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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown

Al Gore Won't Seek President in 2004; New York Transit Strike Averted

Aired December 16, 2002 - 22:00   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.


AARON BROWN, HOST: Good evening again. I'm Aaron Brown.
For less than mysterious reasons, we find ourselves this Monday thinking about changes of mind. Cardinal Bernard Law had one last week, or the pope did. When last Cardinal Law offered the Vatican his resignation it was declined. He changed his mind, asked again, resignation accepted.

Then there was Al Gore. Many people in this country still would say that Al Gore, sort of kind of, in a way, actually won the last presidential election and has now decided not to run for that office in 2004. Second thoughts on that subject.

Which brings us to Senator Trent Lott, who has spent the better part of the last couple of weeks flossing sock fabric and shoe leather from beneath his teeth after having made some ill-advised, ill- considered remarks at Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday party. That's not our judgment, of course. Senator Lott himself has more than allowed that his comments were ill considered.

And this mess has caused the good senator to change his mind on several important matters. Tonight, speaking on Black Entertainment Television -- we presume to a largely African-American audience -- the senator says he wishes he had not voted against the holiday honoring Martin Luther King Junior. And he also said that, despite his votes against it, he actually supports affirmative action.

Now this isn't the time or place to debate affirmative action, but I'll admit I was shocked to hear the senator say that he supported it. I'm sure a lot of others are too, like his fellow Republicans. I'll bet they're real surprised.

Now maybe he didn't mean it in the way it's commonly used, but if he did, that would be a shocking change of mind, all things considered. A week ago, I would bet you that Senator Lott survived his dumb remarks. Now it seems the odds are against him. And it wasn't Democrats who changed the odds, but Republicans, who seem to have changed their minds, too on who should lead them.

It is the Lott affair that gets "The Whip" going. Capitol Hill starts it off. CNN's Jonathan Karl is there. Jon, good evening, and a headline, please.

JONATHAN KARL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, as the Trent Lott apology tour continued with that appearance on BET, his fellow Republicans in the Senate have decided too convene an extraordinary conference in January to decide whether or not they want him to continue as their leader.

BROWN: Jon, thank you. Back to you at the top tonight.

On to Al Gore and his decision not to enter the presidential fray this time around. Talked about it today in North Carolina. CNN's Jeanne Meserve covering. Jeanne, a headline from you.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, no regrets from Al Gore today. He says he is at peace with his decision not to run in 2004. The question now: If not Al Gore, then who?

BROWN: Jeanne, thank you.

And the transit strike today in New York, forget about it. CNN's Bob Franken following that. Bob, a headline from you.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Aaron, a remarkable thing about the auto traffic in back of me, it's moving. It would not have been had there been a transit strike, but there is no transit strike, so the traffic is moving. We'll have more about that in a moment.

BROWN: We're always glad when traffic moves downtown. Thank you. Back with all of you shortly.

Also tonight, reaction to Senator Lott's apology from the African-American community, as well as political fallout for man (ph) in Al Gore's bombshell. Writers Ellis Cose and Deroy Murdock join us later. So do Joe Klein and "CROSSFIRE's" Robert Novak.

We'll look at the high-stakes game of turning obscure Native American tribes into big-time casino owners through the eyes of a tribe that once had just a log cabin and $23 to its name. So who would really make the money if they got their wish?

And we'll close things out with wishes for Christmas from some folks in Austria who say the holiday is fine except for Santa. They have an idea for a replacement. All of that in the hour ahead.

On this Monday night, we begin with Trent Lott. And if there isn't yet blood in the water, we're beginning to see the kind of thrashing around that draws the sharks just as surely as an opening in a vein. Since Senator Lott first apologized for remarks made at Strom Thurmond's birthday party, his troubles have only grown. And while our friend Bob Novak, who joins us later, may disagree, it was not the Democrats who slashed Lott's veins, it was conservative.

The "Wall Street Journal," "The Weekly Standard," the old "Bennett" (ph), others, even the president. The more the senator apologizes, the messier it seems to get. His history is dug up, his previous statements examined under a political microscope. And all the while, the sharks get hungrier. Here again, CNN's Jonathan Karl.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) KARL (voice-over): With his position as majority leader hanging in the balance, Trent Lott issued his latest mea culpa, this time on Black Entertainment Television.

SEN. TRENT LOTT (R-MS), MINORITY LEADER: The important thing is to recognize the hurt that I caused and ask for forgiveness and find a way to turn this into a positive thing and try to make amends for what I've said and for what others have said and done over the years. I'm looking for this to be not only an opportunity for redemption but to do something about it.

KARL: And he apologized for more than his words of praise for Strom Thurmond's presidential campaign. He acknowledged supporting segregation as he came of age in the segregated south.

LOTT: You know there has been immoral leadership in my part of the country for a long time. Progress has been made.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Were you a part of that?

LOTT: Yes. I can't deny that. And I believe that I have changed and that I'm trying to do a better job.

KARL: He now says he was wrong to vote against the Martin Luther King holiday in 1983. He said he did not fully appreciate the importance of Dr. King, prompting an incredulous response from interviewer Ed Gordon (ph).

ED GORDON: But you certainly understood it by the time that vote came up, Senator. You knew who Dr. King was at that point.

LOTT: I did, but I've learned a lot more since then. And I want to make this point very clearly. I have a high appreciation of him being a man of peace, a man that was for non-violence, a man that did change this country. I made a mistake and I would vote now for a Martin Luther King holiday.

KARL: He also appeared to change his position on another key issue.

GORDON: What about affirmative action?

LOTT: I'm for that. I think you should...

GORDON: Across the board?

LOTT: Absolutely across the board.

KARL: Speaking for the Congressional Black Caucus, Congressman Gregory Meeks found Lott neither sincere nor believable.

REP. GREGORY MEEKS, CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS: For me, sincere is that you would have done something about your actions prior. He said that he's for affirmative action. That's almost laughable.

KARL: But civil rights here John Lewis, who was among the first people to criticize Lott, has a different view. He spoke with him this morning and afterwards told CNN, "He sounded very, very sincere...I told him I was prepared and willing to forgive..."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KARL: And Lott is searching for forgiveness, but the forgiveness he needs is the forgiveness of his 50 fellow Republicans here in the United States Senate. And the fact that they have decided to convene this extraordinary conference in January to decide whether or not to dump him as leader shows just how perilous his situation is here -- Aaron.

BROWN: Well, I heard something this afternoon, and you tell me where this is going. That the senator, or at least friends of the senator have indicated that, should they remove him as party leader, he may resign his Senate seat, which in effect would turn it over a Democrat. It's a Democratic governor in Mississippi.

KARL: I can absolutely confirm that. Several Republican senators have told me that that message has come directly from Lott. That he has made it clear -- this was last week, though -- that he made it clear that, if he had to step down as majority leader, he wasn't going to stick around the Senate as a mid-level player here, he was going to go all the way back to Mississippi. He was going to leave the United States Senate. Many senators here saw that as a direct threat, because if that Democratic governor were to appoint a Democratic successor to Lott, this place goes back to 50-50, and you have a whole change in the dynamic here and a change in the balance of power.

BROWN: Well, in fairness, 50-50 still leaves the Republicans in control.

KARL: It does, Aaron. But you know what it does? The committees go back to 50-5-- in membership of the committees. They have to negotiate a whole new power sharing resolution. It's a whole different dynamic.

When you have 51-49, you have a clear majority, the rules are clear. If you go back to 50-50, they really need to share power in this entirety. And that means 50-50 on the committees, 50-50 on staff, 50-50 on office. It's a big difference.

BROWN: So Senator Lott has a few cards to play should he choose to play them at this point?

KARL: Yes. I should also say, though, that his supporters have kind of backed off that. They now say, of, if Trent were to leave, he'd never let a Democrat come in his place. He'd stick around if that were the case. So it remains to be seen whether or not he would actually play that card, because it is such a potent one to play.

BROWN: Jon, I never imagined a week ago we'd be here talking about this still. Thank you. Jonathan Karl on Capitol Hill tonight.

On to the other political earthquake of the day. This one hit suddenly last night. After looking more like a candidate than he had at any time since the 2000 election, Al Gore said he will not run in 2004. The aftershocks began about a nanosecond later and could wind up rocking the Democrats all the way to Iowa, New Hampshire a year from now. Here again, CNN's Jeanne Meserve.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE (voice-over): His race was over before it began. Gore said the decision not to make the plunge again was probably the most difficult of his life but right.

AL GORE, FMR. VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I am completely at peace with the decision. I believe it's the right thing for the country, I believe it's the right thing for the political party that I'm a member of and what I hope that political party will stand for. And I think that it's the right thing for me and my family.

MESERVE: Gore said he realized his race would be too much about what had been rather than what could be.

GORE: And because a race this time around would have focused on a Bush-Gore rematch, I felt that the focus of that race would inevitably have been more on the past than it should have been, when all races ought to be focused on the future.

MESERVE: With Gore out, the question is, who will get in? Senator Joseph Lieberman, Gore's running mate in 2000, made a commitment not to run if Gore did. Now his coast is clear.

SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (D), CONNECTICUT: I'm going to take a few more weeks to do some final thinking. This is a big decision. It has to come not just from my head but from my heart and soul.

MESERVE: A handful of hopefuls, including Lieberman and Massachusetts Senator John Kerry have already called Gore seeking his endorsement. He hasn't given it. Kerry's campaign is already full steam ahead.

JOHN KERRY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: I think that it's going very well. I'm extraordinarily encouraged by the support I've been getting.

MESERVE: Other possible contenders for the Democratic slot: North Carolina Senator John Edwards, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, outgoing House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt and Vermont Governor Howard Dean. For all of them, and possibly others, Gore's exit means new opportunity and new challenges.

STU ROTHENBERG, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: It's going to force different strategies and tactics on the part of the Democrats who do run. No longer will they be measured against Al Gore. Now they're going to be measured against each other.

MESERVE: Ultimately, one of them will be measured against the incumbent president, whose spokesman couldn't resist a jab. ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Somebody will emerge from the Democratic field who will ultimately seek to raise taxes on the American people, but that's a decision that the Democrats will make as they select a nominee.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE: Gore says he believes the Democratic nominee, whoever he may be, has a good shot at beating President Bush. Analysts say that will depend on who the nominee is than the state of the economy, war on terror and US military involvement overseas -- Aaron.

BROWN: Well, back in Washington, where you spend most of your time, what do you think the people who run the Democratic Party are thinking? Are they somewhat relieved that the former vice president has stepped aside?

MESERVE: From what I hear, Aaron, there's a very mixed opinion about that. There are those who feel that 2000 was damaging; they didn't want a rerun of that same battle. They weren't sure that Gore had run the kind of race in 2000 that he should have. They weren't sure he could in 2004. Those people, yes, relieved.

But there are others who genuinely supported this man. They were disappointed. I'm told by a Gore staffer that he got a number of phone calls last night from supporters all across the country expressing regret that he made this decision to pull out. Al Gore thanked them graciously for their support -- Aaron.

BROWN: I'm not sure there's a question here exactly. But the one thing you do think about in moments like this is the kind of commitment it takes to run for the presidency. We are two years away, and basically you have to start now.

MESERVE: They do have to start now, particularly raising money and lining up those supporters. The other thing that struck me about it, Aaron, was this was a man who has had his eye on this prize for years. For most of his adult life, this is what he has wanted, to be president of the United States. And what a dislocating sort of experience it must be for him to now back a from that, to decide he's not going to do it, to acknowledge he'll probably never get the chance again. And yet, today, he seemed a very happy man, much more relaxed in front of reporters than I ever saw him during the campaign.

BROWN: It's a reminder it's a tough business, politics. Jeanne, thank you. Jeanne Meserve in North Carolina with the former vice president tonight.

Some comings and goings for the Bush administration we should take note of on this Monday. Starting with a face we haven't seen in a while. It belongs to Thomas Keane, a former governor of New Jersey. President Bush today picked him to head the independent commission looking into the September 11 attacks. He'll replace Henry Kissinger, who stepped down last Friday.

Another close friend of the president is moving on. Joe Albaugh turned in his resignation today as the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA. It takes effect the first of March. That's when FEMA gets folded into the new Department of Homeland Security.

Now, New York. And because we believe everyone is a New Yorker at heart, even if you live outside the city, we know you'll you'll care about this New York story. The subways and the buses are running. The transit strike that would have turned the city into a horn-honking parking lot has been averted. Happiness reigns here in Gotham and the rest of the land, more or less. Here again, Bob Franken.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROGER TOUSSAINT, PRESIDENT, TRANSIT WORKERS UNION: And we wish every New Yorker a Merry Christmas.

FRANKEN (voice-over): And the negotiators had a wonderful gift indeed. A deal that would avoid a strike by New York's 34,000 transit workers.

TOUSSAINT: We expect that it will be overwhelmingly approved.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We think that today marks a turning point in the relationship of the NTA and its unions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's good that they settled and it's good that the city is not shut down and all of that, because it would have been pretty bad if nobody could get to work and all of that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I take the train all the time, you know. Thirty dollars for parking down here. That sucks.

FRANKEN: This is a city where driving from here to there is always an adventure, even though seven million people a day go in and out and around New York on public transportation. A strike could have changed the normal gridlock to near paralysis.

MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK: We're thrilled that the TWU and the MTA came to an agreement.

FRANKEN: The major issue: wages. Hardly a surprise there. Union negotiators steadily lowered their demands. Mayor Bloomberg had done his part by going out to buy a bicycle.

BLOOMBERG: If I have to ride it, I will ride it.

FRANKEN: But no bicycle ride for Mayor Bloomberg. He and millions of others can continue to ride the subway. A union leader said the best thing the mayor could do for the bargaining was to keep quiet. A suggestion made in that special New York kind of way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mayor Bloomberg should shut up. His comments have not been helpful from the beginning at all. His comments have been inflammatory, they have burned the negotiations.

(END VIDEOTAPE) FRANKEN: Well, the negotiations finally succeeded and the city that never sleeps avoided a major nightmare, a strike what could have cost an estimated $350 million a day -- Aaron.

BROWN: And do we know what they agreed to?

FRANKEN: We know that they agreed to -- instead of the 18 percent that they were asking -- they being the transit workers -- they in effect agreed to six percent. But it gets a little more complicated . The Transit authority is not going to pay them an hourly wage increase of two percent in the first year. Rather they'll get a bonus of $1,000 approximately. It's sort of a face-saving gesture for both sides.

BROWN: Bob, thank you. Bob Franken in New York today on the transit strike that wasn't.

Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, the explosion in casino gambling, especially on America's Indian reservations. Take a look at who's benefiting by that. And up next: more on the two major political stories floating around: Senator Lott and Al Gore. This is NEWSNIGHT back home in New York.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: When it comes to politics tonight, we've got an embarrassment of riches. A wealth of embarrassment as well, we suppose. Another apology from Trent Lott and his self-imposed ordeal. Al Gore's bombshell and where it leaves the Democratic presidential landscape. Where President Bush comes out in all of this and more.

Joining us to talk about this and that and a few other things, political writer Joe Klein and CNN's Bob Novak, who is in Washington tonight. Good to see you both. Mr. Novak, when we last spoke you said that Senator Lott was fine, unless you heard something bad coming from the lips of Don Nickles. It's over, right?

ROBERT NOVAK, HOST, "CROSSFIRE": Well, I wouldn't say it was over. Don Nickles certainly didn't do Senator Lott any good. But two points. Number one, he is still the only senator who has said Lott should be replaced flatly. And secondly, a lot of people think that Nickles has committed suicide politically himself by getting out that far. He is very isolated. If Lott is replaced, he won't be replaced by Nickles.

Do you know, Aaron, I've been in this town -- this is approaching my 46th anniversary, and I'm trying to think of a crazier story I have seen, but I cannot remember it. And the reason is that this was just a little joke, a little trying to compliment a 100-year-old man. And the reason it has gotten this far is that the Republicans have bailed out on Senator Lott. The people in the conservative movement have absolutely abandoned him.

BROWN: Joe, I wouldn't disagree with that. I think the guy has been done in by the right, not the left. I mean you get a lot of e- mail from people saying Democrats ought to back off, Democrats ought to back off, but that's not really what...

JOE KLEIN, "TIME": If Bob is right, that the Republicans have bailed out on him, I wouldn't give him that much of a chance of surviving. But this is not about a little joke. This is about a very big thing. This is about 30 years of history of winking and nodding, of celebrating -- of using the confederate flag, which the Republicans did this year in Georgia to win elections, of covert wink-wink racism, and now finally they're being called to task for it. There are a lot of things the Democrats have done that have been silly on the issue of race over the years, but this has been a vicious, obnoxious part of American politics, and I'm glad that it's out there.

NOVAK: Aaron, let me say that the reason there's still a chance is that the people who have bailed out on Trent Lott are not US senators. I've been going to Christmas parties -- the Christmas parties I go to, Aaron, the people there range from the right to the far right. And I think you can't find anybody but me and one or two other guys who are defending Trent Lott. They never liked Lott that much in the first place, and they're using this as an excuse to get rid of him.

But the question is -- I've talked to US senators today, and a lot of them are getting a little sore about all this. And they're saying this is our decision. I think it is still an open question. And as far as Trent Lott's 30-year record, my goodness, Joe, we knew his record all this time. Was this a surprise to you that he voted against the Martin Luther King birthday?

This is a phony constructed argument, and I think John Lewis, the great hero of the civil rights movement, who I think is an honest man, says, let's give him a break, let's give him a second chance to -- I think that is the more Christian and the more humane attitude.

BROWN: All right. I've got two minutes left with you guys and I want to move off Lott, OK? Somebody in this conversation speculated not long ago that Al Gore would not run again.

KLEIN: Could I tell them who it was, Aaron?

BROWN: Would you be so kind?

KLEIN: It wasn't me. You, you were the one. You heard it here first. So it wasn't a bombshell. Anybody who watches this program knew. And so, Aaron, could I ask you, where do the Democrats go from here?

BROWN: Joe, where do the Democrats go from here?

KLEIN: Well, I think that John Kerry is probably kind of disappointed. And those who are actually in this race want to run were disappointed because they thought they could beat Gore. And if you beat Gore -- if you're John Kerry or John Edwards or one of the other serious contenders, then you're somebody. You beat a giant.

Now the thing is really kind of up in the air, and I think a lot of mirrors were working overtime in Washington this morning. There were an awful lot of senators and other assorted cats and dogs who were looking in the mirror and saying "Could it be me? Could I be president?"

BROWN: Bob, let me ask you that and a little bit more. Where do the democrats go? But first and quickly, do you think the Republicans are a little disappointed that Gore dropped out? That he would have been in many of their minds an easy pickings?

NOVAK: No, they're very disappointed, not a little disappointed. And Tony Coelho on CNN this afternoon came out and said he would have been a loser against Bush. Bush is not unbeatable, but Gore couldn't have beaten him. Now where do they go now? It's wide open. And that is really a lot of fun for Joe Klein and me to see a wide-open presidential race. It may not be so much fun for the Democratic king makers.

KLEIN: Could I say something about Gore?

BROWN: Real quick, 20 seconds.

KLEIN: Yeah. I mean, he was conducting other the last month or two this really wild experiment. He wasn't relying on consultants or pollsters at all. He was just flying by the seat of his pants and saying what he thought about Iraq and about healthcare. And a lot of the positions weren't that well thought through.

But I was kind of looking forward to see a politician actually doing his thinking for himself. And I would recommend that highly to some of the people who are now considering this.

BROWN: Well, that would be an interesting first for all of to us witness. Thank you, Joe. And Mr. Novak, it's good to talk to you again. Thanks for joining us.

NOVAK: Mr. Brown, thank you.

BROWN: Bob Novak and Joe Klein with us tonight.

As NEWSNIGHT continues, a little bit more politics this time. Take a look at what Senator Lott said and how it played to one of his audiences. This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Back to Senator Lott. A cynic might say that Senator Lott tells one audience one thing and another audience another. He told (UNINTELLIGIBLE) that the '84 Republican Party platform represented the spirit of Jefferson Davis, who wrote articles for the Council of Conservative Citizens, a white supremacist group. That's for his white audience.

To his black audience, he spoke today of his belief in affirmative action and his regrets about his vote against the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. Anyway, we're not cynics. Perhaps our next guests are. We'll find out. Here to talk about it, "Newsweek" magazines, Ellis Cose and Deroy Murdock, a syndicated columnist who has been with us before. It's nice to see you again. You were very tough on him in a piece I read today. Here's my question, since I'm in a somewhat cynical mood today. Are you angry with him on principle? The principles of racism and equality. Or are you angry with him because he screwed up a really good deal with the Republican Party and they're not going to be able to get anything done as long as the guy is hanging out?

DEROY MURDOCK, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST: Well, it's both. I think on principle he said some things that are awful. He said them, I think, because he thinks them. If he had said this for the first time, someone might have said he had too much eggnog at Strom Thurmond's birthday party. But you go back through the '90, through '80s, all the way back to the '60s and you see a pattern of him saying these sort of things. Saying I feel myself closer to Jefferson Davis than to almost any other man in America. All sorts of comments praising the president of the Confederacy. And all that on principle is horrible.

Politically I don't think the Republicans are going to be able to get very much done as long as he is the third biggest Republican face out there. He talked tonight on Black Entertainment Television about going on a journey of personal reflection and redemption. That's fine. I think he ought to be able to do that as the junior senator from Mississippi.

He does that as the leader of the Republicans in the Senate, he'll be taking the entire Republican party through this sort of a group therapy exercise as iff all Republicans are racists and we all have to exorcise these demons from us. And that's not the case, very unhealthy for Republicans in the Senate and across the board.

BROWN: I don't want to make the argument here that all Republicans are racist, but Joe Klein in the segment before raised the idea that's sort of been mumbling but no one's been willing to say it is just beneath the surface of Republican party politics in a certain part of the country there has been a wink and nod racism at play.

ELLIS COSE, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, "NEWSWEEK": I think it's irrelevant whether or not Trent Lott is racist. We don't know what this guy is made of.

What we know is what he supported and what he stands for and we know what audience he decides he needs to appeal to and he's consistently decided he needs to appeal to a very racist constituency and that has implications for policy.

But what's a larger observation, I think and "Newsweek" does talk about this at length in this current issue is that the Republican party, the modern Republican party, is really based built on a large extent on the edifice of racism. It's not to say that it's racist, that everybody's racist.

But it's to say that beginning with the evolution in the South, and the Dixiecrats, basically Republicans learned that if they were going to be successful at the national level they needed to use race in a particular way, they needed to appeal to these (UNINTELLIGIBLE) racist folks.

Now you have this conundrum where on one hand the Republicans are saying we are a big tent now, we want everybody in our tent, including blacks, including people who would have considered us awful before but at the same time they still want to appeal to this constituency that Joe was talking about.

So the other question I would have, though, as Bob Novak observed, these are not new comments. Why was the Republican party so comfortable with this guy for all this time?

BROWN: I think that's a great question Mr. Novak put on the table. You're a young Republican. We'll throw this at you.

MURDOCK: Youngish.

BROWN: None of this is new to you. You knew about the Conservative Council business, you knew about the Jefferson Davis business, you knew about all of this. Why now? Why this?

MURDOCK: I wrote a column in the "Washington Times" under the headline "Resign, Mr. Lott" in April 1999. I've been trying to get this guy out of this job for four years now.

BROWN: On this issue? Because of race?

MURDOCK: On both, the race and incompetence. What I find really amazing about this is I could understand, I wouldn't agree with, but I could understand the argument we've got to keep Lott because he's indispensable because he's the intellectual power house of the Republican party. He's sort of the Republican Moynihan. Or he's a brilliant tactician in terms of parliamentary tactics. He can tie up the Senate or speed it up if he wants to, so we've got to hang onto him.

The guy is not those things. Tom Daschle always ties his shoe laces together and you she Trent Lott fall flat on his face. So I don't know what they're hanging on to. You got a guy who deep in his heart may believe some awful things. He certainly has said them over and over. In terms of his capabilities as a majority leader I think he's very, very weak and lacking. So I really don't know what they're clutching on to at all.

BROWN: Last word, half a minute, do you think that any of this affair will seriously cause Republicans to reexamine what it is they're about if you believe that's necessary?

COSE: I think it ought to. And beginning with Trent Lott, obviously, who is beginning to sound like the reincarnation of Martin Luther King on this last broadcast. It will be a very interesting proposition to see this guy who is now pro affirmative action, wants to go through campaigning or at least through the state with John Lewis, see what he thinks he represents and who he speaks to.

But I think the Republican party needs to face this fact.

BROWN: Thanks for joining us. Nice to meet you. Have wonderful holidays both of you.

MURDOCK: Thank you, we will.

BROWN: A couple of quick items before we go to break here. Starting in San Diego with the death of a Marine recruit, apparently from a rare type of strep infection. Private Miguel Zivala checked into a hospital with a rash on Sunday morning, he died early that afternoon. Today the base suspended strenuous physical activity for recruits and yesterday gave all 5,000 recruits a shot of antibiotics.

A few miles north in Orange County, California, a new judge has been named for the trial of Alejandro Avila. Avila, you may recall, is charged with killing five-year-old Samantha Runnion. Change came after Avila lawyers accused the presiding judge of bias. No details on why they believe that.

In Baltimore today, a jury acquitted Dante Stokes of attempted murder in the shooting of a priest he says abused him. the alleged abuse took place 10 years ago. Mr. Stokes lawyer says his client shot the priest during a psychotic episode. The jury agreed, though it did convict him on three lesser hand gun charges.

And Boston's former cardinal, Bernard Law, made his first public statement today after stepping down. Back from the Vatican, Cardinal Law offered another apology and said he hoped his resignation would help the Archdiocese heal. He took no questions from reporters.

Still ahead on NEWSNIGHT tonight, millions of dollars to be made but just who is making them? We'll look at casino gambling on America's Indian reservations. This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: And next on NEWSNIGHT, everybody wants a piece of the action but just who's benefiting from casino gambling on Indian reservations? We're a short break and right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Stories making news around the world here, more clashes today in Venezuela between supporters and opponents of the president, Hugo Chavez. The White House today called for Chavez to hold early elections, something that can't be done until August without changing the constitution. One proposal being circulated in Venezuela for getting around that little problem calls for a non-binding referendum followed by Chavez stepping down should the vote go against him.

More bloodshed on the West Bank today. Palestinian students throwing rocks at Israeli soldiers enforcing a curfew. Soldiers returned fire. Seven protesters wounded.

And a buy day for the U.N. inspectors in Iraq. Teams visited an Iraqi oil refinery, a missile parts factory and a pair of sites that make precision machinery of the type that could be used in missiles and nuclear war heads. The inspection go on in Iraq.

You be hard pressed to find people who's luck has been then that of Native Americans. From the time Europeans first arrived here, things have gone from bad to dreadful for them, almost without relief. They were a sovereign people once but little by little and not so slowly either they ended up pushed out of the country that was once entirely theirs into little pockets of pretty poor territory scattered here and there. For the last little while though, Native Americans have been out to change their luck in a very direct way. After all, the odds all favor the house. Here's a report whose state whose name means a place beside the long river in the language of the Mohicans.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN (voice-over) Right now, a tiny group of Indians in Connecticut has this to it's name. A single log house beside a country road and a sign.

BILL MCBRIDE, CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER, GOLDEN HILL PAUGUSSETTS: It's down to quarter of an acres. Over the years, there's 720,000 acres. Most of the land was taken from them legally, and it's down to one quarter of an acre in Trumbull.

BROWN: The Indians are the Golden Hill Paugussetts, and they have a lofty and expensive dream. One day they hope they will own and profit from a casino like this.

MARK BROWN, CHIEF, MOHEGAN TRIBE: Total amount of slot machine, rough 6,200 slot machines within our facility. Where we are at right now is roughly 1,000 square feet of gaming to complement the 120,000 square feet we had in Earth Casino.

BROWN: The Mohegan Indians of Southeastern Connecticut now operate one of the most successful casinos in the world, Mohegan Sun. But before they were granted federal recognition as a genuine tribe, they had practically nothing.

M. BROWN: I think there was a point in time we had probably $23 in our whole savings. We used to hold meeting in an old farm house. And the reservation existed as an eight of an acre with our church on it.

BROWN: A kind of object lesson has triggered some nationwide, high-stakes speculation of its own, largely invisible to the general public. Traditional gambling powers like Harrahs and individuals like Donald Trump are lining up to spend millions and millions of dollars just on the chance that the Indian tribes they back might be granted federal recognition.

GEORGE JEPSEN, MAJORITY LEADER CONNECTICUT STATE SENATE: We're talking about billions of dollars backing up these petitions, because the amount of money that can be made is a roulette wheel of its own. If you can win recognition the opportunity to make even more billions justifies the risk of the investment.

BROWN: With that kind of money critics say is bound to come abuse.

JEPSEN: The amount of money at stake is simply enormous, and amount of wealth behind these petitions allows them to clearly influence the process in a way the public really aren't equal partners in having an opportunity to fight back.

BROWN: Most of the explosion in Indian gambling has come here in California, where there are now nearly 50 Indian-owned casinos. But the most profitable ones are in the northeast, Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods, both in Connecticut. Close to New York. And because they were so costly to build only some of that money has found it's back to members of the tribe.

M. BROWN: Our tribe is focused on or billion dollar plus debt. We're going to pay down our debt before anything else happens.

BROWN: The people who keep track of Indian gambling say a ceiling will soon be reached, that the possible number of tribes and any successful number of casinos they might build are finite and the opposition remains strong.

JEPSEN: Do you want products that build real whether or do you want to be part of a system that moves money around for the benefit of a relative few?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: When NEWSNIGHT continues, we'll talk about who is benefiting from these casinos and more. We'll be joined by two "Time" magazine correspondent who is have been reporting on this.

This NEWSNIGHT from New York.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: When we come back, more on casino gambling and whether it's really benefiting the Native Americans. This is NEWSNIGHT

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: We're joined by a pair of Pulitzer Prize winning reporters who moved on from the "Philadelphia Inquire" to "Time" magazine. To which they have most recently contributed a cover story on the subject of casino gambling and Native Americans.

We're always glad to see Donald Barlett and James Steele, and We see them now. Good to you have with us.

All right, I said to just while ago I'm a little confused by what to think of this. You have some tribe, not a lot but some tribes who really have done quite well, and the members of those tribes are living better lives, they have better jobs and they have some money in their pocket, right?

DONALD BARLETT, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, "TIME" MAGAZINE: Absolutely true. And it's a very small fraction of the overall Native Americans. Maybe 10 percent. Maybe even less than that.

BROWN: And then you have other examples in place that would argue simply can't support a casino. It's not -- I mean, that's the problem as much as anything is that you put a casino in the middle of South Dakota, and I've been there, and you don't get a whole lot of traffic.

JAMES STEELE, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, "TIME" MAGAZINE: This is one of the misconceptions about the act from the very beginning. When you go back to 1988 when they passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, one of the ideas was to develop reservation economies. But you're right, you can't do that in the middle of South Dakota, you certainly can't do it in the middle of New Mexico, on the Navaho reservation even if they embrace gambling, which they haven't. So there were basic misconceptions about that from the very beginning.

BROWN: So it is not the panacea to all problems of Native American, nor is it absolutely evil, assuming you don't believe gambling is absolutely evil.

STEELE: One thing that interested us about this whole subject was the fact that so many people think Indians are walking around with cash stuffed in their pockets. What we found is that just a tiny number are actually benefiting. And what you have is just because of that you have investors, you have folks who are managing these -- these are many of the folks who found a way to make money out of this process.

BARLETT: This is one of the real tragedies of this whole thing because it's diverting attention away from the real problems, which are the reservations you're talking about where poverty is unbelievable. The Navajo reservation you still have huge chunks of the population who don't have electricity and running water.

BROWN: Some people who may not know, the Navajos, which are formidable tribe will not allow gambling on the reservation because of their religion.

BARLETT: Exactly. You're diverting attention away from problems that really need to be resolved and pretending they've been solved by this when they haven't been.

BROWN: The articles look at a lot of aspects of this, who's making money, how the big companies and the big players come in all of that. I want to spend a minute or two talking about how it's played out in Washington because when you have the kind of money that's in play here, billions and billions of dollars in play, it has to make its way to Washington.

STEELE: And it's made its way to Washington. I think one of the biggest surprises we had -- if you go back 10 years ago, Native American tribes weren't even a blip on the radar screen. They gave almost no money, they hired very few lawyers. Now you're seeing they're giving more money as a block than companies like General Motors, Boeing, even Enron in its heyday were spending on lobbying. So they're big players. But again, these are the rich tribes for the most part, not those poor tribes.

BROWN: And they're trying to protect their interest in casino gambling.

STEELE: They're trying to protect that. They're trying to, in some cases, get some special exemptions in the law.

One of the tribes we wrote about in Mississippi got an exemption on their regulatory proceedings. Others are trying to -- are basically lobbying behind the scenes, as you saw in that earlier report by George Jepsen, the kinds of money that's going into the Whole Bureau of Indian Affairs to get recognition for tribes. So there's a huge amount going on there as well.

BARLETT: A lot of it has been spent to preserve the tax-free status of the casinos. The casinos pay no income tax.

BROWN: Pay no state income. They're -- look, here's the devil's advocate speaking. They're simply playing the game. Playing by the rules that are in play in this country , which is if you got dough, you spread it around Washington and your interests will be protected.

BARLETT: Absolutely. Here's another tragic aspect of that. When we went on one reservation after another where the individual Indians questioned where the money is going, how it's being spent, are we really being helped?

The reservations are really run kind of like dictatorships and anyone who raises question risk losing their jobs, they risk losing their health care benefits, they risk being thrown off the reservation. And just in the past week since the first article appeared, we've been inundated with calls and letters from people on other reservations saying, Why didn't you write about us. We're much worse than the people you've written about.

BROWN: The two articles, there's one in last week's issue of "Time" and in this week the second part. Fascinating reading. Not surprising from the two of you. It's good to see you again. Thanks for coming in. Have a good holiday. Thank you very much.

We'll wrap it up with a Christmas story. Well, kind of a bah- humbug Christmas story. This is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Finally from us tonight, 'tis the season. It will be for nine more increasingly frenzied days.

But not in Austria, or not, anyway, in some quarters in Austria, where traditionalists are upset that their old ways of celebrating Christmas are losing ground to the commercial American juggernaut.

The shopping, wrapping, charging mail ordering, click here to buy, max your credit cards out version of Christmas and the figures some Austrians have decided most represent the worst of it all is Santa.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN (voice-over): So a group called In translation, the pro Christ child organization, has come out with a sticker modeled after the no smoking, no littering and no U-turn sort of sign, the universal symbol for something you just won't countenance in your neck of the woods.

Kriss Kringle, with a diagonal line through him.

And the group, which feels that the Christ child represents what Christmas really ought to be, has also concocted some anti-Santa greeting cards intended to be e-mailed to like-minded folks.

Some of these cards we cannot show you. We really can't, honestly. But here are some we can.

If you're in the mood to be astonished and upset, can you visit their Web site for yourself, at www prochristkind.com. If you're wondering how you say e-card in German, it's e-card. Go ahead and look, but don't blame us.

Any way, there you are in Austria, where "Silent Night" was written. The Christmas message seems to be "Peace on Earth, good will to men," but not to that miserable money grubbing fat guy in red.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Something to think about. Good to see you again. Nice program tonight. Join us again tomorrow at 10:00 Eastern. Good night for all of us at NEWSNIGHT.

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





Strike Averted>


Aired December 16, 2002 - 22:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
AARON BROWN, HOST: Good evening again. I'm Aaron Brown.
For less than mysterious reasons, we find ourselves this Monday thinking about changes of mind. Cardinal Bernard Law had one last week, or the pope did. When last Cardinal Law offered the Vatican his resignation it was declined. He changed his mind, asked again, resignation accepted.

Then there was Al Gore. Many people in this country still would say that Al Gore, sort of kind of, in a way, actually won the last presidential election and has now decided not to run for that office in 2004. Second thoughts on that subject.

Which brings us to Senator Trent Lott, who has spent the better part of the last couple of weeks flossing sock fabric and shoe leather from beneath his teeth after having made some ill-advised, ill- considered remarks at Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday party. That's not our judgment, of course. Senator Lott himself has more than allowed that his comments were ill considered.

And this mess has caused the good senator to change his mind on several important matters. Tonight, speaking on Black Entertainment Television -- we presume to a largely African-American audience -- the senator says he wishes he had not voted against the holiday honoring Martin Luther King Junior. And he also said that, despite his votes against it, he actually supports affirmative action.

Now this isn't the time or place to debate affirmative action, but I'll admit I was shocked to hear the senator say that he supported it. I'm sure a lot of others are too, like his fellow Republicans. I'll bet they're real surprised.

Now maybe he didn't mean it in the way it's commonly used, but if he did, that would be a shocking change of mind, all things considered. A week ago, I would bet you that Senator Lott survived his dumb remarks. Now it seems the odds are against him. And it wasn't Democrats who changed the odds, but Republicans, who seem to have changed their minds, too on who should lead them.

It is the Lott affair that gets "The Whip" going. Capitol Hill starts it off. CNN's Jonathan Karl is there. Jon, good evening, and a headline, please.

JONATHAN KARL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, as the Trent Lott apology tour continued with that appearance on BET, his fellow Republicans in the Senate have decided too convene an extraordinary conference in January to decide whether or not they want him to continue as their leader.

BROWN: Jon, thank you. Back to you at the top tonight.

On to Al Gore and his decision not to enter the presidential fray this time around. Talked about it today in North Carolina. CNN's Jeanne Meserve covering. Jeanne, a headline from you.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, no regrets from Al Gore today. He says he is at peace with his decision not to run in 2004. The question now: If not Al Gore, then who?

BROWN: Jeanne, thank you.

And the transit strike today in New York, forget about it. CNN's Bob Franken following that. Bob, a headline from you.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Aaron, a remarkable thing about the auto traffic in back of me, it's moving. It would not have been had there been a transit strike, but there is no transit strike, so the traffic is moving. We'll have more about that in a moment.

BROWN: We're always glad when traffic moves downtown. Thank you. Back with all of you shortly.

Also tonight, reaction to Senator Lott's apology from the African-American community, as well as political fallout for man (ph) in Al Gore's bombshell. Writers Ellis Cose and Deroy Murdock join us later. So do Joe Klein and "CROSSFIRE's" Robert Novak.

We'll look at the high-stakes game of turning obscure Native American tribes into big-time casino owners through the eyes of a tribe that once had just a log cabin and $23 to its name. So who would really make the money if they got their wish?

And we'll close things out with wishes for Christmas from some folks in Austria who say the holiday is fine except for Santa. They have an idea for a replacement. All of that in the hour ahead.

On this Monday night, we begin with Trent Lott. And if there isn't yet blood in the water, we're beginning to see the kind of thrashing around that draws the sharks just as surely as an opening in a vein. Since Senator Lott first apologized for remarks made at Strom Thurmond's birthday party, his troubles have only grown. And while our friend Bob Novak, who joins us later, may disagree, it was not the Democrats who slashed Lott's veins, it was conservative.

The "Wall Street Journal," "The Weekly Standard," the old "Bennett" (ph), others, even the president. The more the senator apologizes, the messier it seems to get. His history is dug up, his previous statements examined under a political microscope. And all the while, the sharks get hungrier. Here again, CNN's Jonathan Karl.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) KARL (voice-over): With his position as majority leader hanging in the balance, Trent Lott issued his latest mea culpa, this time on Black Entertainment Television.

SEN. TRENT LOTT (R-MS), MINORITY LEADER: The important thing is to recognize the hurt that I caused and ask for forgiveness and find a way to turn this into a positive thing and try to make amends for what I've said and for what others have said and done over the years. I'm looking for this to be not only an opportunity for redemption but to do something about it.

KARL: And he apologized for more than his words of praise for Strom Thurmond's presidential campaign. He acknowledged supporting segregation as he came of age in the segregated south.

LOTT: You know there has been immoral leadership in my part of the country for a long time. Progress has been made.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Were you a part of that?

LOTT: Yes. I can't deny that. And I believe that I have changed and that I'm trying to do a better job.

KARL: He now says he was wrong to vote against the Martin Luther King holiday in 1983. He said he did not fully appreciate the importance of Dr. King, prompting an incredulous response from interviewer Ed Gordon (ph).

ED GORDON: But you certainly understood it by the time that vote came up, Senator. You knew who Dr. King was at that point.

LOTT: I did, but I've learned a lot more since then. And I want to make this point very clearly. I have a high appreciation of him being a man of peace, a man that was for non-violence, a man that did change this country. I made a mistake and I would vote now for a Martin Luther King holiday.

KARL: He also appeared to change his position on another key issue.

GORDON: What about affirmative action?

LOTT: I'm for that. I think you should...

GORDON: Across the board?

LOTT: Absolutely across the board.

KARL: Speaking for the Congressional Black Caucus, Congressman Gregory Meeks found Lott neither sincere nor believable.

REP. GREGORY MEEKS, CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS: For me, sincere is that you would have done something about your actions prior. He said that he's for affirmative action. That's almost laughable.

KARL: But civil rights here John Lewis, who was among the first people to criticize Lott, has a different view. He spoke with him this morning and afterwards told CNN, "He sounded very, very sincere...I told him I was prepared and willing to forgive..."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KARL: And Lott is searching for forgiveness, but the forgiveness he needs is the forgiveness of his 50 fellow Republicans here in the United States Senate. And the fact that they have decided to convene this extraordinary conference in January to decide whether or not to dump him as leader shows just how perilous his situation is here -- Aaron.

BROWN: Well, I heard something this afternoon, and you tell me where this is going. That the senator, or at least friends of the senator have indicated that, should they remove him as party leader, he may resign his Senate seat, which in effect would turn it over a Democrat. It's a Democratic governor in Mississippi.

KARL: I can absolutely confirm that. Several Republican senators have told me that that message has come directly from Lott. That he has made it clear -- this was last week, though -- that he made it clear that, if he had to step down as majority leader, he wasn't going to stick around the Senate as a mid-level player here, he was going to go all the way back to Mississippi. He was going to leave the United States Senate. Many senators here saw that as a direct threat, because if that Democratic governor were to appoint a Democratic successor to Lott, this place goes back to 50-50, and you have a whole change in the dynamic here and a change in the balance of power.

BROWN: Well, in fairness, 50-50 still leaves the Republicans in control.

KARL: It does, Aaron. But you know what it does? The committees go back to 50-5-- in membership of the committees. They have to negotiate a whole new power sharing resolution. It's a whole different dynamic.

When you have 51-49, you have a clear majority, the rules are clear. If you go back to 50-50, they really need to share power in this entirety. And that means 50-50 on the committees, 50-50 on staff, 50-50 on office. It's a big difference.

BROWN: So Senator Lott has a few cards to play should he choose to play them at this point?

KARL: Yes. I should also say, though, that his supporters have kind of backed off that. They now say, of, if Trent were to leave, he'd never let a Democrat come in his place. He'd stick around if that were the case. So it remains to be seen whether or not he would actually play that card, because it is such a potent one to play.

BROWN: Jon, I never imagined a week ago we'd be here talking about this still. Thank you. Jonathan Karl on Capitol Hill tonight.

On to the other political earthquake of the day. This one hit suddenly last night. After looking more like a candidate than he had at any time since the 2000 election, Al Gore said he will not run in 2004. The aftershocks began about a nanosecond later and could wind up rocking the Democrats all the way to Iowa, New Hampshire a year from now. Here again, CNN's Jeanne Meserve.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE (voice-over): His race was over before it began. Gore said the decision not to make the plunge again was probably the most difficult of his life but right.

AL GORE, FMR. VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I am completely at peace with the decision. I believe it's the right thing for the country, I believe it's the right thing for the political party that I'm a member of and what I hope that political party will stand for. And I think that it's the right thing for me and my family.

MESERVE: Gore said he realized his race would be too much about what had been rather than what could be.

GORE: And because a race this time around would have focused on a Bush-Gore rematch, I felt that the focus of that race would inevitably have been more on the past than it should have been, when all races ought to be focused on the future.

MESERVE: With Gore out, the question is, who will get in? Senator Joseph Lieberman, Gore's running mate in 2000, made a commitment not to run if Gore did. Now his coast is clear.

SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (D), CONNECTICUT: I'm going to take a few more weeks to do some final thinking. This is a big decision. It has to come not just from my head but from my heart and soul.

MESERVE: A handful of hopefuls, including Lieberman and Massachusetts Senator John Kerry have already called Gore seeking his endorsement. He hasn't given it. Kerry's campaign is already full steam ahead.

JOHN KERRY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: I think that it's going very well. I'm extraordinarily encouraged by the support I've been getting.

MESERVE: Other possible contenders for the Democratic slot: North Carolina Senator John Edwards, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, outgoing House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt and Vermont Governor Howard Dean. For all of them, and possibly others, Gore's exit means new opportunity and new challenges.

STU ROTHENBERG, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: It's going to force different strategies and tactics on the part of the Democrats who do run. No longer will they be measured against Al Gore. Now they're going to be measured against each other.

MESERVE: Ultimately, one of them will be measured against the incumbent president, whose spokesman couldn't resist a jab. ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Somebody will emerge from the Democratic field who will ultimately seek to raise taxes on the American people, but that's a decision that the Democrats will make as they select a nominee.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE: Gore says he believes the Democratic nominee, whoever he may be, has a good shot at beating President Bush. Analysts say that will depend on who the nominee is than the state of the economy, war on terror and US military involvement overseas -- Aaron.

BROWN: Well, back in Washington, where you spend most of your time, what do you think the people who run the Democratic Party are thinking? Are they somewhat relieved that the former vice president has stepped aside?

MESERVE: From what I hear, Aaron, there's a very mixed opinion about that. There are those who feel that 2000 was damaging; they didn't want a rerun of that same battle. They weren't sure that Gore had run the kind of race in 2000 that he should have. They weren't sure he could in 2004. Those people, yes, relieved.

But there are others who genuinely supported this man. They were disappointed. I'm told by a Gore staffer that he got a number of phone calls last night from supporters all across the country expressing regret that he made this decision to pull out. Al Gore thanked them graciously for their support -- Aaron.

BROWN: I'm not sure there's a question here exactly. But the one thing you do think about in moments like this is the kind of commitment it takes to run for the presidency. We are two years away, and basically you have to start now.

MESERVE: They do have to start now, particularly raising money and lining up those supporters. The other thing that struck me about it, Aaron, was this was a man who has had his eye on this prize for years. For most of his adult life, this is what he has wanted, to be president of the United States. And what a dislocating sort of experience it must be for him to now back a from that, to decide he's not going to do it, to acknowledge he'll probably never get the chance again. And yet, today, he seemed a very happy man, much more relaxed in front of reporters than I ever saw him during the campaign.

BROWN: It's a reminder it's a tough business, politics. Jeanne, thank you. Jeanne Meserve in North Carolina with the former vice president tonight.

Some comings and goings for the Bush administration we should take note of on this Monday. Starting with a face we haven't seen in a while. It belongs to Thomas Keane, a former governor of New Jersey. President Bush today picked him to head the independent commission looking into the September 11 attacks. He'll replace Henry Kissinger, who stepped down last Friday.

Another close friend of the president is moving on. Joe Albaugh turned in his resignation today as the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA. It takes effect the first of March. That's when FEMA gets folded into the new Department of Homeland Security.

Now, New York. And because we believe everyone is a New Yorker at heart, even if you live outside the city, we know you'll you'll care about this New York story. The subways and the buses are running. The transit strike that would have turned the city into a horn-honking parking lot has been averted. Happiness reigns here in Gotham and the rest of the land, more or less. Here again, Bob Franken.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROGER TOUSSAINT, PRESIDENT, TRANSIT WORKERS UNION: And we wish every New Yorker a Merry Christmas.

FRANKEN (voice-over): And the negotiators had a wonderful gift indeed. A deal that would avoid a strike by New York's 34,000 transit workers.

TOUSSAINT: We expect that it will be overwhelmingly approved.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We think that today marks a turning point in the relationship of the NTA and its unions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's good that they settled and it's good that the city is not shut down and all of that, because it would have been pretty bad if nobody could get to work and all of that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I take the train all the time, you know. Thirty dollars for parking down here. That sucks.

FRANKEN: This is a city where driving from here to there is always an adventure, even though seven million people a day go in and out and around New York on public transportation. A strike could have changed the normal gridlock to near paralysis.

MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK: We're thrilled that the TWU and the MTA came to an agreement.

FRANKEN: The major issue: wages. Hardly a surprise there. Union negotiators steadily lowered their demands. Mayor Bloomberg had done his part by going out to buy a bicycle.

BLOOMBERG: If I have to ride it, I will ride it.

FRANKEN: But no bicycle ride for Mayor Bloomberg. He and millions of others can continue to ride the subway. A union leader said the best thing the mayor could do for the bargaining was to keep quiet. A suggestion made in that special New York kind of way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mayor Bloomberg should shut up. His comments have not been helpful from the beginning at all. His comments have been inflammatory, they have burned the negotiations.

(END VIDEOTAPE) FRANKEN: Well, the negotiations finally succeeded and the city that never sleeps avoided a major nightmare, a strike what could have cost an estimated $350 million a day -- Aaron.

BROWN: And do we know what they agreed to?

FRANKEN: We know that they agreed to -- instead of the 18 percent that they were asking -- they being the transit workers -- they in effect agreed to six percent. But it gets a little more complicated . The Transit authority is not going to pay them an hourly wage increase of two percent in the first year. Rather they'll get a bonus of $1,000 approximately. It's sort of a face-saving gesture for both sides.

BROWN: Bob, thank you. Bob Franken in New York today on the transit strike that wasn't.

Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, the explosion in casino gambling, especially on America's Indian reservations. Take a look at who's benefiting by that. And up next: more on the two major political stories floating around: Senator Lott and Al Gore. This is NEWSNIGHT back home in New York.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: When it comes to politics tonight, we've got an embarrassment of riches. A wealth of embarrassment as well, we suppose. Another apology from Trent Lott and his self-imposed ordeal. Al Gore's bombshell and where it leaves the Democratic presidential landscape. Where President Bush comes out in all of this and more.

Joining us to talk about this and that and a few other things, political writer Joe Klein and CNN's Bob Novak, who is in Washington tonight. Good to see you both. Mr. Novak, when we last spoke you said that Senator Lott was fine, unless you heard something bad coming from the lips of Don Nickles. It's over, right?

ROBERT NOVAK, HOST, "CROSSFIRE": Well, I wouldn't say it was over. Don Nickles certainly didn't do Senator Lott any good. But two points. Number one, he is still the only senator who has said Lott should be replaced flatly. And secondly, a lot of people think that Nickles has committed suicide politically himself by getting out that far. He is very isolated. If Lott is replaced, he won't be replaced by Nickles.

Do you know, Aaron, I've been in this town -- this is approaching my 46th anniversary, and I'm trying to think of a crazier story I have seen, but I cannot remember it. And the reason is that this was just a little joke, a little trying to compliment a 100-year-old man. And the reason it has gotten this far is that the Republicans have bailed out on Senator Lott. The people in the conservative movement have absolutely abandoned him.

BROWN: Joe, I wouldn't disagree with that. I think the guy has been done in by the right, not the left. I mean you get a lot of e- mail from people saying Democrats ought to back off, Democrats ought to back off, but that's not really what...

JOE KLEIN, "TIME": If Bob is right, that the Republicans have bailed out on him, I wouldn't give him that much of a chance of surviving. But this is not about a little joke. This is about a very big thing. This is about 30 years of history of winking and nodding, of celebrating -- of using the confederate flag, which the Republicans did this year in Georgia to win elections, of covert wink-wink racism, and now finally they're being called to task for it. There are a lot of things the Democrats have done that have been silly on the issue of race over the years, but this has been a vicious, obnoxious part of American politics, and I'm glad that it's out there.

NOVAK: Aaron, let me say that the reason there's still a chance is that the people who have bailed out on Trent Lott are not US senators. I've been going to Christmas parties -- the Christmas parties I go to, Aaron, the people there range from the right to the far right. And I think you can't find anybody but me and one or two other guys who are defending Trent Lott. They never liked Lott that much in the first place, and they're using this as an excuse to get rid of him.

But the question is -- I've talked to US senators today, and a lot of them are getting a little sore about all this. And they're saying this is our decision. I think it is still an open question. And as far as Trent Lott's 30-year record, my goodness, Joe, we knew his record all this time. Was this a surprise to you that he voted against the Martin Luther King birthday?

This is a phony constructed argument, and I think John Lewis, the great hero of the civil rights movement, who I think is an honest man, says, let's give him a break, let's give him a second chance to -- I think that is the more Christian and the more humane attitude.

BROWN: All right. I've got two minutes left with you guys and I want to move off Lott, OK? Somebody in this conversation speculated not long ago that Al Gore would not run again.

KLEIN: Could I tell them who it was, Aaron?

BROWN: Would you be so kind?

KLEIN: It wasn't me. You, you were the one. You heard it here first. So it wasn't a bombshell. Anybody who watches this program knew. And so, Aaron, could I ask you, where do the Democrats go from here?

BROWN: Joe, where do the Democrats go from here?

KLEIN: Well, I think that John Kerry is probably kind of disappointed. And those who are actually in this race want to run were disappointed because they thought they could beat Gore. And if you beat Gore -- if you're John Kerry or John Edwards or one of the other serious contenders, then you're somebody. You beat a giant.

Now the thing is really kind of up in the air, and I think a lot of mirrors were working overtime in Washington this morning. There were an awful lot of senators and other assorted cats and dogs who were looking in the mirror and saying "Could it be me? Could I be president?"

BROWN: Bob, let me ask you that and a little bit more. Where do the democrats go? But first and quickly, do you think the Republicans are a little disappointed that Gore dropped out? That he would have been in many of their minds an easy pickings?

NOVAK: No, they're very disappointed, not a little disappointed. And Tony Coelho on CNN this afternoon came out and said he would have been a loser against Bush. Bush is not unbeatable, but Gore couldn't have beaten him. Now where do they go now? It's wide open. And that is really a lot of fun for Joe Klein and me to see a wide-open presidential race. It may not be so much fun for the Democratic king makers.

KLEIN: Could I say something about Gore?

BROWN: Real quick, 20 seconds.

KLEIN: Yeah. I mean, he was conducting other the last month or two this really wild experiment. He wasn't relying on consultants or pollsters at all. He was just flying by the seat of his pants and saying what he thought about Iraq and about healthcare. And a lot of the positions weren't that well thought through.

But I was kind of looking forward to see a politician actually doing his thinking for himself. And I would recommend that highly to some of the people who are now considering this.

BROWN: Well, that would be an interesting first for all of to us witness. Thank you, Joe. And Mr. Novak, it's good to talk to you again. Thanks for joining us.

NOVAK: Mr. Brown, thank you.

BROWN: Bob Novak and Joe Klein with us tonight.

As NEWSNIGHT continues, a little bit more politics this time. Take a look at what Senator Lott said and how it played to one of his audiences. This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Back to Senator Lott. A cynic might say that Senator Lott tells one audience one thing and another audience another. He told (UNINTELLIGIBLE) that the '84 Republican Party platform represented the spirit of Jefferson Davis, who wrote articles for the Council of Conservative Citizens, a white supremacist group. That's for his white audience.

To his black audience, he spoke today of his belief in affirmative action and his regrets about his vote against the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. Anyway, we're not cynics. Perhaps our next guests are. We'll find out. Here to talk about it, "Newsweek" magazines, Ellis Cose and Deroy Murdock, a syndicated columnist who has been with us before. It's nice to see you again. You were very tough on him in a piece I read today. Here's my question, since I'm in a somewhat cynical mood today. Are you angry with him on principle? The principles of racism and equality. Or are you angry with him because he screwed up a really good deal with the Republican Party and they're not going to be able to get anything done as long as the guy is hanging out?

DEROY MURDOCK, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST: Well, it's both. I think on principle he said some things that are awful. He said them, I think, because he thinks them. If he had said this for the first time, someone might have said he had too much eggnog at Strom Thurmond's birthday party. But you go back through the '90, through '80s, all the way back to the '60s and you see a pattern of him saying these sort of things. Saying I feel myself closer to Jefferson Davis than to almost any other man in America. All sorts of comments praising the president of the Confederacy. And all that on principle is horrible.

Politically I don't think the Republicans are going to be able to get very much done as long as he is the third biggest Republican face out there. He talked tonight on Black Entertainment Television about going on a journey of personal reflection and redemption. That's fine. I think he ought to be able to do that as the junior senator from Mississippi.

He does that as the leader of the Republicans in the Senate, he'll be taking the entire Republican party through this sort of a group therapy exercise as iff all Republicans are racists and we all have to exorcise these demons from us. And that's not the case, very unhealthy for Republicans in the Senate and across the board.

BROWN: I don't want to make the argument here that all Republicans are racist, but Joe Klein in the segment before raised the idea that's sort of been mumbling but no one's been willing to say it is just beneath the surface of Republican party politics in a certain part of the country there has been a wink and nod racism at play.

ELLIS COSE, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, "NEWSWEEK": I think it's irrelevant whether or not Trent Lott is racist. We don't know what this guy is made of.

What we know is what he supported and what he stands for and we know what audience he decides he needs to appeal to and he's consistently decided he needs to appeal to a very racist constituency and that has implications for policy.

But what's a larger observation, I think and "Newsweek" does talk about this at length in this current issue is that the Republican party, the modern Republican party, is really based built on a large extent on the edifice of racism. It's not to say that it's racist, that everybody's racist.

But it's to say that beginning with the evolution in the South, and the Dixiecrats, basically Republicans learned that if they were going to be successful at the national level they needed to use race in a particular way, they needed to appeal to these (UNINTELLIGIBLE) racist folks.

Now you have this conundrum where on one hand the Republicans are saying we are a big tent now, we want everybody in our tent, including blacks, including people who would have considered us awful before but at the same time they still want to appeal to this constituency that Joe was talking about.

So the other question I would have, though, as Bob Novak observed, these are not new comments. Why was the Republican party so comfortable with this guy for all this time?

BROWN: I think that's a great question Mr. Novak put on the table. You're a young Republican. We'll throw this at you.

MURDOCK: Youngish.

BROWN: None of this is new to you. You knew about the Conservative Council business, you knew about the Jefferson Davis business, you knew about all of this. Why now? Why this?

MURDOCK: I wrote a column in the "Washington Times" under the headline "Resign, Mr. Lott" in April 1999. I've been trying to get this guy out of this job for four years now.

BROWN: On this issue? Because of race?

MURDOCK: On both, the race and incompetence. What I find really amazing about this is I could understand, I wouldn't agree with, but I could understand the argument we've got to keep Lott because he's indispensable because he's the intellectual power house of the Republican party. He's sort of the Republican Moynihan. Or he's a brilliant tactician in terms of parliamentary tactics. He can tie up the Senate or speed it up if he wants to, so we've got to hang onto him.

The guy is not those things. Tom Daschle always ties his shoe laces together and you she Trent Lott fall flat on his face. So I don't know what they're hanging on to. You got a guy who deep in his heart may believe some awful things. He certainly has said them over and over. In terms of his capabilities as a majority leader I think he's very, very weak and lacking. So I really don't know what they're clutching on to at all.

BROWN: Last word, half a minute, do you think that any of this affair will seriously cause Republicans to reexamine what it is they're about if you believe that's necessary?

COSE: I think it ought to. And beginning with Trent Lott, obviously, who is beginning to sound like the reincarnation of Martin Luther King on this last broadcast. It will be a very interesting proposition to see this guy who is now pro affirmative action, wants to go through campaigning or at least through the state with John Lewis, see what he thinks he represents and who he speaks to.

But I think the Republican party needs to face this fact.

BROWN: Thanks for joining us. Nice to meet you. Have wonderful holidays both of you.

MURDOCK: Thank you, we will.

BROWN: A couple of quick items before we go to break here. Starting in San Diego with the death of a Marine recruit, apparently from a rare type of strep infection. Private Miguel Zivala checked into a hospital with a rash on Sunday morning, he died early that afternoon. Today the base suspended strenuous physical activity for recruits and yesterday gave all 5,000 recruits a shot of antibiotics.

A few miles north in Orange County, California, a new judge has been named for the trial of Alejandro Avila. Avila, you may recall, is charged with killing five-year-old Samantha Runnion. Change came after Avila lawyers accused the presiding judge of bias. No details on why they believe that.

In Baltimore today, a jury acquitted Dante Stokes of attempted murder in the shooting of a priest he says abused him. the alleged abuse took place 10 years ago. Mr. Stokes lawyer says his client shot the priest during a psychotic episode. The jury agreed, though it did convict him on three lesser hand gun charges.

And Boston's former cardinal, Bernard Law, made his first public statement today after stepping down. Back from the Vatican, Cardinal Law offered another apology and said he hoped his resignation would help the Archdiocese heal. He took no questions from reporters.

Still ahead on NEWSNIGHT tonight, millions of dollars to be made but just who is making them? We'll look at casino gambling on America's Indian reservations. This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: And next on NEWSNIGHT, everybody wants a piece of the action but just who's benefiting from casino gambling on Indian reservations? We're a short break and right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Stories making news around the world here, more clashes today in Venezuela between supporters and opponents of the president, Hugo Chavez. The White House today called for Chavez to hold early elections, something that can't be done until August without changing the constitution. One proposal being circulated in Venezuela for getting around that little problem calls for a non-binding referendum followed by Chavez stepping down should the vote go against him.

More bloodshed on the West Bank today. Palestinian students throwing rocks at Israeli soldiers enforcing a curfew. Soldiers returned fire. Seven protesters wounded.

And a buy day for the U.N. inspectors in Iraq. Teams visited an Iraqi oil refinery, a missile parts factory and a pair of sites that make precision machinery of the type that could be used in missiles and nuclear war heads. The inspection go on in Iraq.

You be hard pressed to find people who's luck has been then that of Native Americans. From the time Europeans first arrived here, things have gone from bad to dreadful for them, almost without relief. They were a sovereign people once but little by little and not so slowly either they ended up pushed out of the country that was once entirely theirs into little pockets of pretty poor territory scattered here and there. For the last little while though, Native Americans have been out to change their luck in a very direct way. After all, the odds all favor the house. Here's a report whose state whose name means a place beside the long river in the language of the Mohicans.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN (voice-over) Right now, a tiny group of Indians in Connecticut has this to it's name. A single log house beside a country road and a sign.

BILL MCBRIDE, CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER, GOLDEN HILL PAUGUSSETTS: It's down to quarter of an acres. Over the years, there's 720,000 acres. Most of the land was taken from them legally, and it's down to one quarter of an acre in Trumbull.

BROWN: The Indians are the Golden Hill Paugussetts, and they have a lofty and expensive dream. One day they hope they will own and profit from a casino like this.

MARK BROWN, CHIEF, MOHEGAN TRIBE: Total amount of slot machine, rough 6,200 slot machines within our facility. Where we are at right now is roughly 1,000 square feet of gaming to complement the 120,000 square feet we had in Earth Casino.

BROWN: The Mohegan Indians of Southeastern Connecticut now operate one of the most successful casinos in the world, Mohegan Sun. But before they were granted federal recognition as a genuine tribe, they had practically nothing.

M. BROWN: I think there was a point in time we had probably $23 in our whole savings. We used to hold meeting in an old farm house. And the reservation existed as an eight of an acre with our church on it.

BROWN: A kind of object lesson has triggered some nationwide, high-stakes speculation of its own, largely invisible to the general public. Traditional gambling powers like Harrahs and individuals like Donald Trump are lining up to spend millions and millions of dollars just on the chance that the Indian tribes they back might be granted federal recognition.

GEORGE JEPSEN, MAJORITY LEADER CONNECTICUT STATE SENATE: We're talking about billions of dollars backing up these petitions, because the amount of money that can be made is a roulette wheel of its own. If you can win recognition the opportunity to make even more billions justifies the risk of the investment.

BROWN: With that kind of money critics say is bound to come abuse.

JEPSEN: The amount of money at stake is simply enormous, and amount of wealth behind these petitions allows them to clearly influence the process in a way the public really aren't equal partners in having an opportunity to fight back.

BROWN: Most of the explosion in Indian gambling has come here in California, where there are now nearly 50 Indian-owned casinos. But the most profitable ones are in the northeast, Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods, both in Connecticut. Close to New York. And because they were so costly to build only some of that money has found it's back to members of the tribe.

M. BROWN: Our tribe is focused on or billion dollar plus debt. We're going to pay down our debt before anything else happens.

BROWN: The people who keep track of Indian gambling say a ceiling will soon be reached, that the possible number of tribes and any successful number of casinos they might build are finite and the opposition remains strong.

JEPSEN: Do you want products that build real whether or do you want to be part of a system that moves money around for the benefit of a relative few?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: When NEWSNIGHT continues, we'll talk about who is benefiting from these casinos and more. We'll be joined by two "Time" magazine correspondent who is have been reporting on this.

This NEWSNIGHT from New York.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: When we come back, more on casino gambling and whether it's really benefiting the Native Americans. This is NEWSNIGHT

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: We're joined by a pair of Pulitzer Prize winning reporters who moved on from the "Philadelphia Inquire" to "Time" magazine. To which they have most recently contributed a cover story on the subject of casino gambling and Native Americans.

We're always glad to see Donald Barlett and James Steele, and We see them now. Good to you have with us.

All right, I said to just while ago I'm a little confused by what to think of this. You have some tribe, not a lot but some tribes who really have done quite well, and the members of those tribes are living better lives, they have better jobs and they have some money in their pocket, right?

DONALD BARLETT, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, "TIME" MAGAZINE: Absolutely true. And it's a very small fraction of the overall Native Americans. Maybe 10 percent. Maybe even less than that.

BROWN: And then you have other examples in place that would argue simply can't support a casino. It's not -- I mean, that's the problem as much as anything is that you put a casino in the middle of South Dakota, and I've been there, and you don't get a whole lot of traffic.

JAMES STEELE, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, "TIME" MAGAZINE: This is one of the misconceptions about the act from the very beginning. When you go back to 1988 when they passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, one of the ideas was to develop reservation economies. But you're right, you can't do that in the middle of South Dakota, you certainly can't do it in the middle of New Mexico, on the Navaho reservation even if they embrace gambling, which they haven't. So there were basic misconceptions about that from the very beginning.

BROWN: So it is not the panacea to all problems of Native American, nor is it absolutely evil, assuming you don't believe gambling is absolutely evil.

STEELE: One thing that interested us about this whole subject was the fact that so many people think Indians are walking around with cash stuffed in their pockets. What we found is that just a tiny number are actually benefiting. And what you have is just because of that you have investors, you have folks who are managing these -- these are many of the folks who found a way to make money out of this process.

BARLETT: This is one of the real tragedies of this whole thing because it's diverting attention away from the real problems, which are the reservations you're talking about where poverty is unbelievable. The Navajo reservation you still have huge chunks of the population who don't have electricity and running water.

BROWN: Some people who may not know, the Navajos, which are formidable tribe will not allow gambling on the reservation because of their religion.

BARLETT: Exactly. You're diverting attention away from problems that really need to be resolved and pretending they've been solved by this when they haven't been.

BROWN: The articles look at a lot of aspects of this, who's making money, how the big companies and the big players come in all of that. I want to spend a minute or two talking about how it's played out in Washington because when you have the kind of money that's in play here, billions and billions of dollars in play, it has to make its way to Washington.

STEELE: And it's made its way to Washington. I think one of the biggest surprises we had -- if you go back 10 years ago, Native American tribes weren't even a blip on the radar screen. They gave almost no money, they hired very few lawyers. Now you're seeing they're giving more money as a block than companies like General Motors, Boeing, even Enron in its heyday were spending on lobbying. So they're big players. But again, these are the rich tribes for the most part, not those poor tribes.

BROWN: And they're trying to protect their interest in casino gambling.

STEELE: They're trying to protect that. They're trying to, in some cases, get some special exemptions in the law.

One of the tribes we wrote about in Mississippi got an exemption on their regulatory proceedings. Others are trying to -- are basically lobbying behind the scenes, as you saw in that earlier report by George Jepsen, the kinds of money that's going into the Whole Bureau of Indian Affairs to get recognition for tribes. So there's a huge amount going on there as well.

BARLETT: A lot of it has been spent to preserve the tax-free status of the casinos. The casinos pay no income tax.

BROWN: Pay no state income. They're -- look, here's the devil's advocate speaking. They're simply playing the game. Playing by the rules that are in play in this country , which is if you got dough, you spread it around Washington and your interests will be protected.

BARLETT: Absolutely. Here's another tragic aspect of that. When we went on one reservation after another where the individual Indians questioned where the money is going, how it's being spent, are we really being helped?

The reservations are really run kind of like dictatorships and anyone who raises question risk losing their jobs, they risk losing their health care benefits, they risk being thrown off the reservation. And just in the past week since the first article appeared, we've been inundated with calls and letters from people on other reservations saying, Why didn't you write about us. We're much worse than the people you've written about.

BROWN: The two articles, there's one in last week's issue of "Time" and in this week the second part. Fascinating reading. Not surprising from the two of you. It's good to see you again. Thanks for coming in. Have a good holiday. Thank you very much.

We'll wrap it up with a Christmas story. Well, kind of a bah- humbug Christmas story. This is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Finally from us tonight, 'tis the season. It will be for nine more increasingly frenzied days.

But not in Austria, or not, anyway, in some quarters in Austria, where traditionalists are upset that their old ways of celebrating Christmas are losing ground to the commercial American juggernaut.

The shopping, wrapping, charging mail ordering, click here to buy, max your credit cards out version of Christmas and the figures some Austrians have decided most represent the worst of it all is Santa.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN (voice-over): So a group called In translation, the pro Christ child organization, has come out with a sticker modeled after the no smoking, no littering and no U-turn sort of sign, the universal symbol for something you just won't countenance in your neck of the woods.

Kriss Kringle, with a diagonal line through him.

And the group, which feels that the Christ child represents what Christmas really ought to be, has also concocted some anti-Santa greeting cards intended to be e-mailed to like-minded folks.

Some of these cards we cannot show you. We really can't, honestly. But here are some we can.

If you're in the mood to be astonished and upset, can you visit their Web site for yourself, at www prochristkind.com. If you're wondering how you say e-card in German, it's e-card. Go ahead and look, but don't blame us.

Any way, there you are in Austria, where "Silent Night" was written. The Christmas message seems to be "Peace on Earth, good will to men," but not to that miserable money grubbing fat guy in red.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Something to think about. Good to see you again. Nice program tonight. Join us again tomorrow at 10:00 Eastern. Good night for all of us at NEWSNIGHT.

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