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Inside Politics

New Surgeon General Pick Has History Of Criticizing Robert Kennedy Jr. And Some Of His MAHA Policies; Poll: More Than Half Of Voters Disapprove Of RFK Jr.; Can Dems Win Georgia Governor's Race For First Time In 28 Years?; Biden Endorses Keisha Lance Bottoms For Georgia Governor; One Of CNN's Original Producers Reflects On Ted Turner. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired May 07, 2026 - 12:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[12:30:00]

SEUNG MIN KIM, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: -- of kind of the political unpopularity of the vaccine positions that a lot of his top adviser or a lot of his health officials are taking. And I do find it interesting, what Casey means, the former Surgeon General pick, he really didn't take ownership of her nomination. I think he said --

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: He said it was RFK.

KIM: Yes, he said over and over that this is Bobby's choice. Like Bobby recommended her to me. And while he obviously was angry and expressed anger last week when he decided to withdraw our nomination and put --and nominate Dr. Saphier in her place, this was clearly always, you know, an RFK pick, and he's trying to distance himself for that, I think, for good reason.

DANA MILBANK, COLUMNIST, NOTUS: I'm not so sure, in my view, MAHA was ever really a movement. It was just sort of an amalgam. You know, you had the people who cared about additives in food and, you know, getting rid of chemicals and whole foods, grafted onto the anti- vaxxers and whatever nutty things RFK Jr. was saying at the time.

So, you know, the fact, it's not so much that it's disintegrating now, it's just, I think, it was just sort of an artificial construct in the first place. The people who are talking about natural foods are not natural MAGA voters anyway. So to the extent they were -- to the extent they went that way, they were on loan temporarily.

And it was, you know, it was inevitable that things would go in a more MAGA traditional direction. But there is some progress, like this -- the third Surgeon General nominee, at least, is a qualified medical professional.

BASH: And then the question is about Bobby --

KIM: Right.

BASH: -- as the President calls him, Bobby Kennedy. There is new polling that shows that more than half of all voters disapprove of the way that he is doing his job as secretary. Looking at the President's vaccine policy, as we were talking about, again, more than half of voters disapprove of that.

You know, we know that he likes having a Kennedy in his Cabinet, but one of the questions is who's going to go next? And are you hearing anything from your sources about if he's on the chopping block?

KIM: Nothing specific, but I do think -- first of all, I think there's a variety of place -- variety of advisers who, you know, occasionally find themselves in hot water that we're all kind of speculating whether they're next. But with that approval rating or disapproval rating, that really is, as we've discussed, a proxy for how Americans feel about his vaccine policy.

Because I think despite all sort of the kind of the oddity stories that we know about RFK, I mean, he's really associated with that lax attitude and skepticism towards vaccine use, especially for children. And again, the President has kind of tried to distance himself from that. It'd be curious to see how, you know, how far that goes.

I would also say that perhaps where we might be able to gauge the MAHA influence will be in the primary race for Bill Cassidy which is later this month --

BASH: That's right.

KIM: -- when he has a primary race ahead of him. He's not endorsed by the President. But many other opportunities to see how really -- how powerful this coalition will be.

BASH: Yes. And I think you're right about maybe them sort of going back to where some of them were traditionally as Democrats. But the big question, especially in the midterm, is whether they just stay home.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR & CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And I think also to the polling point, like, it turns out, like, people aren't super pro-measles outbreaks, which, again, like I didn't need a crystal ball maybe to make that point.

BASH: Yes.

MATTINGLY: But I think the reality, to Dana's very good point, the reality of what the coalition was at the time versus what it turns into in practice as policies --

BASH: Right.

MATTINGLY: -- start getting implemented, maybe changes some views or, to your point, makes people say, I don't need to do this.

BASH: All right. Up next, Democrats haven't won a Georgia governor's race in nearly 30 years. Can our next guest break that streak? Keisha Lance Bottoms will be here after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:38:21]

BASH: Right now, early voting is underway in Georgia amid really contentious primaries for the Senate, House, and the Governor. The race to replace term-limited Republican Governor Brian Kemp stacks two very full primary fields. The nominees will be decided on May 19th.

Joining me now is one of the Democrats in the fight, former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who is campaigning to be the Democratic candidate for governor. She's also the author of a new book, "The Rough Side of the Mountain: A Memoir," which is out now.

Mayor Bottoms, thank you so much for being here. I want to start with an Atlanta Journal Constitution poll, which says that you're leading the Democratic field with 39 percent. But there's a bit of an asterisk. Thirty five percent are undecided. So what do you want to accomplish? What is your message to that huge percentage who haven't decided which way to go?

KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS (D), GEORGIA GOVERNOR CANDIDATE: Well, I'm a battle-tested leader, Dana. You know, I talked to you quite a bit during the pandemic, during my term as mayor, facing the first Trump administration, all that we faced during the pandemic and the summer of 2020. And even with that still being able to deliver for families across Atlanta, my message has been very simple.

Look at what I've done and look at what I plan to do on behalf of the state of Georgia. We created an affordable housing trust fund in Atlanta that I want to see scale statewide. We created a child savings account for all of our public school kindergartners. I want to see that scale statewide.

We want to expand Medicaid in this state. It has to be expanded. Even since the beginning of the year with the big ugly bill, 500,000 Georgians have decided not to keep their health care insurance because they can no longer afford it. And the issues are these issues that people are living with every single day, many which we had to address when I served as mayor and I've been sharing my vision across this state.

[12:40:23]

And just lastly, you know, polls are a snapshot in time. There have been some that are showing me over 50 percent. We need 50 percent plus one to win without a runoff. So we're going to keep taking our case (INAUDIBLE) to the people.

BASH: You recently got former President Joe Biden's endorsement. I want to play a little bit of his video.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Those same qualities that made her a great mayor made her invaluable to our administration. Smart. Focused. Gets things done. Georgia, she's ready. She's been ready.

Keisha Lance Bottoms for governor. Now, I'm proud to be in her corner just like she was in mine. Let's get this thing done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: You obviously worked with the President, for the President at the White House for a time, a longtime ally. Did you ask for his endorsement? As -- I don't need to tell you, he left the office not exactly very popular. So do you think it's also a helpful thing particularly now in the Democratic primary?

BOTTOMS: I did ask for his endorsement and I am honored to have it. I can tell you, Dana, as I'm moving around this state, people are missing Joe Biden more and more each day. He delivered for the people across Georgia from the millions upon millions of dollars that we receive for infrastructure support to even rental assistance for people in this state, support for small businesses, support for our college students, our HBCUs. People remember that.

And even recently in a forum when I didn't talk about my time with the President, it didn't come up afterwards a man followed me outside and said why don't you talk about your time with with Joe Biden. People need to hear more about that. So he is still very popular in this state. And I'm proud to have his endorsement.

BASH: And if you win the primary and if he is up to it, we know that he's battling cancer, would you invite him to campaign with you.

BOTTOMS: I certainly would. And at the end of the day, for as honored as I am to have the support of President Biden, it comes down to people in this state showing up to vote. A president has the same vote as the person on the back of the sanitation truck.

So we know that it's about turnout in this state. Joe Biden's a great name to have, you know, aside me during this campaign. But most importantly, I've got to talk to people across the state and remind them why this election matters.

We've seen momentum in this state. We've seen a couple of house seats flip. We elected two public service commissioners statewide Democrats for the first time in nearly 30 years. So we know that this state is trending more and more blue. And it's going to be about turnout which we're seeing record turnout right now and just making the case directly to people as to why I should be the next governor.

BASH: Speaking of turnout, we're going to put some recent statewide results, some of which you were referencing, on the screen including the last -- this goes back in time -- the last Democratic candidate for governor, Stacey Abrams. I know you say the Democrats must have an overwhelming turnout.

Abrams had the same message. She had it twice. Why is this moment in time and why is your campaign different from hers?

BOTTOMS: Well we know every election is different. Every candidate is different. And you take the lesson to those things that work well and you also take the lessons from those things that maybe didn't work as well.

BASH: Like what?

BOTTOMS: You know, it was -- like Stacey's last race, for example, she was running against a very popular incumbent governor. This is an open seat. We also know that people have to hear us loud and clear not just in these great commercials that people will likely see up on television. Some people getting their information via social media and some people are completely tuned out protecting their peace not wanting to be involved in politics at all.

So for those people it may be that we have to knock on their door, call them on the telephone. But we are talking to voters across the state. I've been in every corner of this state, moving around this state reminding people that we're thinking about them.

It's not just about Atlanta, this capital city, this urban center. It's about the people in our rural communities. I've even had people in some areas of the state just thank me for coming, saying that nobody ever thinks about them.

BASH: Well, on --

BOTTOMS: And telling them why it matters.

[12:45:09]

BASH: On that note about the more rural parts of the state, just real quick on this book, "The Right Side of the Mountain," you talk about your career, your childhood, and your family. And in one part, you tell a story about how your mom took a very unconventional step campaigning for you at an Atlanta strip club when you ran for mayor.

You write, "Mama proudly announced that she had been out to the Blue Flame. You know, those dancers know a lot of people. There is no way to measure every aspect of a campaign against the competition, but I was absolutely positive that nobody else's mama had gone into the Blue Flame trying to get votes. I wanted out of the box campaigning and I got it."

Anyone going back to the Blue Flame this time around?

BOTTOMS: My mama has already been back to the Blue Flame. And the beauty of my mother is that she'll show up in church with me on Sunday and she didn't mind dropping off some flyers at the Blue Flame on Tuesday.

BASH: Amazing.

Thank you so much for being here. I appreciate it.

BOTTOMS: Thank you.

BASH: Up next, we go back to the scrappy beginning of CNN. A CNN original will be here to share her memories of the legendary CNN Founder Ted Turner.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[12:50:53]

LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": Do you think about dying.

TED TURNER, CNN FOUNDER: Once in a while but not too often. I know it's going to happen.

KING: I mean when you have a father died tragically and your father dies of a suicide, the -- that has to be I would gather life lasting.

TURNER: Sure.

KING: That's not like --

TURNER: But there are lots of people. I mean everybody dies. I mean it's something that everybody's going to do. What I try and do is, you know, most people I think are very fearful of it. Very fearful, scared to death of death.

And I've tried to not be afraid of it as much as I could to try and play it down so I don't live in fear all the time. And one thing I kind of came up with that was that life is like a grade B movie. You don't want to get up and walk out in the middle of it but you wouldn't want to sit through it again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Classic Ted Turner and that was one of his many appearances on "Larry King Live." By the way, you can see some of the vintage archival Larry King shows on the CNN app. And I am joined now by the former executive producer of that show, Wendy Walker, who is a CNN original.

Wendy, you helped Ted Turner build CNN from the ground up 46 years ago and I'm so happy that you're here with me today. Tell us what it was like in those scrappy early years. I know I will just tell our audience that you have told me that you even had to ration toilet paper?

WENDY WALKER, FORMER CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE PRODUCER: Yes. Yes, we did. I first want to show you what my Rolodex from 46 years ago.

BASH: Oh my God.

WALKER: This is what -- and it says Reagan. That's how I got ahold of Ronald Reagan.

BASH: Oh my goodness.

WALKER: And this has taken the place of, you know, I can't -- I cannot believe it's been 46 years. That just doesn't -- it doesn't compute. And Ted was 43 when he -- we started and I was about 25. And I thought he was really old. I thought he was cute. I thought he was a nice looking guy, but I thought he was like an old -- he was an old man.

But it was surreal because I (technical difficulty) got my foot in the door and I had made it because I, you know, just get your foot in the door and you can just, you know, keep rising. And my bureau chief came to me one day and he said, I'm leaving ABC to go start this a new kind of thing with this sailor in Atlanta. His name is Ted Turner, and he wants to start a 24-hour news network and I'd like you to come.

And he said I'm going to bring Bernie Shaw. And I'm, like -- so that's Bernie Shaw, and with me. I was at the bottom of the totem pole (ph). And he said, but if you have anybody else -- he said I know -- I need to know (technical difficulty) your writer so maybe she'll come with me.

So we told ABC we were leaving --

BASH: Yes.

WALKER: -- to go start this network that nobody believed in. And people were like, why would you do that, when you -- when we -- you're here. And we've made it. And Sam Donaldson actually said to us, he said, go, go do it. You're just watching everybody, you know, here. Go actually do it, and then come back in six months and they'll hire you back.

BASH: Yes.

WALKER: And --

BASH: Which you obviously didn't do. You stayed and you --

WALKER: I stayed.

BASH: Yes. And you --

WALKER: I stayed for 32 years. You finally beat me. Huh?

BASH: Yes, I finally beat you with 33 years. I do what -- you were breaking up a little bit. Your shot was freezing. I just want our viewers to understand that when you said you left ABC with somebody, it was Katie Couric, and you both came to CNN.

And real quick, you said that Ted Turner gave --

WALKER: Yes.

BASH: -- unprecedented opportunities to women at CNN like you.

WALKER: Yes. I mean, one of the things he said when we -- so we had to put this, you know, network together and buy the Rolodex and put the furniture in.

[12:55:0] But he said he finally came to visit us and to see the bureau. And he said, you know, I'm looking around and I see all these women and I bet you wonder why they're all these women. He said, because I don't have to pay you as much.

BASH: Oh my God.

WALKER: And that this is a pity -- this is typical Ted because normally you'd be like, what a jerk, you know? But he was just, you know, he was a visionary. Of course, that's the word we've heard for the last two days. But he had a rocking personality and you just couldn't -- he was like a little 10 year old. You just couldn't hold that against him.

And actually it was good for you. It was good for me. It was good for Christiane. The ones that, you know, there are lots of us that actually stayed for our entire career.

BASH: Yes, no question about it.

Wendy, thank you so much for joining.

WALKER: You guys --

BASH: Thank you for joining us. I really appreciate it. You're the best. You're CNN original and I would say, Wendy Walker, you are just an original. I'll leave it there.

Thanks for joining Inside Politics. CNN News Central starts after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)