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American Morning
Interview With Ed Gillespie, Republican National Committee Chairman
Aired October 06, 2003 - 07:17 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: President Bush's popularity slipping this summer. David Kay's weapons report and that CIA leak investigation giving the president's poll numbers a one-two punch lately. With the election about 13 months away now, is there concern already developing within the Republican Party?
Good question for Ed Gillespie, chairman of the Republican National Committee, live from D.C. this morning.
Nice to see you, Ed. Good morning to you.
ED GILLESPIE, RNC CHAIRMAN: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: Was there a bit of a smile or a smirk there? What was that?
GILLESPIE: Oh, I'm just happy to be here this morning with you.
HEMMER: Oh, OK. Well, it's great to have you, by the way.
Listen, can the president win the White House if you don't find the WMD in Iraq?
GILLESPIE: Oh, of course, Bill. The fact is that what the president did when it came to Iraq was to act in our national interests. There was universal agreement that Saddam Hussein was developing weapons of mass destruction. If you actually listened to David Kay yesterday and if you read his report, you'll see that there is ample reinforcement of that. What the president said was we are not going to wait to allow this threat to become imminent.
There was agreement by the United Nations, by the French, Hans Blix, the international community, former President Clinton and his administration all understood that Saddam was not acting appropriately in response to U.N. resolutions and conforming with them. And the president acted accordingly to make sure that we remove the threat there, and that was the right thing to do. The world is a better place without Saddam Hussein.
And the Democrats, what they are doing increasingly in their primary, as they seek their party's nomination, is moving away from a policy of pre-emptive self-defense and going back to a policy where we respond in the wake of terrorist acts and aftermath policy. And I think that's a mistake.
HEMMER: What you're talking about in many ways is what happened in the past. I want to talk about the president going forward. You mentioned David Kay. Listen to what he said about the search right now with Wolf Blitzer over the weekend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID KAY, CHIEF WEAPONS INSPECTOR: What everyone has skated over, both in the chemical and the biological area, is what we indeed have found. We found a vast network of undeclared labs engaged in prohibited activity in both of those areas. So, it's not that we have found nothing. We've actually found quite a bit, although we have not yet found shiny, pointy things that I would call a weapon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: That was David Kay from yesterday.
"The New York Times" on Friday put out the following number: 56 percent of the people surveyed say the country right now is on the wrong track. How does the White House convince Americans that there is progress in Iraq?
GILLESPIE: Well, by pointing out all of the things that are going on. You know, there's an old saying, Bill, that "No news is good news." And there is a flip side to that, which is that good news is no news. And unfortunately, we don't see all that's going on right now in Iraq that is so positive.
There is a new currency being circulated there and being accepted by the Iraqi people. A civilian police force is being established there. The Governing Council has come together without all of the factionalism that people feared, and they've appointed ministers. The schools, the universities, the libraries, the hospitals are up and running.
So, I think that over time, people are going to realize that not only has Iraq been freed and liberated, but, again, we don't have a brutal dictator there with a history of using weapons of mass destruction and an avowed hatred of the United States, posing a threat to our own national interests.
In addition to that, we're starting to see signs of positive developments in the economy, thanks to President Bush's economic policies. And the fact is that we're now looking at projections of economic growth in the range of 4, 5, 6 percent, the highest that we've seen since 1999. Durable goods orders are up and the inventories are down. Those usually are harbingers of job growth. In fact, we saw employment payroll additions for the first time in years this past month.
So, things are looking up in terms of the economy. I think you'll see consumer confidence and job growth follow right behind, and then those right-direction and wrong-track numbers will change again.
HEMMER: Ed, quickly here, and I'm almost out of time. The "L.A. Times" writing today about the CIA leak, suggesting a double standard in the White House. I need a quick answer on this, but I want to read it for our viewers: "Many in Washington have been mystified that the White House did not respond publicly until last week to a leak dating to mid-July. It only reacted after news reports that the CIA had formally requested a criminal investigation."
Is there a double standard publicly in what the White House is doing now?
GILLESPIE: No, there is not, Bill. The fact is that these were unnamed sources. No one knew, and still doesn't know to this day, whether or not anyone at the White House had a role in this.
In fact, if you listened to Bob Novak yesterday, he was clear. He talked about administration officials. That doesn't necessarily mean the White House. The White House is much smaller than the broader administration, the administration who is all of the agencies, all of the departments, all of the programs.
So, the White House has instructed all of the staff there to cooperate fully with the Department of Justice. They are doing that. They have until tomorrow to forward all information, if there is any information, relative to this. And I think the president has acted very appropriately here and accordingly.
HEMMER: Much more tomorrow. We'll track it then. Ed Gillespie, thanks, from the RNC in D.C.
GILLESPIE: Thank 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.
Chairman>
Aired October 6, 2003 - 07:17 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush's popularity slipping this summer. David Kay's weapons report and that CIA leak investigation giving the president's poll numbers a one-two punch lately. With the election about 13 months away now, is there concern already developing within the Republican Party?
Good question for Ed Gillespie, chairman of the Republican National Committee, live from D.C. this morning.
Nice to see you, Ed. Good morning to you.
ED GILLESPIE, RNC CHAIRMAN: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: Was there a bit of a smile or a smirk there? What was that?
GILLESPIE: Oh, I'm just happy to be here this morning with you.
HEMMER: Oh, OK. Well, it's great to have you, by the way.
Listen, can the president win the White House if you don't find the WMD in Iraq?
GILLESPIE: Oh, of course, Bill. The fact is that what the president did when it came to Iraq was to act in our national interests. There was universal agreement that Saddam Hussein was developing weapons of mass destruction. If you actually listened to David Kay yesterday and if you read his report, you'll see that there is ample reinforcement of that. What the president said was we are not going to wait to allow this threat to become imminent.
There was agreement by the United Nations, by the French, Hans Blix, the international community, former President Clinton and his administration all understood that Saddam was not acting appropriately in response to U.N. resolutions and conforming with them. And the president acted accordingly to make sure that we remove the threat there, and that was the right thing to do. The world is a better place without Saddam Hussein.
And the Democrats, what they are doing increasingly in their primary, as they seek their party's nomination, is moving away from a policy of pre-emptive self-defense and going back to a policy where we respond in the wake of terrorist acts and aftermath policy. And I think that's a mistake.
HEMMER: What you're talking about in many ways is what happened in the past. I want to talk about the president going forward. You mentioned David Kay. Listen to what he said about the search right now with Wolf Blitzer over the weekend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID KAY, CHIEF WEAPONS INSPECTOR: What everyone has skated over, both in the chemical and the biological area, is what we indeed have found. We found a vast network of undeclared labs engaged in prohibited activity in both of those areas. So, it's not that we have found nothing. We've actually found quite a bit, although we have not yet found shiny, pointy things that I would call a weapon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: That was David Kay from yesterday.
"The New York Times" on Friday put out the following number: 56 percent of the people surveyed say the country right now is on the wrong track. How does the White House convince Americans that there is progress in Iraq?
GILLESPIE: Well, by pointing out all of the things that are going on. You know, there's an old saying, Bill, that "No news is good news." And there is a flip side to that, which is that good news is no news. And unfortunately, we don't see all that's going on right now in Iraq that is so positive.
There is a new currency being circulated there and being accepted by the Iraqi people. A civilian police force is being established there. The Governing Council has come together without all of the factionalism that people feared, and they've appointed ministers. The schools, the universities, the libraries, the hospitals are up and running.
So, I think that over time, people are going to realize that not only has Iraq been freed and liberated, but, again, we don't have a brutal dictator there with a history of using weapons of mass destruction and an avowed hatred of the United States, posing a threat to our own national interests.
In addition to that, we're starting to see signs of positive developments in the economy, thanks to President Bush's economic policies. And the fact is that we're now looking at projections of economic growth in the range of 4, 5, 6 percent, the highest that we've seen since 1999. Durable goods orders are up and the inventories are down. Those usually are harbingers of job growth. In fact, we saw employment payroll additions for the first time in years this past month.
So, things are looking up in terms of the economy. I think you'll see consumer confidence and job growth follow right behind, and then those right-direction and wrong-track numbers will change again.
HEMMER: Ed, quickly here, and I'm almost out of time. The "L.A. Times" writing today about the CIA leak, suggesting a double standard in the White House. I need a quick answer on this, but I want to read it for our viewers: "Many in Washington have been mystified that the White House did not respond publicly until last week to a leak dating to mid-July. It only reacted after news reports that the CIA had formally requested a criminal investigation."
Is there a double standard publicly in what the White House is doing now?
GILLESPIE: No, there is not, Bill. The fact is that these were unnamed sources. No one knew, and still doesn't know to this day, whether or not anyone at the White House had a role in this.
In fact, if you listened to Bob Novak yesterday, he was clear. He talked about administration officials. That doesn't necessarily mean the White House. The White House is much smaller than the broader administration, the administration who is all of the agencies, all of the departments, all of the programs.
So, the White House has instructed all of the staff there to cooperate fully with the Department of Justice. They are doing that. They have until tomorrow to forward all information, if there is any information, relative to this. And I think the president has acted very appropriately here and accordingly.
HEMMER: Much more tomorrow. We'll track it then. Ed Gillespie, thanks, from the RNC in D.C.
GILLESPIE: Thank 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.
Chairman>
