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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown
Recap of Day One of Democratic National Convention
Aired July 26, 2004 - 23:00 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.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: The former president of the United States, Bill Clinton, speaking enthusiastically to this audience not only here, but around the country, people who are watching. He spoke for just under 25 minutes or so, a speech that demonstrated, once again, how much passion he can bring to these Democrats.
Judy, when you are listening to Bill Clinton, you recognize what a masterful politician he is.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: He's true -- I think he dispelled much of the argument in this election, and that is that George W. Bush, that the Democrats are saying he is a divider. Over and over again, Bill Clinton talked about bringing the country together.
All right. Let's listen to Patti LaBelle. She's going to wind up this evening for the Democrats.
(MUSIC)
BLITZER: Patti LaBelle energizing this crowd at the end of day one of this Democratic National Convention. Three more days to go, wrapping up Thursday night and his acceptance speech getting ready for this campaign.
This has been a night that the former president of the United States, Bill Clinton, electrified this audience. The question is: How much good did he do? For John Kerry and John Edwards down the road, these are questions that will be prominent throughout our coverage.
A special edition of "LARRY KING LIVE" will be coming up at midnight tonight. Larry will be back live tonight for another one- hour show.
But, up next, "NEWSNIGHT" with Aaron Brown. Aaron standing by to pick up our coverage.
For Jeff Greenfield and Judy Woodruff, I'm Wolf Blitzer at the Democratic National Convention here in Boston.
AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening again, everyone. Welcome back to New York.
I guess this is the post-game show, and the game, if you will, is on. All that's preceded tonight, all of the primaries, all of the fund-raising out there, all of it that has gone on this election, the vice presidential candidates, everything was all the appetizer. The main course went on the table today, at least for the Democrats. This campaign now is on.
This is traditionally the point when the country, by and large, starts to pay attention to the campaign. Political junkies pay a lot of attention before it. People in the states where primaries are held pay a lot of attention.
We saw a poll or survey today that said only about 30 percent of the countries said it really thought it new John Kerry. By the end of the week, the Democrats hope that that is considerably different.
Our hour or most of our hour over the course of the week will be spent looking at what transpired in Boston and we'll do the same in New York in about a month.
But we start NEWSNIGHT with a whip no matter where we are, and the whip starts at the FleetCenter and stays there. We start with CNN's Joe Johns.
Joe, start us with a headline from tonight.
JOE JOHNS, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, Jimmy Carter gave a rousing speech tonight. It was red meat for the faithful. It was one of those speeches in which he was sharply critical of this administration at a time when Kerry and Edwards are trying to tone down the criticism.
Of course, his speech was not vetted by Kerry nor Edwards. A lot of people saying he's the elder statesman of the party and can pretty much say anything he wants.
We hope to talk to Walter Mondale about that in just a minute.
BROWN: John King also with us tonight, our senior White House correspondent, who was listening very carefully to a former president.
John, a headline?
JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Aaron, standing here at the base of the New York delegation where they saluted -- and I hope this works -- a former president tonight and perhaps they think a future president here...
BROWN: (OFF-MIKE) ... in the hall as well, as you can imagine, there's a fair amount of chaos in the hall, and so some of this may not go as perfectly scripted, but, Kelly, let's try a headline.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And, Aaron, I'm at the Tennessee delegation, the home state of former vice president, Al Gore. Al Gore has been one of the toughest critics of President Bush and this war in Iraq, but he stayed away from that tonight in keeping with the Kerry campaign desire to limit bashing of the president as much as possible.
He did not get the reception that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and former President Clinton did, but he got this crowd to stand up on its feet when he said every vote must count -- Aaron. BROWN: Kelly, thank you. We'll get back to you pretty quickly here.
We begin, however, with the man who was a bit of the elephant in the room four years ago, certainly not tonight. Bill Clinton was the headliner in a lineup intended to remind the delegates why they came and do it early enough in the convention not to overshadow the man they came to nominate and Bill Clinton can overshadow, a tricky balance to strike perhaps, but also a sign of how badly the Democrats want to win this time because, for whatever liabilities the former president may bring in some quarters, he remains a formidable presence in many.
So we'll start with him, the highlight, if you will, of the evening if you're a Democrat and our Senior Political Correspondent Candy Crowley.
Candy, good evening.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Aaron.
You know, Bill Clinton said that on Monday, this first day of the convention, he was going to come in, give a speech, and then leave town, and, from the reaction of the audience, you can see why.
This is still the light of the Democratic Party, and he showed in every way why that is, first of all, because he made a very clear, very coherent case of the Democrats versus the Republicans. Here's what we believe. Here's what they believe, that the Republicans would argue with it, but it was for Democrats a point-by-point discussion of that.
At the same time, he connected, and this is where they hope John Kerry can improve his game because Bill Clinton can both give that argument and still connect with people in a very real way.
How good is Bill Clinton? Here's how good he is. He was able to take something that he has in common with George Bush and Dick Cheney and turn it into something -- into a reason to vote for John Kerry. Take a listen.
BROWN: Candy, thank you very much for -- we're having an audio problem, and, in television, when you have these sorts of problems, the best thing you can do is take a break and fix them. So we will do that, and our coverage will continue in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: OK. Here's an idea. Let's start this again.
For those of you who were not here all evening, did not watch the entire coverage, the first important speaker of the night, meaning no offense to all those who spoke this afternoon. These conventions start about 4:00 in the afternoon. There's a fair number of speeches to empty halls. The first important speaker tonight was former Vice President Al Gore, the candidate for the White House in the election of four years ago. He came to set the table, if you will, for much of what was to follow. Kelly Wallace worked that part of the story.
And, Kelly, are you there?
WALLACE: I am here, Aaron. If these...
BROWN: All right. Let's...
Go ahead. Go ahead.
WALLACE: Go ahead.
BROWN: All right. Let me start you off this way. The purpose -- fill in the blank. The purpose of the Al Gore speech tonight was what?
WALLACE: To energize the Democratic base by reminding them of Florida 2000. Al Gore said it clearly. He said, "Let's make sure that this time every vote is counted."
A lot of Democrats, particularly African-Americans, believe -- and they will use the words -- they believe that this election was stolen from Democrats. So this was Al Gore just standing on that podium, a reminder of 2000, a reminder of how important it is to get out the vote.
A lot of questions going into tonight, Aaron. You've listened and watched Al Gore over the past few months. He has been one of the sharpest critics of President Bush and this war in Iraq. So a lot of questions. Would we hear that same tone, that same criticism from Al Gore tonight? We did not hear that, and that is part -- part of the reason is because the Kerry campaign wanted a more positive tone, a limit on any bashing of President Bush.
But what Al Gore did, talked about how every vote should be counted, and then in a sort of -- in the words of his advisers, a more respectful questioning tone, he laid out a series of questions, in essence, would you be better off with a John Kerry-John Edwards ticket or with President Bush who was -- came into office in 2000, and he let the crowd answer that one.
BROWN: Let me interrupt you a little bit. I wrote down some of what he said, as we were going here. He said -- and I thought -- and I'll bring this up -- this will come up a number of times tonight because I think it's a theme of what we're going to hear between now and November.
Did you get what you expected when you elected George Bush? He said, "Those of you who voted for George Bush four years ago, did you get what you expected?" The Republicans are going to frame this as the Boston liberal, and it sounds to me like what the Democrats want to try and do here is say, no, no, no, wait a second, this Republican administration is far more conservative than you. WALLACE: Correct. And also very important to note, that message was not aimed at these Democratic delegates who were fired up for John Kerry and John Edwards. That message was aimed to the independent, the moderate, Democrats who created for George Bush in 2000, Republicans who voted for George Bush in 2000, Democrats and Republicans who say the country's on the wrong track.
You look at the polls. A majority of Americans now saying they believe it's going in the wrong direction. A majority saying they think it's time to elect a new president, but John Kerry -- many states still hadn't sort of closed the deal. So part of what Al Gore did, sort of an introductory message, had them start asking the question: Are you better off now? Did you get what you wanted in 2000?
The hope is, according to Democrats, that on Thursday John Kerry will say I'm the guy who can deliver what you thought you were getting four years ago.
BROWN: OK. Thank you. In many different ways tonight, thank you for your help. Thank you.
Kelly Wallace.
Another thing that the former vice president said, by the way, that I think tells you a bit about where the Democrats are -- what the Democrats are thinking -- he addressed the Nader voters. He said, "Do you really believe there is no difference between the two parties?" So they took that straight on.
Joe Johns who normally covers Capitol Hill for us was in the hall looking for stories, and sometimes stories are hide to find in these things, but we suspect our intrepid Mr. Johns found some.
Joe, good evening to you.
JOHNS: I certainly did, Aaron. Of course, the one interesting story here from Jimmy Carter was just how straightforward his criticism really was of this administration. It's odd really to see elder statesman, presidents past, who get up on the stage, particularly at a political convention like this, and really use strong words against the current administration. That's what he did.
He called it an unbroken series of mistakes and miscalculations in this administration. He said, "We cannot lead if our leaders mislead." And it was fairly warmly received. It was interesting, of course, as I said right at the top, simply because a lot of people here knew that the Kerry administration was trying to tamp down the criticism of the current administration.
But when you dig a little bit deeper and you ask a few more questions, what you find they're talking about is go ahead and criticize this administration on issues, but don't make it personal. That seems to be the one thing they wanted the most, and, basically, what's happened here is that this president, of course, this former president, Jimmy Carter, got up there, he didn't have his speech vetted at all, we're told, by anyone, neither Kerry nor Edwards nor their staff, and he said what he had to say.
I talked to some people. In fact, I sat in the Georgia delegation while he was delivering that speech, watched people as they listened very closely, they very politely applauded.
Then I talked afterward to John Lewis, the Congressman, the esteemed Congressman and former civil-rights leader, from Georgia and asked him just how does Jimmy Carter get away with that when Kerry and Edwards are trying to tamp down the criticism, and he said, "Jimmy Carter is simply the elder statesman of the party, an honest man, truthful, and when those words come out of his mouth, he's viewed as such," and he also said Jimmy Carter -- only Jimmy Carter -- can do something like that. So I had...
BROWN: Let me add...
JOHNS: Yes?
BROWN: Let me just build on that. First of all, I think what the -- as I understand the Kerry concern here, the Kerry campaign's concern is they don't want it too personal and they don't want it shrill, and it's hard to imagine shrill and Jimmy Carter in the same sentence. At the same...
JOHNS: Certainly.
BROWN: Just let me -- one more point, Joe -- I'm sorry. I've waited a while, too -- is that as I listened to former President Carter, he actually went to the question of how these two men, President Bush and John Kerry, dealt with their own service commitments during Vietnam.
JOHNS: Yes, he certainly did, and he sort of echoed -- or I suppose Bill Clinton echoed what Carter said about the way Kerry stepped up. So there's also that piece as well. As you know, Jimmy Carter, if I remember it correctly, had -- was a graduate of the Naval Academy, too, so he's one of those people who feels he can weigh in on that.
BROWN: Yes, he was. He was...
JOHNS: He really -- yes. He did a good -- this crowd really enjoyed him. I'll put it that way. He did something for them.
BROWN: Well, that's why they're there.
JOHNS: Never raised his voice.
BROWN: That's why they're there.
JOHNS: That's right.
BROWN: Joe, thank you very much.
Joe Johns who's in Boston, and he'll be joining us throughout the week. Also joining us throughout the week -- and those of you who are with us from time to time, know they stop by. We call them the Brown table, and it includes John Harwood, who's the political editor of "The Wall Street Journal," and Terry Neal, who's the -- who writes politics for the washingtonpost.com, and Nina Easton, who is the deputy Washington bureau chief for "The Boston Globe" and co-author of the definitive complete biography of John Kerry.
And we're glad to see you all. And with luck, we'll be glad to hear from you all, too.
John, let me start with you tonight. I heard what I think are some very clear themes the Democrats want to lay out in this week that will carry them, I think they hope, through November. Number one, we talked about this earlier. Did you get what you voted for four years ago? A theme. Do you agree?
JOHN HARDWOOD, "THE WALL STREET JOURNAL": I just lost my sound.
BROWN: OK. Not a good sign.
Terry, can you hear me?
TERRY NEAL, WASHINGTONPOST.COM: I can hear you.
BROWN: OK. Let's try Terry Neal in that case.
Terry, I think the theme I heard was did you get in George Bush what you thought you were going to get four years ago. Is that a theme the Democrats can ride in November?
NEAL: Well, it's a major theme. I mean, George W. Bush is in a lot of ways what this election is about. That's typical of the case when you're seeking to replace an incumbent. They want to remind people about what happened in 2000, at the same time tell people why John Kerry -- why they should change ships, you know, sort of midstream here and go with someone else.
I don't know if I just mixed metaphors there or not, but this is an election where the base is crying out for some real sort of hardcore rhetoric about George W. Bush, and the Democrats are trying to balance that with the need to turn off, you know, these people, these group of people, who are undecided.
BROWN: OK. Nina...
NINA EASTON, "THE BOSTON GLOBE": Aaron, I was going to jump right in in terms of...
BROWN: Go ahead.
EASTON: ... in terms of themes. Before the Al Gore series of speeches tonight, I started trying to count the number of times that we heard terms -- head the words "strength," "strong," "protect," because -- and even from sort of interest group leaders in the Democratic coalition because what the Kerry campaign very much wants to do is have this to be kind of a testosterone-driven convention.
They want John Kerry to look like a strong dynamic, decisive leader, and that actually would play nicely with Bill Clinton tonight who added to that that sense of change because, of course, Bill Clinton delivered the message of change quite effectively back in '92, kind of youth and change.
Now we're going to see a convention that it's going to be more maturity, ability to lead, and a sense that Kerry can protect this country in perilous times.
BROWN: Nina, let me build on that because this is what I've got down his theme to, which is right along the lines of what you're talking about.
EASTON: Right.
BROWN: No matter what you think about the war in Iraq, they made a mess of it. That's a theme. The Democrats have had some struggle here figuring out their voice on Iraq. I suspect if you polled most of the delegates in that hall, they would tell you they were opposed to the war to begin with, but not their standard bearer and they need to frame a message, and it struck me that that's the message: No matter what you thought, these guys made a mess of it.
EASTON: And interestingly, the "Globe" did poll delegates, and 90 percent did oppose the war in Iraq, which, of course, John Kerry voted for. So that is a disjunction that John Kerry has to deal with this week.
HARWOOD: But, you know, Nina, what they also know, those delegates know that it is very likely that if Al Gore had been elected president or if John Kerry were president, that war wouldn't have happened, so I think sometimes the gulf between the delegates and John Kerry's position is not quite as large as it may seem.
BROWN: Now if I can get one more -- if John can't hear me, you just, Terry, pass along what I'm about to say. Here's what I think the third theme is that they'll try and work with, which is we have no friends in the world, we have alienated the very countries we need to fight the war on terror.
HARWOOD: Aaron, you heard Jimmy Carter make that point tonight where Jimmy Carter said, look, he went through the domestic issues and said John Kerry's got a better position on that, but the reason we must elect John Kerry is that he will make America safer, and he sketched this portrait of the United States alone in the world, and he pointed to Lieutenant John Kerry, said he'd be proud to serve on a ship with him. You saw both former presidents really invoking the image of the commander in chief in the Oval Office and, in essence, putting their arm around John Kerry and saying I know this guy can do the job.
BROWN: You guys have all been troopers tonight. Thank you. I promise we'll get all the plugs in the right sockets tomorrow night, and we won't feel quite so rocky, as we navigate this ship on to the shoals.
Thank you all, Mr. Harwood, Ms. Easton and Mr. Neal. Thank you.
We'll take a break, and our coverage of the Democratic convention continues in a moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALBERT GORE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You win some, you lose some, and then there's that little-known third category.
(CHEERS)
GORE: But I didn't come here tonight to talk about the past. After all, I don't want you to think that I lie awake at night counting and recounting sheep. I prefer to focus on the future because I know from my own experience that America's a land of opportunity where every little boy and girl has a chance to grow up and win the popular vote.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Later in the week, the Democrats will bring out Elizabeth Edwards and Teresa Heinz Kerry to meet the country if that's the right way to put it. But Mrs. Heinz Kerry made some news today. I'm not sure that was what she intended but it's the way it turned out.
She also sat down, talked with Jeff Greenfield and here is part of that conversation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello. You look familiar.
Teresa Heinz Kerry has known for months that she is one of two women who will be first lady of the United States next year. So I began by asking her whether she's been looking to the past for guidance about her possible future.
Have you given any thought to looking at other first ladies and saying, that's pretty good model for me? I don't want to be like that.
TERESA HEINZ KERRY, JOHN KERRY'S WIFE: Not really. The reason I haven't is because I believe you have to be who you are, to be true to yourself, to learn and do the best you know how to do. And I think that's what I'll do.
GREENFIELD: Is it fair to say that if John Kerry is the next president, that at some way or another we're going to be hearing from you in policy areas?
HEINZ KERRY: It's a good question because what I try to do with work is to enable results, good results, to be the outcome of collaboration. I love that kind of work. If I could do something like that, convening people with disparate points of views, but concerned about a particular issue and make them sit around the table and get to a point where they collaborate rather than fight, that's what I'd like to do. I would not however want to be appointed to a position without going through a hearing as any other appointment of a president. I'd want to go through it, if that's what I wanted to do and be accepted and voted on by the Senate of the United States. That's appropriate. I'm not looking to do that and...
GREENFIELD: But you're not ruling it out either or are you?
HEINZ KERRY: You never rule anything out, but I don't want it. I've never sought it.
GREENFIELD: We saw Howard Dean make a very concerted effort in the primary to keep his wife, who's a practicing physician, out of the spotlight.
HEINZ KERRY: I think what the public wants to know is that the person who is by the side of the president one day, that they can check each other, that they can support one another and that they enjoy doing and being leaders in that sense. They have a right to know that.
GREENFIELD: But it would seem that there's some things that go with this role, people looking at every piece of clothing I choose, everything that happens to my hair, every facial expression and making judgments about it and yet...
HEINZ KERRY: I think what people want is real honest whatever it is. We are all imperfect for Pete's sake and we all have our moments and sometimes we goof. Sometimes we make mistakes and people are very forgiving of that. I think all people want is that there be no false sense of importance or no false sense of perfection or no pretense period, you know, and I think if you're honest with people, they want to hug you and they want you to hug them.
GREENFIELD: People have admired the fact that if you're tired, if you're a little distracted, you don't have that gaze of perpetual utter fascination with everything that your husband is saying when you're standing next to him.
HEINZ KERRY: Should I? No, you know, I pay attention very careful to what he's saying. Most of the time I'm really listening very attentively and sometimes I smile and sometimes I don't. So having to listen to someone that you love and that you want to have do well and you've heard them 10 days ago and they really soared that day and then they're on a kind of slightly off day, you feel anxious. You want them to do well and you know, you're probably worried and I have a very expressive face. I show my expressions and when you do that, they allow you to come into their space because you invite them into your space. The most valuable lesson for politicians I have to teach them, be vulnerable. Make mistakes, soar a little bit and fall.
GREENFIELD: Do you think your husband's comfortable with that notion of vulnerability? HEINZ KERRY: He is if he's not -- if he were here, he'd be more careful than not, but if he's out campaigning with people, he's open and maybe also because he's a great, a very good debater and me, I'm different. I talk to people in here and in here.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GREENFIELD: Now it may have been talking from her heart that led Mrs. Heinz Kerry to make that comment to that conservative editorial writer. But the fact -- excuse me, we're having some audio things here, but the fact is that the one thing this may have done is to set up a potential for a very compelling debate between Teresa Heinz Kerry and Vice President Dick Cheney.
BROWN: In which case the moderator will bring the bar of soap. Here's the serious question. I mean, first ladies -- I mean clearly Mrs. Heinz Kerry is no Mamie Eisenhower. Will the country accept her? I think we vote for a package. I don't mean the -- you have a partner in the White House sort of package working on health care, but you need to be comfortable. Will they be comfortable with her if they are comfortable with her husband?
GREENFIELD: Well, the answer to that is yes. Once -- if they're fine with the husband I think that the wife and someday we'll talk about the other gender comes along. There are a couple of things about Mrs. Heinz Kerry that are interesting, the fact that she's foreign born and speaks with an accent. There are some people who think, well, you know, this is a country still that elects people with very common familiar names, not unfamiliar names. On the other hand, if you think about how many people in the United States speak with an accent of one kind or another, maybe that's not such a liability. I thought that in a lot of the appearance of Mrs. Heinz Kerry, the fact that she actually answers questions. This is clearly not a programmed woman, is actually something that's an asset. Now whether this latest dust up means anything or not, I don't know.
BROWN: Nor I. Thank you. We'll talk to you again tomorrow. Thank you for your forbearance tonight, thank you very much.
Also with us and will be with us throughout the week is "Time" magazine's Joe Klein and Joe joins us from Boston. Nice to see you and I presume hear you too.
JOE KLEIN, "TIME" MAGAZINE: Well, we'll see about that. Can you hear me?
BROWN: I hear you great. Did the Democrats get out of tonight what they wanted, needed to get out of tonight?
KLEIN: Well, you know, one thing you can say about Bill Clinton is, the boy's got a future in politics, although it's all over at this point. I think that that is exactly what they wanted. They wanted to have Bill Clinton make their case and more than any other politician I've ever covered in my 30 too many years of doing this, this is a guy who can take policy issues, make them compelling, frame them and make you want to listen and make you even want to hear more. And I think that he made their policy case tonight and it was a very careful case.
BROWN: And I thought he did it with an interesting balance of fact, grace, good humor. He talked about how he was the beneficiary of those tax cuts and the rest. I said earlier there's a reason they put him on on Monday. You don't necessarily want to be the guy that follows Bill Clinton.
KLEIN: OK, well, here's a quiz Aaron. What didn't he talk about?
BROWN: He didn't talk about it.
KLEIN: No he didn't but he didn't talk about Iraq very much. It was really interesting to me that he talked about terrorism, but he did not talk about Iraq being a mistake, Iraq being a problem or anything like that.
BROWN: And that is because...
KLEIN: That is because I think that you have a candidate in this party who hasn't made up his mind yet, at least not to my knowledge, of how he's going to handle that issue. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) of tactics.
BROWN: Let me gently, because I do everything gently, I suppose, argue that. I thought they articulated exactly, finally, at long last if you're a Democrat, they articulated how they're going to frame Iraq. This was Al Gore, I think, no matter what you think of the war, these guys, the administration, current administration, made a mess there. That's a position.
KLEIN: Right. It's a position but it's not a plan. It's not an answer and it's not an answer to the most basic question which is, was it worth it? And those are the kind of really, really tough questions that John Kerry has to answer, especially -- they're especially tough because the situation there changes from day to day, from week to week. This week it's looking a little better. We don't know how it's going to look next week.
BROWN: Well, I'm not exactly sure that, I've thought today that there have been -- there has been one more death, American death in Iraq in the month of July than there was in June, so the sense that it's going better or not going better is something that people will talk about and debate, but you have a candidate in Senator Kerry who did support the war. He, as he points out sometimes laboriously, he had caveats in his support of the war, but he supposed the war. He can't come out and say the war was a mistake. He could say how it was executed was bad. They've made a mess of it and I think they're trying -- I'm not arguing this. I'm not saying they're right or wrong here. I'm saying they're trying to figure out a simple, clear answer to a problem that's plagued them for months, which is how do they deal with Iraq.
KLEIN: Well, it's going to be -- it's going to be really tough. Now one thing he could do by the way is he could say look, if I knew now what I knew then, I would have -- I might have voted the other way. An awful lot of Democrats are saying that these days. In fact, more than a few Republicans are saying that these days. But John Kerry hasn't said that. What he's said is that he would have waited for the inspections to -- inspection process to be completed and implicitly, if the inspection process had been completed, we would have gone to war, because they wouldn't have found anything and he says that if war were necessary, he would have built an international coalition. So I mean that's a position, but I think the more interesting question is, what do you now and that, that is a question that even President Bush is having a tough time answering, in fact, especially President Bush.
BROWN: It is especially the president's problem. I thank you for that. I look forward to chatting with you tomorrow. Joe, thank you very much, Joe Klein of "Time" magazine and a contributor here from time to time. We'll also hear from the Republican side or at least the conservative side before we're done. We have much more ahead as we make our way towards the special edition of "LARRY KING LIVE" at midnight Eastern time. We take a break. This is news night from New York.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: The speeches are over. The parties are beginning. In Boston this is an early look at what's called the governor's ball. We actually a moment ago actually saw one couple dancing. That's how we knew it was a ball in what looks to be a very nice night in Boston.
Despite it being the Democrats moment, there is an official Republican presence in Boston of course. It's set up a war room. The opposite will be true next month in New York. We'll be covering that as well. Watching the Democratic convention just as closely are the editorial writers from the more conservative papers or the more conservative men. Robert George is both. He writes for the "New York Post" and he is always welcome here. We're glad to see you. Well, you ready to vote for Bill Clinton?
ROBERT GEORGE, THE "NEW YORK POST": He's still the -- I guess he's still the undefeated champion. The man gives a heck of a speech. It was probably one of the -- it was actually one of the more impressive speeches I've actually seen, I've actually seen him give and he gave a full throated support for John Kerry, which is obviously going to be helpful for the senator.
BROWN: Tell me, tell me the things you heard today that you thought are the foundation if you will for how the Democrats need to run this campaign, hearing this through sort of the conservative ear.
GEORGE: I think they are going to try and -- they seem to make the case to the American people that the country and the world is not as safe under George W. Bush's leadership as it could be under John, under John Kerry's. That's what's in front of them. Now I think one of the things that Bill Clinton pointed out and he did it very, very artfully, showed what their ideas of good choices are as opposed to the Republicans. One of the things he didn't really touch upon is the fact that the threat of al Qaeda, which the 9/11 report showed grew and grew in those eight years of an otherwise pro-peace and prosperity presidency. So I think one of the challenges that the Democrats still have to articulate is how they can try and recreate that nostalgic Clinton era, but not ignore the threats that are out there, the threats which grew and that has yet to, that has yet to have been accomplished.
BROWN: I actually -- I think you touched on a great conundrum for everybody is how that issue, the not so much how we deal with terrorism now, though that's certainly going to be an issue, but how it was dealt with before, placed into the campaign, because each side I think you can make an argument, certainly the Democrats will make an argument, each side has some vulnerabilities there.
GEORGE: Well, absolutely. I mean the 9/11 report shows that there were multiple missed opportunities on the watch of Clinton and there were several missed opportunities on the watch of Bush and obviously the actual attack, the actual attack occurred under George W. Bush. But I think -- I mean Republicans have an argument saying that we are -- if we see a threat, we're going to go after it. It's a preemptive doctrine. Now there are obviously some troubles with that given what's happened, what's happened in Iraq. But the Democrats have to still -- they have to come up with some kind of a response to that. Do they believe in preemption in certain cases or what kind of cases and so forth. And that's still out there.
BROWN: In 10 seconds or less, what's just the most outrageous thing you heard those liberal Democrats say today?
GEORGE: I thought -- actually I thought Jimmy Carter, where his -- Al Gore was actually rather gracious given everything that happened to him four years ago, I thought Jimmy Carter had kind of a petulant cheap shot with the -- well, John Kerry, John Kerry showed up for duty which was kind of this obvious dig and I just thought that was beneath the former president.
BROWN: Come back with us this week, will you?
GEORGE: I look forward to it Aaron.
BROWN: Thank you. Thank you, Robert George writes for the "New York Post" and others and stops by here from time to time as well.
Every national political convention fundamentally is an exercise in rallying the base. If you can expand your ranks at the same time, so much the better. This summer's conventions of course are the first since the 9/11 attacks, the first in a long while to unfold against the backdrop of war. For the Democrats in Boston, day one was about striking exactly the right tone if possible, setting the stage for the next three days and this is how it played out in Boston today.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hereby call the 44th national convention of the Democratic party to order.
BROWN: As the Democrats want the convention to be seen as forward looking, at least at the start, they looked to the recent past. AL GORE, FMR. VICE PRESIDENT: Let's make sure that the Supreme Court does not pick the next president and that this president is not the one who picks the next Supreme Court.
BROWN: Now here's the theme, a theme likely to be repeated.
GORE: And I sincerely ask those watching at home tonight who supported President Bush four years ago, did you really get what you expected from the candidate you voted for? Is our country united today or more divided?
BROWN: And another theme here, a critical theme if the Democrats are to win in the fall.
GORE: No challenge is more critical than the situation we confront in Iraq. Regardless of your opinion at the beginning of this war, isn't it now abundantly obvious that the way this war has been managed by the administration has gotten us into very serious trouble?
BROWN: This is the first presidential campaign fought in the shadow of 9/11. The convention noted the attack. The violinist is 16-year old Gabe Lefkowitz (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The strength of who we were on 9/11 should stay with us, a light in the darkness to show us the way.
BROWN: Nearly 80 years old, Jimmy Carter was given a spotlight and in many ways to many people he has improved with age. He was pointed tonight as they like to say and introduced yet another theme.
JIMMY CARTER, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: After 9/11, America stood proud, wounded but determined and united. A cowardly attack on innocent civilians brought us an unprecedented level of cooperation and understanding around the world. But in just 34 months, we have watched with deep concern as all this good will has been squandered by a virtually unbroken series of mistakes and miscalculations. We cannot lead if our leaders mislead. You can't be a war president one day and (UNINTELLIGIBLE) be a peace president the next, depending on the latest political poll.
BROWN: There is no question however, about who the stars of the night were, both were named Clinton. First the junior senator from New York.
SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, (D) NEW YORK: If we just have the courage to act on our conviction, we will by an overwhelming majority send John Kerry and John Edwards to do their duty for us in the White House starting next year.
BROWN: And then former President William Clinton, an outcast in the campaign four years ago, but not this time. Bill Clinton perhaps the best public speaker of his generation at the podium.
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My friends, I ask you to join me for the next 100 days in telling John Kerry's story and promoting his ideas. Let every person in this hall and like minded people all across our land say to him what he has always said to America, send me.
BROWN: And there was just a bit of red meat too.
B. CLINTON: Now since most Americans aren't that far to the right, our friends have to portray us Democrats as simply unacceptable, lacking in strength and values, in other words, they need a divided America but we don't.
BROWN: Day one for the Democrats in the books.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Take a look at how newspaper editors headlined the day. After the break, this is new night on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: I love this gig. Time to check the morning papers from around the country and around the world very quickly. We only got about a minute. "Christian Science Monitor" leads thusly. Kerry and the likability index campaign stresses his softer side to offset an aloof image. Hey, the guy is who he is, OK.
Anyway, that's my opinion. Political spouse defies norm. Teresa Heinz Kerry as we talked about earlier just as the convention tomorrow and we'll get a look at that.
Here's how the "Philadelphia Inquirer" headlines the day, looking ahead with an eye on the past, that's a pretty good headline, isn't it? Clinton, the goal is building a world our children deserve. Gore urges a voter effort that will leave no room for doubt. But here's what's interesting to me. On the same page, right over here, Baghdad because a captive of extremists. In my humble view, a lot more important than what any of these guys say over at this convention or next month too. What happens in Iraq is likely to determine the outcome of the election. That's my opinion.
The "Washington Times" -- it's my opinion, just making that clear that it's an opinion. Hillary calls for unified party, connects Kerry with Clinton successes, the "Washington Times." Also front page is GOP to attract Kerry's quote, extreme make over. That's a phrase that they've been using. The "Oregonian," same sex marriage makes ballot. That's going to be a big issue out west and will draw voters in a very important state for both sides. The weather tomorrow in Chicago is affable and affable is a really good word to describe Larry King and Larry is up next. We'll see you tomorrow.
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Aired July 26, 2004 - 23:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: The former president of the United States, Bill Clinton, speaking enthusiastically to this audience not only here, but around the country, people who are watching. He spoke for just under 25 minutes or so, a speech that demonstrated, once again, how much passion he can bring to these Democrats.
Judy, when you are listening to Bill Clinton, you recognize what a masterful politician he is.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: He's true -- I think he dispelled much of the argument in this election, and that is that George W. Bush, that the Democrats are saying he is a divider. Over and over again, Bill Clinton talked about bringing the country together.
All right. Let's listen to Patti LaBelle. She's going to wind up this evening for the Democrats.
(MUSIC)
BLITZER: Patti LaBelle energizing this crowd at the end of day one of this Democratic National Convention. Three more days to go, wrapping up Thursday night and his acceptance speech getting ready for this campaign.
This has been a night that the former president of the United States, Bill Clinton, electrified this audience. The question is: How much good did he do? For John Kerry and John Edwards down the road, these are questions that will be prominent throughout our coverage.
A special edition of "LARRY KING LIVE" will be coming up at midnight tonight. Larry will be back live tonight for another one- hour show.
But, up next, "NEWSNIGHT" with Aaron Brown. Aaron standing by to pick up our coverage.
For Jeff Greenfield and Judy Woodruff, I'm Wolf Blitzer at the Democratic National Convention here in Boston.
AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening again, everyone. Welcome back to New York.
I guess this is the post-game show, and the game, if you will, is on. All that's preceded tonight, all of the primaries, all of the fund-raising out there, all of it that has gone on this election, the vice presidential candidates, everything was all the appetizer. The main course went on the table today, at least for the Democrats. This campaign now is on.
This is traditionally the point when the country, by and large, starts to pay attention to the campaign. Political junkies pay a lot of attention before it. People in the states where primaries are held pay a lot of attention.
We saw a poll or survey today that said only about 30 percent of the countries said it really thought it new John Kerry. By the end of the week, the Democrats hope that that is considerably different.
Our hour or most of our hour over the course of the week will be spent looking at what transpired in Boston and we'll do the same in New York in about a month.
But we start NEWSNIGHT with a whip no matter where we are, and the whip starts at the FleetCenter and stays there. We start with CNN's Joe Johns.
Joe, start us with a headline from tonight.
JOE JOHNS, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, Jimmy Carter gave a rousing speech tonight. It was red meat for the faithful. It was one of those speeches in which he was sharply critical of this administration at a time when Kerry and Edwards are trying to tone down the criticism.
Of course, his speech was not vetted by Kerry nor Edwards. A lot of people saying he's the elder statesman of the party and can pretty much say anything he wants.
We hope to talk to Walter Mondale about that in just a minute.
BROWN: John King also with us tonight, our senior White House correspondent, who was listening very carefully to a former president.
John, a headline?
JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Aaron, standing here at the base of the New York delegation where they saluted -- and I hope this works -- a former president tonight and perhaps they think a future president here...
BROWN: (OFF-MIKE) ... in the hall as well, as you can imagine, there's a fair amount of chaos in the hall, and so some of this may not go as perfectly scripted, but, Kelly, let's try a headline.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And, Aaron, I'm at the Tennessee delegation, the home state of former vice president, Al Gore. Al Gore has been one of the toughest critics of President Bush and this war in Iraq, but he stayed away from that tonight in keeping with the Kerry campaign desire to limit bashing of the president as much as possible.
He did not get the reception that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and former President Clinton did, but he got this crowd to stand up on its feet when he said every vote must count -- Aaron. BROWN: Kelly, thank you. We'll get back to you pretty quickly here.
We begin, however, with the man who was a bit of the elephant in the room four years ago, certainly not tonight. Bill Clinton was the headliner in a lineup intended to remind the delegates why they came and do it early enough in the convention not to overshadow the man they came to nominate and Bill Clinton can overshadow, a tricky balance to strike perhaps, but also a sign of how badly the Democrats want to win this time because, for whatever liabilities the former president may bring in some quarters, he remains a formidable presence in many.
So we'll start with him, the highlight, if you will, of the evening if you're a Democrat and our Senior Political Correspondent Candy Crowley.
Candy, good evening.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Aaron.
You know, Bill Clinton said that on Monday, this first day of the convention, he was going to come in, give a speech, and then leave town, and, from the reaction of the audience, you can see why.
This is still the light of the Democratic Party, and he showed in every way why that is, first of all, because he made a very clear, very coherent case of the Democrats versus the Republicans. Here's what we believe. Here's what they believe, that the Republicans would argue with it, but it was for Democrats a point-by-point discussion of that.
At the same time, he connected, and this is where they hope John Kerry can improve his game because Bill Clinton can both give that argument and still connect with people in a very real way.
How good is Bill Clinton? Here's how good he is. He was able to take something that he has in common with George Bush and Dick Cheney and turn it into something -- into a reason to vote for John Kerry. Take a listen.
BROWN: Candy, thank you very much for -- we're having an audio problem, and, in television, when you have these sorts of problems, the best thing you can do is take a break and fix them. So we will do that, and our coverage will continue in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: OK. Here's an idea. Let's start this again.
For those of you who were not here all evening, did not watch the entire coverage, the first important speaker of the night, meaning no offense to all those who spoke this afternoon. These conventions start about 4:00 in the afternoon. There's a fair number of speeches to empty halls. The first important speaker tonight was former Vice President Al Gore, the candidate for the White House in the election of four years ago. He came to set the table, if you will, for much of what was to follow. Kelly Wallace worked that part of the story.
And, Kelly, are you there?
WALLACE: I am here, Aaron. If these...
BROWN: All right. Let's...
Go ahead. Go ahead.
WALLACE: Go ahead.
BROWN: All right. Let me start you off this way. The purpose -- fill in the blank. The purpose of the Al Gore speech tonight was what?
WALLACE: To energize the Democratic base by reminding them of Florida 2000. Al Gore said it clearly. He said, "Let's make sure that this time every vote is counted."
A lot of Democrats, particularly African-Americans, believe -- and they will use the words -- they believe that this election was stolen from Democrats. So this was Al Gore just standing on that podium, a reminder of 2000, a reminder of how important it is to get out the vote.
A lot of questions going into tonight, Aaron. You've listened and watched Al Gore over the past few months. He has been one of the sharpest critics of President Bush and this war in Iraq. So a lot of questions. Would we hear that same tone, that same criticism from Al Gore tonight? We did not hear that, and that is part -- part of the reason is because the Kerry campaign wanted a more positive tone, a limit on any bashing of President Bush.
But what Al Gore did, talked about how every vote should be counted, and then in a sort of -- in the words of his advisers, a more respectful questioning tone, he laid out a series of questions, in essence, would you be better off with a John Kerry-John Edwards ticket or with President Bush who was -- came into office in 2000, and he let the crowd answer that one.
BROWN: Let me interrupt you a little bit. I wrote down some of what he said, as we were going here. He said -- and I thought -- and I'll bring this up -- this will come up a number of times tonight because I think it's a theme of what we're going to hear between now and November.
Did you get what you expected when you elected George Bush? He said, "Those of you who voted for George Bush four years ago, did you get what you expected?" The Republicans are going to frame this as the Boston liberal, and it sounds to me like what the Democrats want to try and do here is say, no, no, no, wait a second, this Republican administration is far more conservative than you. WALLACE: Correct. And also very important to note, that message was not aimed at these Democratic delegates who were fired up for John Kerry and John Edwards. That message was aimed to the independent, the moderate, Democrats who created for George Bush in 2000, Republicans who voted for George Bush in 2000, Democrats and Republicans who say the country's on the wrong track.
You look at the polls. A majority of Americans now saying they believe it's going in the wrong direction. A majority saying they think it's time to elect a new president, but John Kerry -- many states still hadn't sort of closed the deal. So part of what Al Gore did, sort of an introductory message, had them start asking the question: Are you better off now? Did you get what you wanted in 2000?
The hope is, according to Democrats, that on Thursday John Kerry will say I'm the guy who can deliver what you thought you were getting four years ago.
BROWN: OK. Thank you. In many different ways tonight, thank you for your help. Thank you.
Kelly Wallace.
Another thing that the former vice president said, by the way, that I think tells you a bit about where the Democrats are -- what the Democrats are thinking -- he addressed the Nader voters. He said, "Do you really believe there is no difference between the two parties?" So they took that straight on.
Joe Johns who normally covers Capitol Hill for us was in the hall looking for stories, and sometimes stories are hide to find in these things, but we suspect our intrepid Mr. Johns found some.
Joe, good evening to you.
JOHNS: I certainly did, Aaron. Of course, the one interesting story here from Jimmy Carter was just how straightforward his criticism really was of this administration. It's odd really to see elder statesman, presidents past, who get up on the stage, particularly at a political convention like this, and really use strong words against the current administration. That's what he did.
He called it an unbroken series of mistakes and miscalculations in this administration. He said, "We cannot lead if our leaders mislead." And it was fairly warmly received. It was interesting, of course, as I said right at the top, simply because a lot of people here knew that the Kerry administration was trying to tamp down the criticism of the current administration.
But when you dig a little bit deeper and you ask a few more questions, what you find they're talking about is go ahead and criticize this administration on issues, but don't make it personal. That seems to be the one thing they wanted the most, and, basically, what's happened here is that this president, of course, this former president, Jimmy Carter, got up there, he didn't have his speech vetted at all, we're told, by anyone, neither Kerry nor Edwards nor their staff, and he said what he had to say.
I talked to some people. In fact, I sat in the Georgia delegation while he was delivering that speech, watched people as they listened very closely, they very politely applauded.
Then I talked afterward to John Lewis, the Congressman, the esteemed Congressman and former civil-rights leader, from Georgia and asked him just how does Jimmy Carter get away with that when Kerry and Edwards are trying to tamp down the criticism, and he said, "Jimmy Carter is simply the elder statesman of the party, an honest man, truthful, and when those words come out of his mouth, he's viewed as such," and he also said Jimmy Carter -- only Jimmy Carter -- can do something like that. So I had...
BROWN: Let me add...
JOHNS: Yes?
BROWN: Let me just build on that. First of all, I think what the -- as I understand the Kerry concern here, the Kerry campaign's concern is they don't want it too personal and they don't want it shrill, and it's hard to imagine shrill and Jimmy Carter in the same sentence. At the same...
JOHNS: Certainly.
BROWN: Just let me -- one more point, Joe -- I'm sorry. I've waited a while, too -- is that as I listened to former President Carter, he actually went to the question of how these two men, President Bush and John Kerry, dealt with their own service commitments during Vietnam.
JOHNS: Yes, he certainly did, and he sort of echoed -- or I suppose Bill Clinton echoed what Carter said about the way Kerry stepped up. So there's also that piece as well. As you know, Jimmy Carter, if I remember it correctly, had -- was a graduate of the Naval Academy, too, so he's one of those people who feels he can weigh in on that.
BROWN: Yes, he was. He was...
JOHNS: He really -- yes. He did a good -- this crowd really enjoyed him. I'll put it that way. He did something for them.
BROWN: Well, that's why they're there.
JOHNS: Never raised his voice.
BROWN: That's why they're there.
JOHNS: That's right.
BROWN: Joe, thank you very much.
Joe Johns who's in Boston, and he'll be joining us throughout the week. Also joining us throughout the week -- and those of you who are with us from time to time, know they stop by. We call them the Brown table, and it includes John Harwood, who's the political editor of "The Wall Street Journal," and Terry Neal, who's the -- who writes politics for the washingtonpost.com, and Nina Easton, who is the deputy Washington bureau chief for "The Boston Globe" and co-author of the definitive complete biography of John Kerry.
And we're glad to see you all. And with luck, we'll be glad to hear from you all, too.
John, let me start with you tonight. I heard what I think are some very clear themes the Democrats want to lay out in this week that will carry them, I think they hope, through November. Number one, we talked about this earlier. Did you get what you voted for four years ago? A theme. Do you agree?
JOHN HARDWOOD, "THE WALL STREET JOURNAL": I just lost my sound.
BROWN: OK. Not a good sign.
Terry, can you hear me?
TERRY NEAL, WASHINGTONPOST.COM: I can hear you.
BROWN: OK. Let's try Terry Neal in that case.
Terry, I think the theme I heard was did you get in George Bush what you thought you were going to get four years ago. Is that a theme the Democrats can ride in November?
NEAL: Well, it's a major theme. I mean, George W. Bush is in a lot of ways what this election is about. That's typical of the case when you're seeking to replace an incumbent. They want to remind people about what happened in 2000, at the same time tell people why John Kerry -- why they should change ships, you know, sort of midstream here and go with someone else.
I don't know if I just mixed metaphors there or not, but this is an election where the base is crying out for some real sort of hardcore rhetoric about George W. Bush, and the Democrats are trying to balance that with the need to turn off, you know, these people, these group of people, who are undecided.
BROWN: OK. Nina...
NINA EASTON, "THE BOSTON GLOBE": Aaron, I was going to jump right in in terms of...
BROWN: Go ahead.
EASTON: ... in terms of themes. Before the Al Gore series of speeches tonight, I started trying to count the number of times that we heard terms -- head the words "strength," "strong," "protect," because -- and even from sort of interest group leaders in the Democratic coalition because what the Kerry campaign very much wants to do is have this to be kind of a testosterone-driven convention.
They want John Kerry to look like a strong dynamic, decisive leader, and that actually would play nicely with Bill Clinton tonight who added to that that sense of change because, of course, Bill Clinton delivered the message of change quite effectively back in '92, kind of youth and change.
Now we're going to see a convention that it's going to be more maturity, ability to lead, and a sense that Kerry can protect this country in perilous times.
BROWN: Nina, let me build on that because this is what I've got down his theme to, which is right along the lines of what you're talking about.
EASTON: Right.
BROWN: No matter what you think about the war in Iraq, they made a mess of it. That's a theme. The Democrats have had some struggle here figuring out their voice on Iraq. I suspect if you polled most of the delegates in that hall, they would tell you they were opposed to the war to begin with, but not their standard bearer and they need to frame a message, and it struck me that that's the message: No matter what you thought, these guys made a mess of it.
EASTON: And interestingly, the "Globe" did poll delegates, and 90 percent did oppose the war in Iraq, which, of course, John Kerry voted for. So that is a disjunction that John Kerry has to deal with this week.
HARWOOD: But, you know, Nina, what they also know, those delegates know that it is very likely that if Al Gore had been elected president or if John Kerry were president, that war wouldn't have happened, so I think sometimes the gulf between the delegates and John Kerry's position is not quite as large as it may seem.
BROWN: Now if I can get one more -- if John can't hear me, you just, Terry, pass along what I'm about to say. Here's what I think the third theme is that they'll try and work with, which is we have no friends in the world, we have alienated the very countries we need to fight the war on terror.
HARWOOD: Aaron, you heard Jimmy Carter make that point tonight where Jimmy Carter said, look, he went through the domestic issues and said John Kerry's got a better position on that, but the reason we must elect John Kerry is that he will make America safer, and he sketched this portrait of the United States alone in the world, and he pointed to Lieutenant John Kerry, said he'd be proud to serve on a ship with him. You saw both former presidents really invoking the image of the commander in chief in the Oval Office and, in essence, putting their arm around John Kerry and saying I know this guy can do the job.
BROWN: You guys have all been troopers tonight. Thank you. I promise we'll get all the plugs in the right sockets tomorrow night, and we won't feel quite so rocky, as we navigate this ship on to the shoals.
Thank you all, Mr. Harwood, Ms. Easton and Mr. Neal. Thank you.
We'll take a break, and our coverage of the Democratic convention continues in a moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALBERT GORE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You win some, you lose some, and then there's that little-known third category.
(CHEERS)
GORE: But I didn't come here tonight to talk about the past. After all, I don't want you to think that I lie awake at night counting and recounting sheep. I prefer to focus on the future because I know from my own experience that America's a land of opportunity where every little boy and girl has a chance to grow up and win the popular vote.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Later in the week, the Democrats will bring out Elizabeth Edwards and Teresa Heinz Kerry to meet the country if that's the right way to put it. But Mrs. Heinz Kerry made some news today. I'm not sure that was what she intended but it's the way it turned out.
She also sat down, talked with Jeff Greenfield and here is part of that conversation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello. You look familiar.
Teresa Heinz Kerry has known for months that she is one of two women who will be first lady of the United States next year. So I began by asking her whether she's been looking to the past for guidance about her possible future.
Have you given any thought to looking at other first ladies and saying, that's pretty good model for me? I don't want to be like that.
TERESA HEINZ KERRY, JOHN KERRY'S WIFE: Not really. The reason I haven't is because I believe you have to be who you are, to be true to yourself, to learn and do the best you know how to do. And I think that's what I'll do.
GREENFIELD: Is it fair to say that if John Kerry is the next president, that at some way or another we're going to be hearing from you in policy areas?
HEINZ KERRY: It's a good question because what I try to do with work is to enable results, good results, to be the outcome of collaboration. I love that kind of work. If I could do something like that, convening people with disparate points of views, but concerned about a particular issue and make them sit around the table and get to a point where they collaborate rather than fight, that's what I'd like to do. I would not however want to be appointed to a position without going through a hearing as any other appointment of a president. I'd want to go through it, if that's what I wanted to do and be accepted and voted on by the Senate of the United States. That's appropriate. I'm not looking to do that and...
GREENFIELD: But you're not ruling it out either or are you?
HEINZ KERRY: You never rule anything out, but I don't want it. I've never sought it.
GREENFIELD: We saw Howard Dean make a very concerted effort in the primary to keep his wife, who's a practicing physician, out of the spotlight.
HEINZ KERRY: I think what the public wants to know is that the person who is by the side of the president one day, that they can check each other, that they can support one another and that they enjoy doing and being leaders in that sense. They have a right to know that.
GREENFIELD: But it would seem that there's some things that go with this role, people looking at every piece of clothing I choose, everything that happens to my hair, every facial expression and making judgments about it and yet...
HEINZ KERRY: I think what people want is real honest whatever it is. We are all imperfect for Pete's sake and we all have our moments and sometimes we goof. Sometimes we make mistakes and people are very forgiving of that. I think all people want is that there be no false sense of importance or no false sense of perfection or no pretense period, you know, and I think if you're honest with people, they want to hug you and they want you to hug them.
GREENFIELD: People have admired the fact that if you're tired, if you're a little distracted, you don't have that gaze of perpetual utter fascination with everything that your husband is saying when you're standing next to him.
HEINZ KERRY: Should I? No, you know, I pay attention very careful to what he's saying. Most of the time I'm really listening very attentively and sometimes I smile and sometimes I don't. So having to listen to someone that you love and that you want to have do well and you've heard them 10 days ago and they really soared that day and then they're on a kind of slightly off day, you feel anxious. You want them to do well and you know, you're probably worried and I have a very expressive face. I show my expressions and when you do that, they allow you to come into their space because you invite them into your space. The most valuable lesson for politicians I have to teach them, be vulnerable. Make mistakes, soar a little bit and fall.
GREENFIELD: Do you think your husband's comfortable with that notion of vulnerability? HEINZ KERRY: He is if he's not -- if he were here, he'd be more careful than not, but if he's out campaigning with people, he's open and maybe also because he's a great, a very good debater and me, I'm different. I talk to people in here and in here.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GREENFIELD: Now it may have been talking from her heart that led Mrs. Heinz Kerry to make that comment to that conservative editorial writer. But the fact -- excuse me, we're having some audio things here, but the fact is that the one thing this may have done is to set up a potential for a very compelling debate between Teresa Heinz Kerry and Vice President Dick Cheney.
BROWN: In which case the moderator will bring the bar of soap. Here's the serious question. I mean, first ladies -- I mean clearly Mrs. Heinz Kerry is no Mamie Eisenhower. Will the country accept her? I think we vote for a package. I don't mean the -- you have a partner in the White House sort of package working on health care, but you need to be comfortable. Will they be comfortable with her if they are comfortable with her husband?
GREENFIELD: Well, the answer to that is yes. Once -- if they're fine with the husband I think that the wife and someday we'll talk about the other gender comes along. There are a couple of things about Mrs. Heinz Kerry that are interesting, the fact that she's foreign born and speaks with an accent. There are some people who think, well, you know, this is a country still that elects people with very common familiar names, not unfamiliar names. On the other hand, if you think about how many people in the United States speak with an accent of one kind or another, maybe that's not such a liability. I thought that in a lot of the appearance of Mrs. Heinz Kerry, the fact that she actually answers questions. This is clearly not a programmed woman, is actually something that's an asset. Now whether this latest dust up means anything or not, I don't know.
BROWN: Nor I. Thank you. We'll talk to you again tomorrow. Thank you for your forbearance tonight, thank you very much.
Also with us and will be with us throughout the week is "Time" magazine's Joe Klein and Joe joins us from Boston. Nice to see you and I presume hear you too.
JOE KLEIN, "TIME" MAGAZINE: Well, we'll see about that. Can you hear me?
BROWN: I hear you great. Did the Democrats get out of tonight what they wanted, needed to get out of tonight?
KLEIN: Well, you know, one thing you can say about Bill Clinton is, the boy's got a future in politics, although it's all over at this point. I think that that is exactly what they wanted. They wanted to have Bill Clinton make their case and more than any other politician I've ever covered in my 30 too many years of doing this, this is a guy who can take policy issues, make them compelling, frame them and make you want to listen and make you even want to hear more. And I think that he made their policy case tonight and it was a very careful case.
BROWN: And I thought he did it with an interesting balance of fact, grace, good humor. He talked about how he was the beneficiary of those tax cuts and the rest. I said earlier there's a reason they put him on on Monday. You don't necessarily want to be the guy that follows Bill Clinton.
KLEIN: OK, well, here's a quiz Aaron. What didn't he talk about?
BROWN: He didn't talk about it.
KLEIN: No he didn't but he didn't talk about Iraq very much. It was really interesting to me that he talked about terrorism, but he did not talk about Iraq being a mistake, Iraq being a problem or anything like that.
BROWN: And that is because...
KLEIN: That is because I think that you have a candidate in this party who hasn't made up his mind yet, at least not to my knowledge, of how he's going to handle that issue. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) of tactics.
BROWN: Let me gently, because I do everything gently, I suppose, argue that. I thought they articulated exactly, finally, at long last if you're a Democrat, they articulated how they're going to frame Iraq. This was Al Gore, I think, no matter what you think of the war, these guys, the administration, current administration, made a mess there. That's a position.
KLEIN: Right. It's a position but it's not a plan. It's not an answer and it's not an answer to the most basic question which is, was it worth it? And those are the kind of really, really tough questions that John Kerry has to answer, especially -- they're especially tough because the situation there changes from day to day, from week to week. This week it's looking a little better. We don't know how it's going to look next week.
BROWN: Well, I'm not exactly sure that, I've thought today that there have been -- there has been one more death, American death in Iraq in the month of July than there was in June, so the sense that it's going better or not going better is something that people will talk about and debate, but you have a candidate in Senator Kerry who did support the war. He, as he points out sometimes laboriously, he had caveats in his support of the war, but he supposed the war. He can't come out and say the war was a mistake. He could say how it was executed was bad. They've made a mess of it and I think they're trying -- I'm not arguing this. I'm not saying they're right or wrong here. I'm saying they're trying to figure out a simple, clear answer to a problem that's plagued them for months, which is how do they deal with Iraq.
KLEIN: Well, it's going to be -- it's going to be really tough. Now one thing he could do by the way is he could say look, if I knew now what I knew then, I would have -- I might have voted the other way. An awful lot of Democrats are saying that these days. In fact, more than a few Republicans are saying that these days. But John Kerry hasn't said that. What he's said is that he would have waited for the inspections to -- inspection process to be completed and implicitly, if the inspection process had been completed, we would have gone to war, because they wouldn't have found anything and he says that if war were necessary, he would have built an international coalition. So I mean that's a position, but I think the more interesting question is, what do you now and that, that is a question that even President Bush is having a tough time answering, in fact, especially President Bush.
BROWN: It is especially the president's problem. I thank you for that. I look forward to chatting with you tomorrow. Joe, thank you very much, Joe Klein of "Time" magazine and a contributor here from time to time. We'll also hear from the Republican side or at least the conservative side before we're done. We have much more ahead as we make our way towards the special edition of "LARRY KING LIVE" at midnight Eastern time. We take a break. This is news night from New York.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: The speeches are over. The parties are beginning. In Boston this is an early look at what's called the governor's ball. We actually a moment ago actually saw one couple dancing. That's how we knew it was a ball in what looks to be a very nice night in Boston.
Despite it being the Democrats moment, there is an official Republican presence in Boston of course. It's set up a war room. The opposite will be true next month in New York. We'll be covering that as well. Watching the Democratic convention just as closely are the editorial writers from the more conservative papers or the more conservative men. Robert George is both. He writes for the "New York Post" and he is always welcome here. We're glad to see you. Well, you ready to vote for Bill Clinton?
ROBERT GEORGE, THE "NEW YORK POST": He's still the -- I guess he's still the undefeated champion. The man gives a heck of a speech. It was probably one of the -- it was actually one of the more impressive speeches I've actually seen, I've actually seen him give and he gave a full throated support for John Kerry, which is obviously going to be helpful for the senator.
BROWN: Tell me, tell me the things you heard today that you thought are the foundation if you will for how the Democrats need to run this campaign, hearing this through sort of the conservative ear.
GEORGE: I think they are going to try and -- they seem to make the case to the American people that the country and the world is not as safe under George W. Bush's leadership as it could be under John, under John Kerry's. That's what's in front of them. Now I think one of the things that Bill Clinton pointed out and he did it very, very artfully, showed what their ideas of good choices are as opposed to the Republicans. One of the things he didn't really touch upon is the fact that the threat of al Qaeda, which the 9/11 report showed grew and grew in those eight years of an otherwise pro-peace and prosperity presidency. So I think one of the challenges that the Democrats still have to articulate is how they can try and recreate that nostalgic Clinton era, but not ignore the threats that are out there, the threats which grew and that has yet to, that has yet to have been accomplished.
BROWN: I actually -- I think you touched on a great conundrum for everybody is how that issue, the not so much how we deal with terrorism now, though that's certainly going to be an issue, but how it was dealt with before, placed into the campaign, because each side I think you can make an argument, certainly the Democrats will make an argument, each side has some vulnerabilities there.
GEORGE: Well, absolutely. I mean the 9/11 report shows that there were multiple missed opportunities on the watch of Clinton and there were several missed opportunities on the watch of Bush and obviously the actual attack, the actual attack occurred under George W. Bush. But I think -- I mean Republicans have an argument saying that we are -- if we see a threat, we're going to go after it. It's a preemptive doctrine. Now there are obviously some troubles with that given what's happened, what's happened in Iraq. But the Democrats have to still -- they have to come up with some kind of a response to that. Do they believe in preemption in certain cases or what kind of cases and so forth. And that's still out there.
BROWN: In 10 seconds or less, what's just the most outrageous thing you heard those liberal Democrats say today?
GEORGE: I thought -- actually I thought Jimmy Carter, where his -- Al Gore was actually rather gracious given everything that happened to him four years ago, I thought Jimmy Carter had kind of a petulant cheap shot with the -- well, John Kerry, John Kerry showed up for duty which was kind of this obvious dig and I just thought that was beneath the former president.
BROWN: Come back with us this week, will you?
GEORGE: I look forward to it Aaron.
BROWN: Thank you. Thank you, Robert George writes for the "New York Post" and others and stops by here from time to time as well.
Every national political convention fundamentally is an exercise in rallying the base. If you can expand your ranks at the same time, so much the better. This summer's conventions of course are the first since the 9/11 attacks, the first in a long while to unfold against the backdrop of war. For the Democrats in Boston, day one was about striking exactly the right tone if possible, setting the stage for the next three days and this is how it played out in Boston today.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hereby call the 44th national convention of the Democratic party to order.
BROWN: As the Democrats want the convention to be seen as forward looking, at least at the start, they looked to the recent past. AL GORE, FMR. VICE PRESIDENT: Let's make sure that the Supreme Court does not pick the next president and that this president is not the one who picks the next Supreme Court.
BROWN: Now here's the theme, a theme likely to be repeated.
GORE: And I sincerely ask those watching at home tonight who supported President Bush four years ago, did you really get what you expected from the candidate you voted for? Is our country united today or more divided?
BROWN: And another theme here, a critical theme if the Democrats are to win in the fall.
GORE: No challenge is more critical than the situation we confront in Iraq. Regardless of your opinion at the beginning of this war, isn't it now abundantly obvious that the way this war has been managed by the administration has gotten us into very serious trouble?
BROWN: This is the first presidential campaign fought in the shadow of 9/11. The convention noted the attack. The violinist is 16-year old Gabe Lefkowitz (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The strength of who we were on 9/11 should stay with us, a light in the darkness to show us the way.
BROWN: Nearly 80 years old, Jimmy Carter was given a spotlight and in many ways to many people he has improved with age. He was pointed tonight as they like to say and introduced yet another theme.
JIMMY CARTER, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: After 9/11, America stood proud, wounded but determined and united. A cowardly attack on innocent civilians brought us an unprecedented level of cooperation and understanding around the world. But in just 34 months, we have watched with deep concern as all this good will has been squandered by a virtually unbroken series of mistakes and miscalculations. We cannot lead if our leaders mislead. You can't be a war president one day and (UNINTELLIGIBLE) be a peace president the next, depending on the latest political poll.
BROWN: There is no question however, about who the stars of the night were, both were named Clinton. First the junior senator from New York.
SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, (D) NEW YORK: If we just have the courage to act on our conviction, we will by an overwhelming majority send John Kerry and John Edwards to do their duty for us in the White House starting next year.
BROWN: And then former President William Clinton, an outcast in the campaign four years ago, but not this time. Bill Clinton perhaps the best public speaker of his generation at the podium.
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My friends, I ask you to join me for the next 100 days in telling John Kerry's story and promoting his ideas. Let every person in this hall and like minded people all across our land say to him what he has always said to America, send me.
BROWN: And there was just a bit of red meat too.
B. CLINTON: Now since most Americans aren't that far to the right, our friends have to portray us Democrats as simply unacceptable, lacking in strength and values, in other words, they need a divided America but we don't.
BROWN: Day one for the Democrats in the books.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Take a look at how newspaper editors headlined the day. After the break, this is new night on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: I love this gig. Time to check the morning papers from around the country and around the world very quickly. We only got about a minute. "Christian Science Monitor" leads thusly. Kerry and the likability index campaign stresses his softer side to offset an aloof image. Hey, the guy is who he is, OK.
Anyway, that's my opinion. Political spouse defies norm. Teresa Heinz Kerry as we talked about earlier just as the convention tomorrow and we'll get a look at that.
Here's how the "Philadelphia Inquirer" headlines the day, looking ahead with an eye on the past, that's a pretty good headline, isn't it? Clinton, the goal is building a world our children deserve. Gore urges a voter effort that will leave no room for doubt. But here's what's interesting to me. On the same page, right over here, Baghdad because a captive of extremists. In my humble view, a lot more important than what any of these guys say over at this convention or next month too. What happens in Iraq is likely to determine the outcome of the election. That's my opinion.
The "Washington Times" -- it's my opinion, just making that clear that it's an opinion. Hillary calls for unified party, connects Kerry with Clinton successes, the "Washington Times." Also front page is GOP to attract Kerry's quote, extreme make over. That's a phrase that they've been using. The "Oregonian," same sex marriage makes ballot. That's going to be a big issue out west and will draw voters in a very important state for both sides. The weather tomorrow in Chicago is affable and affable is a really good word to describe Larry King and Larry is up next. We'll see you tomorrow.
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