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American Morning
'Gimme a Minute'
Aired November 14, 2003 - 08:35 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.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: If it's Friday, it's "Gimme a Minute" time, and with us this morning from Washington, D.C. Is Steven Hayes. He is a staff writer for "The Weekly Standard."
Good morning to you, Steven. Nice to see you.
STEVEN HAYES, "THE WEEKLY STANDARD": Good morning. How are you?
O'BRIEN: I'm well, thank you.
HAYES: Democratic strategist Donna Brazile joins us, as well. Hey, Donna, good morning.
DONNA BRAZILE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Good morning. Happy birthday to Bill.
O'BRIEN: We've all been saying that to him all morning, haven't we? And here in New York, Andy Borowitz of "The New Yorker" joining us as well.
Good morning to you, Andy.
I couldn't quite hear him, so I'm going to assume he said good morning back.
Donna, we're going to get right into it and begin with you. "Newsweek" cover story is about prewar intelligence and Dick Cheney. This is a story that truly is not going away, is it?
BRAZILE: No, it's not going to go away. Now we know why Vice President Cheney spends so much time at his undisclosed location, he's still sorting through that huge pile of lies.
O'BRIEN: Steven, Dick Cheney, the article says, cherry picked, and that's a quote there, intelligence looking for links between Iraq and al Qaeda. Aides are saying it's just not true. What's your reaction?
HAYES: Well, I would encourage people to go to weeklystandard.com later this afternoon and they can find out if that's -- we're going to have a story about this afternoon.
No, but seriously, I think the reporters who wrote this story are good reporters, and they managed somehow to work in every conspiracy term, like cabal and "neocon," to make Dick Cheney seem as scary as he possibly could. Not to mention the cover photo which shows him sort of gritting his teeth, a hatchet job. O'BRIEN: Just as you managed to sneak in "The Weekly Standard," I might add.
Andy, I think your audio's good now. Do You think we're ever going to know the real story on intelligence?
No, something's wrong with his audio.
OK, Andy, we're going to keep working on that while I take you back to our next question.
Steven, we're going to start with you on this one.
Don't plug your organization.
Alabama Judge Roy Moore. We talked to him a little bit earlier this morning. He's out of a job. Any shock on your part about that?
HAYES: No, I'm not particularly surprised. He took what was at one point a lot of people thought was a principled stand, and just took it on for too long, and people are tired of it. Even people who agree with him say, OK, let it go.
O'BRIEN: Donna, what do you think is the next big church versus state story?
BRAZILE: The Pledge of Allegiance. The Supreme Court is now reviewing the Ninth Circuit case. Under God, I guess, is under scrutiny. But I also believe that school vouchers and gay marriage will also emerge as cultural issues of church and state.
O'BRIEN: Andy, let's see if we're feeling lucky, and if Andy's audio -- so I'm going to throw another question at him, and if we see his lips moving, but no audio, we'll know to move on. What do you think the former judge should do for his next gig?
ANDY BOROWITZ, "THE NEW YORKER": Can you hear me now, Soledad?
O'BRIEN: Yes, Lord, we hear you -- go ahead.
BOROWITZ: I just want to say that Dick Cheney silenced me earlier, which is why you could not hear me. You know, there's this whole church/state thing. There is actually a bill in Congress right now to eliminate the Commandment, "Thou shalt not lie" until after the elections. So that's what we're sort of studying right now.
O'BRIEN: A clever amendment there.
Donna, let's talk about Howard Dean. Good week, two union endorsements, Donna. John Kerry on the other hand, also some people would say, good week. Harley hog on the tonight. Who do you think did better?
BRAZILE: Well, John Kerry won the fashion show with those nice pair of jeans and that leather jacket, but Howard Dean is going home with more votes this week. O'BRIEN: Steven, what do you think. We didn't even mention that John Kerry had a rough week because of those defections from his campaign.
HAYES: John Kerry on a Harley is just a bad idea. It doesn't look right. It reminds me of Michael Dukakis in the tank with the military helmet, or Steve Hayes in spandex with half shirt. It's just a bad idea all around.
O'BRIEN: Andy, what do you think? Do you think it was a fashion faux pas, someone told him to do something that he shouldn't have done?
BOROWITZ: I got to say, when John Kerry rode in on that Harley, all I could think of was the character Screech from "Saved by the Bell."
O'BRIEN: Oh, I'm going to say an overall thumbs down from the panel then. All right, let's get to the story that you think sort of flew under the radar this week.
Steven, why don't we start with you. What do you think we missed?
HAYES: Well, it's been obviously not a great week with respect to Iraq for the Bush administration. But the one thing that hasn't been covered that probably should have been, are these Iraqi town councils which have popped up all across the country. Now there's nothing more boring for a reporter than covering municipal government. That's true, certainly here in America. But over there, it is actually news when they get together and talk about water policies. So it should be covered a little bit more.
O'BRIEN: Donna, what do you think we missed?
BRAZILE: Well, there's one more election this weekend, in my home state of Louisiana. For the first time, Louisiana voters will make history by supporting either the first woman from cajun country, the first Republican ethnic minority. So I think it's, as they say back home, "le boule banton, banton roule (ph)," let the good times roll.
O'BRIEN: They do say that a lot there, don't they?
Andy, your final thought this morning. What do you think we missed.
BOROWITZ: Well, Arnold Schwarzenegger launched a probe into the harassment charges against him. Even though launching a probe was exactly what got him in trouble to begin with.
O'BRIEN: Andy Borowitz, thank you very much. Donna Brazile, as always, nice to see you. And Steven Hayes, as well, weeklystandard.org, is that what you were saying?
HAYES: Dot.com. O'BRIEN: Dot.com. Forgive me. All right, I just want to make sure we get that right, get that in there. Thanks you guys. We'll see you next week.
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 14, 2003 - 08:35 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: If it's Friday, it's "Gimme a Minute" time, and with us this morning from Washington, D.C. Is Steven Hayes. He is a staff writer for "The Weekly Standard."
Good morning to you, Steven. Nice to see you.
STEVEN HAYES, "THE WEEKLY STANDARD": Good morning. How are you?
O'BRIEN: I'm well, thank you.
HAYES: Democratic strategist Donna Brazile joins us, as well. Hey, Donna, good morning.
DONNA BRAZILE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Good morning. Happy birthday to Bill.
O'BRIEN: We've all been saying that to him all morning, haven't we? And here in New York, Andy Borowitz of "The New Yorker" joining us as well.
Good morning to you, Andy.
I couldn't quite hear him, so I'm going to assume he said good morning back.
Donna, we're going to get right into it and begin with you. "Newsweek" cover story is about prewar intelligence and Dick Cheney. This is a story that truly is not going away, is it?
BRAZILE: No, it's not going to go away. Now we know why Vice President Cheney spends so much time at his undisclosed location, he's still sorting through that huge pile of lies.
O'BRIEN: Steven, Dick Cheney, the article says, cherry picked, and that's a quote there, intelligence looking for links between Iraq and al Qaeda. Aides are saying it's just not true. What's your reaction?
HAYES: Well, I would encourage people to go to weeklystandard.com later this afternoon and they can find out if that's -- we're going to have a story about this afternoon.
No, but seriously, I think the reporters who wrote this story are good reporters, and they managed somehow to work in every conspiracy term, like cabal and "neocon," to make Dick Cheney seem as scary as he possibly could. Not to mention the cover photo which shows him sort of gritting his teeth, a hatchet job. O'BRIEN: Just as you managed to sneak in "The Weekly Standard," I might add.
Andy, I think your audio's good now. Do You think we're ever going to know the real story on intelligence?
No, something's wrong with his audio.
OK, Andy, we're going to keep working on that while I take you back to our next question.
Steven, we're going to start with you on this one.
Don't plug your organization.
Alabama Judge Roy Moore. We talked to him a little bit earlier this morning. He's out of a job. Any shock on your part about that?
HAYES: No, I'm not particularly surprised. He took what was at one point a lot of people thought was a principled stand, and just took it on for too long, and people are tired of it. Even people who agree with him say, OK, let it go.
O'BRIEN: Donna, what do you think is the next big church versus state story?
BRAZILE: The Pledge of Allegiance. The Supreme Court is now reviewing the Ninth Circuit case. Under God, I guess, is under scrutiny. But I also believe that school vouchers and gay marriage will also emerge as cultural issues of church and state.
O'BRIEN: Andy, let's see if we're feeling lucky, and if Andy's audio -- so I'm going to throw another question at him, and if we see his lips moving, but no audio, we'll know to move on. What do you think the former judge should do for his next gig?
ANDY BOROWITZ, "THE NEW YORKER": Can you hear me now, Soledad?
O'BRIEN: Yes, Lord, we hear you -- go ahead.
BOROWITZ: I just want to say that Dick Cheney silenced me earlier, which is why you could not hear me. You know, there's this whole church/state thing. There is actually a bill in Congress right now to eliminate the Commandment, "Thou shalt not lie" until after the elections. So that's what we're sort of studying right now.
O'BRIEN: A clever amendment there.
Donna, let's talk about Howard Dean. Good week, two union endorsements, Donna. John Kerry on the other hand, also some people would say, good week. Harley hog on the tonight. Who do you think did better?
BRAZILE: Well, John Kerry won the fashion show with those nice pair of jeans and that leather jacket, but Howard Dean is going home with more votes this week. O'BRIEN: Steven, what do you think. We didn't even mention that John Kerry had a rough week because of those defections from his campaign.
HAYES: John Kerry on a Harley is just a bad idea. It doesn't look right. It reminds me of Michael Dukakis in the tank with the military helmet, or Steve Hayes in spandex with half shirt. It's just a bad idea all around.
O'BRIEN: Andy, what do you think? Do you think it was a fashion faux pas, someone told him to do something that he shouldn't have done?
BOROWITZ: I got to say, when John Kerry rode in on that Harley, all I could think of was the character Screech from "Saved by the Bell."
O'BRIEN: Oh, I'm going to say an overall thumbs down from the panel then. All right, let's get to the story that you think sort of flew under the radar this week.
Steven, why don't we start with you. What do you think we missed?
HAYES: Well, it's been obviously not a great week with respect to Iraq for the Bush administration. But the one thing that hasn't been covered that probably should have been, are these Iraqi town councils which have popped up all across the country. Now there's nothing more boring for a reporter than covering municipal government. That's true, certainly here in America. But over there, it is actually news when they get together and talk about water policies. So it should be covered a little bit more.
O'BRIEN: Donna, what do you think we missed?
BRAZILE: Well, there's one more election this weekend, in my home state of Louisiana. For the first time, Louisiana voters will make history by supporting either the first woman from cajun country, the first Republican ethnic minority. So I think it's, as they say back home, "le boule banton, banton roule (ph)," let the good times roll.
O'BRIEN: They do say that a lot there, don't they?
Andy, your final thought this morning. What do you think we missed.
BOROWITZ: Well, Arnold Schwarzenegger launched a probe into the harassment charges against him. Even though launching a probe was exactly what got him in trouble to begin with.
O'BRIEN: Andy Borowitz, thank you very much. Donna Brazile, as always, nice to see you. And Steven Hayes, as well, weeklystandard.org, is that what you were saying?
HAYES: Dot.com. O'BRIEN: Dot.com. Forgive me. All right, I just want to make sure we get that right, get that in there. Thanks you guys. We'll see you next week.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
