Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Saturday

President Bush Endorsing Schwarzenegger or not?

Aired August 09, 2003 - 16:05   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.


FREDERICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Well, President Bush is giving a thumbs up to Arnold Schwarzenegger's candidacy, just listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I will never arm wrestle Arnold Schwarzenegger. No matter how hard I try I'll never lift as much weight as he does. I think it's interesting. You know, I'm a follower of American politics. I find what's going on in the state of California very interesting and I'm confident the citizens of California will sort all of this out for the good of the citizenry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would he be a good governor?

BUSH: You know, as I said, I'm interested in the process. It's fascinating to see who's in and who's out and, yes, I think he'd be a good governor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: But was that an endorsement officially from the president? Let's ask CNN White House Correspondent Dana Bash who is traveling with the president while he's on his working vacation in Crawford, Texas. And, Dana, what's the follow-up on there? Is he really officially endorsing or going behind Arnold Schwarzenegger as a candidate?

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, it sure sounded pretty close, Fredricka, but Bush aides say that we should not take it as an explicit endorsement especially when you think about the traditional political endorsement where somebody will go out and actually campaign stomp for the person that they're endorsing.

What White House officials say is that the president certainly likes Arnold Schwarzenegger. He is somebody who traveled around the country and campaigned for the first President Bush in 1992, gave a lot of support to President Bush's dad.

But in terms of the current process right now what the White House is saying is that they're not meddling in the California recall process policy still stands. They say that they don't want to get involved and the official policy is that this is a situation for the people of California to decide not the president.

WHITFIELD: Well, Dana, is there any real pitfall or what's the downside from the Bush campaign from being involved in Schwarzenegger's campaign? BASH: Sure. There could be. There actually could be pitfalls for both President Bush and Arnold Schwarzenegger actually. In terms of President Bush when you talk to his senior political strategists what they say is that it is so unruly a process right now and there is so much unknown right now in terms of the recall process that they just, even if they wanted to sort of get in and work behind the scenes to clear the field for Arnold Schwarzenegger it's unlikely that they would even be able to do that.

And also, although they think that Arnold Schwarzenegger is somebody who could certainly help the Republican Party ultimately, they just don't know exactly how he's going to play on the campaign trail. So, for right now, they say it's better for them just to wait and take a wait and see approach and see how it goes.

And then from the other point of view, from the Schwarzenegger's campaign point of view, officials there and Bush officials say that the president hasn't actually been asked to go and campaign for Schwarzenegger. It is something that is still being worked out because there certainly is a potential for the president to be a liability of sorts to Schwarzenegger if he is trying to appeal to the more liberal side of the California electorate -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Dana Bash from Crawford, Texas, thanks very much.

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






Aired August 9, 2003 - 16:05   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDERICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Well, President Bush is giving a thumbs up to Arnold Schwarzenegger's candidacy, just listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I will never arm wrestle Arnold Schwarzenegger. No matter how hard I try I'll never lift as much weight as he does. I think it's interesting. You know, I'm a follower of American politics. I find what's going on in the state of California very interesting and I'm confident the citizens of California will sort all of this out for the good of the citizenry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would he be a good governor?

BUSH: You know, as I said, I'm interested in the process. It's fascinating to see who's in and who's out and, yes, I think he'd be a good governor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: But was that an endorsement officially from the president? Let's ask CNN White House Correspondent Dana Bash who is traveling with the president while he's on his working vacation in Crawford, Texas. And, Dana, what's the follow-up on there? Is he really officially endorsing or going behind Arnold Schwarzenegger as a candidate?

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, it sure sounded pretty close, Fredricka, but Bush aides say that we should not take it as an explicit endorsement especially when you think about the traditional political endorsement where somebody will go out and actually campaign stomp for the person that they're endorsing.

What White House officials say is that the president certainly likes Arnold Schwarzenegger. He is somebody who traveled around the country and campaigned for the first President Bush in 1992, gave a lot of support to President Bush's dad.

But in terms of the current process right now what the White House is saying is that they're not meddling in the California recall process policy still stands. They say that they don't want to get involved and the official policy is that this is a situation for the people of California to decide not the president.

WHITFIELD: Well, Dana, is there any real pitfall or what's the downside from the Bush campaign from being involved in Schwarzenegger's campaign? BASH: Sure. There could be. There actually could be pitfalls for both President Bush and Arnold Schwarzenegger actually. In terms of President Bush when you talk to his senior political strategists what they say is that it is so unruly a process right now and there is so much unknown right now in terms of the recall process that they just, even if they wanted to sort of get in and work behind the scenes to clear the field for Arnold Schwarzenegger it's unlikely that they would even be able to do that.

And also, although they think that Arnold Schwarzenegger is somebody who could certainly help the Republican Party ultimately, they just don't know exactly how he's going to play on the campaign trail. So, for right now, they say it's better for them just to wait and take a wait and see approach and see how it goes.

And then from the other point of view, from the Schwarzenegger's campaign point of view, officials there and Bush officials say that the president hasn't actually been asked to go and campaign for Schwarzenegger. It is something that is still being worked out because there certainly is a potential for the president to be a liability of sorts to Schwarzenegger if he is trying to appeal to the more liberal side of the California electorate -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Dana Bash from Crawford, Texas, thanks very much.

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