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CNN Live Today

Analysis of Democratic Presidential Debate

Aired September 05, 2003 - 10:22   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.


(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president goes around the country speaking Spanish. The only Spanish he speaks when it comes to jobs is hasta la vista.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But that is the challenge.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: That was last night's Democratic presidential debate in Albuquerque, given to a largely Hispanic audience. Most of the candidates took a stab or two at Spanish. It was not that successful for some. The candidates focused most of their attention on President Bush, criticizing his handling of the economy and the war in Iraq.

Our senior political analyst, Bill Schneider, is here with his post-game observations of the first major Democratic debate.

Bill -- good morning.

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning, Daryn.

KAGAN: The idea...

SCHNEIDER: Well...

KAGAN: I would say the idea for this was to try to break out for one of the candidates. Did that happen?

SCHNEIDER: I don't think it really did happen, because one of the things was the debate was oddly formatted so the candidates really were not given an opportunity to talk directly to each other.

One thing we should note from these debates is they work best when the candidates can debate literally with each other, instead of addressing everything to the moderator.

Now, there are nine Democrats running for president. Eight showed up last night. Daryn, which one is missing? Here's a hint. It's not Arnold Schwarzenegger. One candidate isn't there. Let's let our audience decide. Looking at these pictures of the platform, who is not there?

Well, what did happen in the debate was that Howard Dean, of course, has been the only candidate to get any momentum. He did it by what I call the Democratic version of the California Gold Rush. He discovered gold in anti-Bush sentiment. So, all of the candidates have decided I want to do what Dean does. I want some of that gold. So, all of them went after George Bush, some of them quite strenuously.

Listen to Dick Gephardt in his criticism of George Bush.

REP. DICK GEPHARDT (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We cannot cut and run. We've got to see that this situation is left in a better place. We have to form an international coalition to get it done. This president is a miserable failure. He is a miserable failure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHNEIDER: If Dean can do it, they said, so can I.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. DENNIS KUCINICH (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You can talk about balancing the budget in Vermont, but Vermont doesn't have a military. And if you're not going to cut the military and you're talking about balancing the budget, then what are you going to do about social spending? Hello!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHNEIDER: Well, that was Dennis Kucinich, who was one of the few candidates who aimed criticism at one of his fellow Democrats. That was aimed at the putative frontrunner, Howard Dean.

But for the most part, the candidates really did not address one another. Instead, they all said I'm the one who can really go after George Bush, which appears to be where the passion in the Democratic Party lies right now.

KAGAN: Which a lot of people would criticize that's the problem with the Democrats. That they're just being critical and they're not kind of coming up with their own game plan here.

Let's talk about when they weren't talking English, when they were trying to talk Spanish, given that this was in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and that there's a big primary next February 3rd that's going to involve a significant part of the West.

SCHNEIDER: Well, this was sponsored by a Spanish-language broadcast, in part. Spanish was used in this debate, and all of the candidates made at least a stab at exercising some of their high school Spanish. Some did better than others. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KUCHINICH: Jocrero (ph) is muey (ph) importante.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hasta la vista.

SEN. JOE LIEBERMAN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Muchos palebras (ph) pocas (ph) hobres (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHNEIDER: And there you are, the first semi-Spanish-speaking debate.

KAGAN: Nois (ph) muey (ph) bueno (ph), I would have to say. Maybe a trip back to some high school Spanish for those candidates.

SCHNEIDER: It might be a good idea.

KAGAN: It'll be interesting to see how they continue to try to go after the significant Latino minorities.

SCHNEIDER: Yes, indeed.

KAGAN: Thank you so much, Bill Schneider.

SCHNEIDER: OK.

KAGAN: Appreciate it.

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 September 5, 2003 - 10:22   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president goes around the country speaking Spanish. The only Spanish he speaks when it comes to jobs is hasta la vista.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But that is the challenge.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: That was last night's Democratic presidential debate in Albuquerque, given to a largely Hispanic audience. Most of the candidates took a stab or two at Spanish. It was not that successful for some. The candidates focused most of their attention on President Bush, criticizing his handling of the economy and the war in Iraq.

Our senior political analyst, Bill Schneider, is here with his post-game observations of the first major Democratic debate.

Bill -- good morning.

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning, Daryn.

KAGAN: The idea...

SCHNEIDER: Well...

KAGAN: I would say the idea for this was to try to break out for one of the candidates. Did that happen?

SCHNEIDER: I don't think it really did happen, because one of the things was the debate was oddly formatted so the candidates really were not given an opportunity to talk directly to each other.

One thing we should note from these debates is they work best when the candidates can debate literally with each other, instead of addressing everything to the moderator.

Now, there are nine Democrats running for president. Eight showed up last night. Daryn, which one is missing? Here's a hint. It's not Arnold Schwarzenegger. One candidate isn't there. Let's let our audience decide. Looking at these pictures of the platform, who is not there?

Well, what did happen in the debate was that Howard Dean, of course, has been the only candidate to get any momentum. He did it by what I call the Democratic version of the California Gold Rush. He discovered gold in anti-Bush sentiment. So, all of the candidates have decided I want to do what Dean does. I want some of that gold. So, all of them went after George Bush, some of them quite strenuously.

Listen to Dick Gephardt in his criticism of George Bush.

REP. DICK GEPHARDT (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We cannot cut and run. We've got to see that this situation is left in a better place. We have to form an international coalition to get it done. This president is a miserable failure. He is a miserable failure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHNEIDER: If Dean can do it, they said, so can I.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. DENNIS KUCINICH (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You can talk about balancing the budget in Vermont, but Vermont doesn't have a military. And if you're not going to cut the military and you're talking about balancing the budget, then what are you going to do about social spending? Hello!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHNEIDER: Well, that was Dennis Kucinich, who was one of the few candidates who aimed criticism at one of his fellow Democrats. That was aimed at the putative frontrunner, Howard Dean.

But for the most part, the candidates really did not address one another. Instead, they all said I'm the one who can really go after George Bush, which appears to be where the passion in the Democratic Party lies right now.

KAGAN: Which a lot of people would criticize that's the problem with the Democrats. That they're just being critical and they're not kind of coming up with their own game plan here.

Let's talk about when they weren't talking English, when they were trying to talk Spanish, given that this was in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and that there's a big primary next February 3rd that's going to involve a significant part of the West.

SCHNEIDER: Well, this was sponsored by a Spanish-language broadcast, in part. Spanish was used in this debate, and all of the candidates made at least a stab at exercising some of their high school Spanish. Some did better than others. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KUCHINICH: Jocrero (ph) is muey (ph) importante.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hasta la vista.

SEN. JOE LIEBERMAN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Muchos palebras (ph) pocas (ph) hobres (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHNEIDER: And there you are, the first semi-Spanish-speaking debate.

KAGAN: Nois (ph) muey (ph) bueno (ph), I would have to say. Maybe a trip back to some high school Spanish for those candidates.

SCHNEIDER: It might be a good idea.

KAGAN: It'll be interesting to see how they continue to try to go after the significant Latino minorities.

SCHNEIDER: Yes, indeed.

KAGAN: Thank you so much, Bill Schneider.

SCHNEIDER: OK.

KAGAN: Appreciate it.

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