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American Morning

Gimme a Minute

Aired June 06, 2003 - 08:34   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Time for a look back at some of the news making news this past week. Say what you want and say it fast, too. It is Friday, time for "Gimme a Minute."
In Washington today, Democratic strategist Donna Brazile is with us. Donna, good morning.

DONNA BRAZILE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Good morning.

HEMMER: Jonah Goldberg, editor of the "National Review Online," good to have you back, Jonah. Good morning to you as well.

JONAH GOLDBERG, EDITOR, "NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE": Thanks for having me.

HARRIS: Also in New York City, Andy Borowitz with "The New Yorker" and the borowitzreport.com. He's back. Andy, good morning.

ANDY BOROWITZ, "THE NEW YORKER": Hi, Bill.

Let's talk about Middle East peace. A chance for peace, Donna? You are the lead here. Or just a big fat chance right now?

BRAZILE: No, I think the United States needs to help both sides remove the stumbling blocks and get them back on a path to peace.

HEMMER: People want to know if it's for real. Jonah, is it?

GOLDBERG: I have to say I'm pretty pessimistic. This Hamas news is pretty bad. They are denouncing the concessions the Israelis -- the Palestinians made when I am not really clear what concessions the Palestinians actually made.

I do think President Bush would be getting a lot more credit for the risks he's taking if this wasn't seen as somehow legitimating the war.

HEMMER: Andy, can you find humor in this? Give it a shot.

BOROWITZ: Well, there are some signs of progress because both sides agreed they were getting really sick of the word "road map."

HEMMER: I knew you could do it, Drew. Let's get back to the whole issue about whether or not Hillary Clinton's book is going to be a big seller. It is called "Living History," on stands on Monday. Jonah, start us off. How many copies have you ordered so far? GOLDBERG: How many have I ordered? None. Look, I think this thing is all marketing and buzz. We've only gotten a few hundred words leaked, and already those have been disproved as not true by Sid Blumenthal's book, by the "Washington Post"'s Peter Baker. It's all spin and preparation for her 2008 presidential ambitions. And with an $8 million advance, they have got to do something to move a book that's going to mostly about boring health care issues.

HEMMER: I guess he is not going to Amazon, Donna. This is a softball for you, by the way.

BRAZILE: It's a page turner. "Living history" is more than the legend of Monica Lewinsky. It's the story of Hillary Clinton and her rise to power and, of course, the course of passion and advocacy for children's issues. I intend to buy a couple of copies, especially one now that I know that Jonah needs a copy.

HEMMER: I think Donna is getting the DVD as well. Andy, what about it? Autographed copy for you?

BOROWITZ: I'm going to wait for the audio book, because I hear it's going to be read by Paula Jones, which should be great.

HEMMER: Which is perfect for those long drives, too.

BOROWITZ: Absolutely. Love that voice.

HEMMER: A couple stories out there regarding public trust. Sammy Sosa and his cork bat, Martha Stewart and her problems. You have got the gray lady getting gray (ph) at "The New York Times." Donna, kick it off for us. How do you get that public trust back?

BRAZILE: Well, the people will continue to love Sammy Sosa, and we all know that "The New York Times" is the paper of record, but I don't know about Martha Stewart. I think we'll be seeing her living in prison soon.

HEMMER: Jonah, how about it?

GOLDBERG: The issues are so separate. I think Sosa's going to come out of this OK, but what strikes me is how this is really sort of a sign, if you add in Bill Bennett and a few other things, sort of the 2000s, or the oughts (ph), are really a new decade and a lot of the icons of the 1990s are fading into the past.

HEMMER: Wow. Can they come back, Andy?

BOROWITZ: Well, in New York, we wish they would find cork in George Steinbrenner's mouth, but I think in terms of Martha Stewart, there's some good news here, which it turns out some of the evidence against her came from the Pentagon.

HEMMER: We never lose trust in Borowitz. "Under the Radar": Jonah, what is under your radar this week?

GOLDBERG: Nothing too cheery. As we're hearing all this stuff about the weapons of mass destruction and whether or not that was exaggerated. We've also found another one of the many mass graves in Iraq. This one a mass grave of over 200 children who were buried with their dolls. And so, even as every day the strategic validation for the war comes into question, the moral validation of the war gets brighter.

HEMMER: What we're learning from there is grim. Donna, how about you?

BRAZILE: Well, the moderate Republicans in the House threw a monkey wrench at Tom DeLay this week when he attempted to try to take away the overtime pay of full-time workers.

HEMMER: Andy?

BOROWITZ: I would like to end on a good news story.

HEMMER: How about it?

BOROWITZ: This week, Britain's Queen Elizabeth celebrated 50 years of sitting in a chair.

HEMMER: Happy anniversary. Donna, Jonah, Andy, thanks for coming back with us. Talk to you next Friday, all right? Have a great weekend.

BOROWITZ: You, too.

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 June 6, 2003 - 08:34   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Time for a look back at some of the news making news this past week. Say what you want and say it fast, too. It is Friday, time for "Gimme a Minute."
In Washington today, Democratic strategist Donna Brazile is with us. Donna, good morning.

DONNA BRAZILE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Good morning.

HEMMER: Jonah Goldberg, editor of the "National Review Online," good to have you back, Jonah. Good morning to you as well.

JONAH GOLDBERG, EDITOR, "NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE": Thanks for having me.

HARRIS: Also in New York City, Andy Borowitz with "The New Yorker" and the borowitzreport.com. He's back. Andy, good morning.

ANDY BOROWITZ, "THE NEW YORKER": Hi, Bill.

Let's talk about Middle East peace. A chance for peace, Donna? You are the lead here. Or just a big fat chance right now?

BRAZILE: No, I think the United States needs to help both sides remove the stumbling blocks and get them back on a path to peace.

HEMMER: People want to know if it's for real. Jonah, is it?

GOLDBERG: I have to say I'm pretty pessimistic. This Hamas news is pretty bad. They are denouncing the concessions the Israelis -- the Palestinians made when I am not really clear what concessions the Palestinians actually made.

I do think President Bush would be getting a lot more credit for the risks he's taking if this wasn't seen as somehow legitimating the war.

HEMMER: Andy, can you find humor in this? Give it a shot.

BOROWITZ: Well, there are some signs of progress because both sides agreed they were getting really sick of the word "road map."

HEMMER: I knew you could do it, Drew. Let's get back to the whole issue about whether or not Hillary Clinton's book is going to be a big seller. It is called "Living History," on stands on Monday. Jonah, start us off. How many copies have you ordered so far? GOLDBERG: How many have I ordered? None. Look, I think this thing is all marketing and buzz. We've only gotten a few hundred words leaked, and already those have been disproved as not true by Sid Blumenthal's book, by the "Washington Post"'s Peter Baker. It's all spin and preparation for her 2008 presidential ambitions. And with an $8 million advance, they have got to do something to move a book that's going to mostly about boring health care issues.

HEMMER: I guess he is not going to Amazon, Donna. This is a softball for you, by the way.

BRAZILE: It's a page turner. "Living history" is more than the legend of Monica Lewinsky. It's the story of Hillary Clinton and her rise to power and, of course, the course of passion and advocacy for children's issues. I intend to buy a couple of copies, especially one now that I know that Jonah needs a copy.

HEMMER: I think Donna is getting the DVD as well. Andy, what about it? Autographed copy for you?

BOROWITZ: I'm going to wait for the audio book, because I hear it's going to be read by Paula Jones, which should be great.

HEMMER: Which is perfect for those long drives, too.

BOROWITZ: Absolutely. Love that voice.

HEMMER: A couple stories out there regarding public trust. Sammy Sosa and his cork bat, Martha Stewart and her problems. You have got the gray lady getting gray (ph) at "The New York Times." Donna, kick it off for us. How do you get that public trust back?

BRAZILE: Well, the people will continue to love Sammy Sosa, and we all know that "The New York Times" is the paper of record, but I don't know about Martha Stewart. I think we'll be seeing her living in prison soon.

HEMMER: Jonah, how about it?

GOLDBERG: The issues are so separate. I think Sosa's going to come out of this OK, but what strikes me is how this is really sort of a sign, if you add in Bill Bennett and a few other things, sort of the 2000s, or the oughts (ph), are really a new decade and a lot of the icons of the 1990s are fading into the past.

HEMMER: Wow. Can they come back, Andy?

BOROWITZ: Well, in New York, we wish they would find cork in George Steinbrenner's mouth, but I think in terms of Martha Stewart, there's some good news here, which it turns out some of the evidence against her came from the Pentagon.

HEMMER: We never lose trust in Borowitz. "Under the Radar": Jonah, what is under your radar this week?

GOLDBERG: Nothing too cheery. As we're hearing all this stuff about the weapons of mass destruction and whether or not that was exaggerated. We've also found another one of the many mass graves in Iraq. This one a mass grave of over 200 children who were buried with their dolls. And so, even as every day the strategic validation for the war comes into question, the moral validation of the war gets brighter.

HEMMER: What we're learning from there is grim. Donna, how about you?

BRAZILE: Well, the moderate Republicans in the House threw a monkey wrench at Tom DeLay this week when he attempted to try to take away the overtime pay of full-time workers.

HEMMER: Andy?

BOROWITZ: I would like to end on a good news story.

HEMMER: How about it?

BOROWITZ: This week, Britain's Queen Elizabeth celebrated 50 years of sitting in a chair.

HEMMER: Happy anniversary. Donna, Jonah, Andy, thanks for coming back with us. Talk to you next Friday, all right? Have a great weekend.

BOROWITZ: You, too.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com