's our Senate. He is a leader of this country. And for someone to have racist views like that leading our country, how can we move forward? Without...
NEVILLE: And I go to Cherylyn on that one. How can the Republicans move forward? Essentially, they've been stopped in their tracks by this...
HARLEY: Well, this certainly is a problem. And what we have to remember is that these comments are just much bigger than just Trent Lott. What this does is taint forever -- not forever, but I should say at least in the immediate future moving forward the Republican agenda. There's faith-based initiatives, there's Social Security, there's education issues.
We are going to be tainted. And this is a serious problem, because it impacts not just blacks, whites, green, yellow, everybody in between. And we need to be able to move an agenda forward and we're going to be tainted because of this.
NEVILLE: OK. Cherylyn, listen, we are out of time. Tom Joyner, I want to thank you so much for joining us here today on TALKBACK LIVE. And Cherylyn Harley, thank you so much for being here as well. And thanks to all of you for watching. I'm Arthel Neville. I'll see you again tomorrow at 3:00 Eastern, noon Pacific.
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