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CNN Live Saturday

Kerry Wins Nevada, D.C.

Aired February 14, 2004 - 18:12   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.


CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, we're returning our focus to politics. More Democrats had their say today on who should be the party's presidential nominee. Caucuses were held in Nevada and the District of Columbia. In fact, a total of forty delegates are up for grabs today. And
Anne Kornblut joins us now. She is the National Political Correspondent for "The Boston Globe." Ann thanks for being here.

ANNE KORNBLUT, "BOSTON GLOBE": Hi. Thank you.

LIN: Let's talk about the document dump. At least those are the words we're using. Four-hundred pages that the President has now released about what really wasn't a very extensive service in the National Guard, and yet we have so much now to sift through.

We're going to read the pages as journalists. We've already seen the insides of the man's teeth. He's gotten letters of commendation for his service to the country. What is it that the Democrats or anybody who thinks the President is lying about his service needs to see in order to be convinced?

KORNBLUT: well apparently, it's -- I haven't looked through all the documents myself, but apparently what it is they're looking for isn't in there. Which is, some kind of really concrete proof that President Bush showed up in 1972 -- in a period of time from 1972 to 1973 for duty.

They have the dental records; he certainly got a check-up. We know he was living there, but there is not any solid evidence, no witnesses have come forward to say they remember seeing him.

LIN: But if he didn't show up, wouldn't there have been some -- just regardless of who he was, let's say he's just an ordinary Joe. If an ordinary Joe doesn't show up, what's happens? You get punished, or somebody goes after you, right? At the time?

KORNBLUT: This is the White House argument. That it's not easy to duck service. He got paid. They have pay stubs from that time period. And that really is the crux of their argument. Also, they have given us all this paper work to go through in part to distract us from this very topic.

But at this point, it seems like the President's critics are not going to be satisfied. And his supporters remain very much behind him over this. LIN: All right. Let's say he didn't show up. Let's say he did not serve the time he was supposed to serve in Alabama. So what? Did he break the law? Are they going to prosecute him?

KORNBLUT: I'm not an expert.

LIN: Did he commit a crime?

KORNBLUT: I'm not an expert on that. I think the biggest problem for him is going to be political. I don't know what the law would be. I find it very hard to imagine that there would be some kind of an arrest or anything like that. But the problem for him right now is political.

Which is why they've released all these documents, and he addressed it last week on "Meet the Press." They do not want there to be a perception that the President was somehow not truthful about his service or, God forbid didn't actually complete it.

LIN: It's pretty remarkable that the Democrats have been able to gin this whole issue back up since it was covered back in 2000.

KORNBLUT: It is --

LIN: And now the President is being forced to respond.

KORNBLUT: I think there's a number of factors at work. In 2000, he was not running against somebody who was a Vietnam War hero. Gore had gone over as an army journalist, but he was not as obviously as prominent a Vietnam veteran as Senator Kerry is.

And, General Wesley Clark, as well. And I think the Democrats are -- I think they're really eager to puncture President Bush's credibility. That's been sort of their buzzword. In every different way they can. And this is one of them.

LIN: Anne, did you see in San Francisco, did you see the lines around City Hall?

KORNBLUT: I have seen the pictures.

LIN: There are gay couples flying from all over the county to apply for a marriage license here. How big an issue do you think gay marriage is going to be if in fact John Kerry is the Democratic nominee? He and the Bush campaign actually have similar views on gay marriage. They might --

KORNBLUT: Not quite. It's a pretty big distinction actually. And I think it's going to be a very big issue regardless of who the Democratic nominee is. Massachusetts is still trying to figure out what they are going to do. John Kerry is opposed to gay marriage, as is George Bush, but supports a civil union.

Which is, some people would argue not all that different from an actual gay marriage. It is become almost the new abortion now.

LIN: Would the Bush campaign make hay of that given that Dick Cheney's daughter is a lesbian?

KORNBLUT: I don't know if they would make hay of it, but again, it's President Bush, not Cheney who is going to be at the top of the ticket. President Bush is very, very close to supporting a constitutional ban on gay marriage at the federal level. So I think their side of the -- their argument is one that they're going to stand by regardless.

LIN: All right. Thank you very much. Anne Kornblut, it's going to be an interesting race this year, lots of good social issues to talk about. And obviously we're learning more about the President than we ever thought.

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 February 14, 2004 - 18:12   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, we're returning our focus to politics. More Democrats had their say today on who should be the party's presidential nominee. Caucuses were held in Nevada and the District of Columbia. In fact, a total of forty delegates are up for grabs today. And
Anne Kornblut joins us now. She is the National Political Correspondent for "The Boston Globe." Ann thanks for being here.

ANNE KORNBLUT, "BOSTON GLOBE": Hi. Thank you.

LIN: Let's talk about the document dump. At least those are the words we're using. Four-hundred pages that the President has now released about what really wasn't a very extensive service in the National Guard, and yet we have so much now to sift through.

We're going to read the pages as journalists. We've already seen the insides of the man's teeth. He's gotten letters of commendation for his service to the country. What is it that the Democrats or anybody who thinks the President is lying about his service needs to see in order to be convinced?

KORNBLUT: well apparently, it's -- I haven't looked through all the documents myself, but apparently what it is they're looking for isn't in there. Which is, some kind of really concrete proof that President Bush showed up in 1972 -- in a period of time from 1972 to 1973 for duty.

They have the dental records; he certainly got a check-up. We know he was living there, but there is not any solid evidence, no witnesses have come forward to say they remember seeing him.

LIN: But if he didn't show up, wouldn't there have been some -- just regardless of who he was, let's say he's just an ordinary Joe. If an ordinary Joe doesn't show up, what's happens? You get punished, or somebody goes after you, right? At the time?

KORNBLUT: This is the White House argument. That it's not easy to duck service. He got paid. They have pay stubs from that time period. And that really is the crux of their argument. Also, they have given us all this paper work to go through in part to distract us from this very topic.

But at this point, it seems like the President's critics are not going to be satisfied. And his supporters remain very much behind him over this. LIN: All right. Let's say he didn't show up. Let's say he did not serve the time he was supposed to serve in Alabama. So what? Did he break the law? Are they going to prosecute him?

KORNBLUT: I'm not an expert.

LIN: Did he commit a crime?

KORNBLUT: I'm not an expert on that. I think the biggest problem for him is going to be political. I don't know what the law would be. I find it very hard to imagine that there would be some kind of an arrest or anything like that. But the problem for him right now is political.

Which is why they've released all these documents, and he addressed it last week on "Meet the Press." They do not want there to be a perception that the President was somehow not truthful about his service or, God forbid didn't actually complete it.

LIN: It's pretty remarkable that the Democrats have been able to gin this whole issue back up since it was covered back in 2000.

KORNBLUT: It is --

LIN: And now the President is being forced to respond.

KORNBLUT: I think there's a number of factors at work. In 2000, he was not running against somebody who was a Vietnam War hero. Gore had gone over as an army journalist, but he was not as obviously as prominent a Vietnam veteran as Senator Kerry is.

And, General Wesley Clark, as well. And I think the Democrats are -- I think they're really eager to puncture President Bush's credibility. That's been sort of their buzzword. In every different way they can. And this is one of them.

LIN: Anne, did you see in San Francisco, did you see the lines around City Hall?

KORNBLUT: I have seen the pictures.

LIN: There are gay couples flying from all over the county to apply for a marriage license here. How big an issue do you think gay marriage is going to be if in fact John Kerry is the Democratic nominee? He and the Bush campaign actually have similar views on gay marriage. They might --

KORNBLUT: Not quite. It's a pretty big distinction actually. And I think it's going to be a very big issue regardless of who the Democratic nominee is. Massachusetts is still trying to figure out what they are going to do. John Kerry is opposed to gay marriage, as is George Bush, but supports a civil union.

Which is, some people would argue not all that different from an actual gay marriage. It is become almost the new abortion now.

LIN: Would the Bush campaign make hay of that given that Dick Cheney's daughter is a lesbian?

KORNBLUT: I don't know if they would make hay of it, but again, it's President Bush, not Cheney who is going to be at the top of the ticket. President Bush is very, very close to supporting a constitutional ban on gay marriage at the federal level. So I think their side of the -- their argument is one that they're going to stand by regardless.

LIN: All right. Thank you very much. Anne Kornblut, it's going to be an interesting race this year, lots of good social issues to talk about. And obviously we're learning more about the President than we ever thought.

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