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CNN Live At Daybreak
Tavis Smiley Guest Hosts CNN's 'TALKBACK LIVE'
Aired August 13, 2001 - 08:36 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: On the left -- and even on my left -- radio and TV commentator and host. He's also the author of "Hard Left: Straight Talk About the Wrongs of the Right."
And this week, Tavis Smiley is guest host of "TALKBACK LIVE," which of course is 3:00 p.m. Eastern. Get that plug in.
TAVIS SMILEY, AUTHOR, "HARD LEFT": Yes. Plug, plug, plug. Please plug.
LIN: Welcome -- all the way here from Los Angeles.
SMILEY: Los Angeles. I live on the West Coast, but I spend a lot of time on the East Coast. And it's always a pleasure to come to Atlanta. I've been on "TALKBACK" as a guest any number of times. It's my first time having the pleasure to host the show, so I'm looking forward to it.
LIN: Yes, we're looking forward to it, too.
And look what I have.
SMILEY: What do you have?
LIN: I have it in my office.
SMILEY: Oh, the book.
LIN: So when I found out -- "Hard Left" -- when I found out that you were coming on. And here's what I love. To get your perspective, for those who haven't heard of you -- and there are probably very few people who haven't heard of you -- I love this chapter entitled "Seven Things Every Angry White American Should Know," just in case you want to know where Tavis Smiley is coming from. And "Under No U-Turn," it says..
Now, this was written in 1996.
SMILEY: Yes.
LIN: So this was during the Clinton administration: "The right seems determined to reclaim America by any means necessary, even if it means returning our nation to the racism, sexism, segregation and discrimination that permeated decades past. I am waiting for the party of Lincoln to repropose slavery any day now."
SMILEY: You know, back in 1996, we were going through a pretty interesting time in this country. Ninety-four, as you'll recall, was when the right took back control of the Congress. Mr. Gingrich -- speaking of Atlanta and Georgia -- Mr. Gingrich and his friends took back control of Congress after 50 years of being the minority party.
And I thought the country at that time was moving in a strange and interesting direction. So we wrote this book back then entitled "Hard Left: Straight Talk About the Wrongs of the Right." But one thing , for those who know me or watch me, they will know that I'm am just as serious about keeping it real for folks on the right as I am for folks on the left.
And this same book, there are a couple of chapters that chastise the left for things that they were doing wrong at the time in terms of leading this country in the right direction. That book, as you mentioned, was written back in '96. The book that I have out now, which has hit the best-seller list, is a book entitled "How to Make Black America Better."
So here I come back five or six years later with another book that talks specifically to black America about what we can do to help make our community better: the things that we are doing wrong, where we can straighten up our backs and make our community and our country and our world better places to live and work for all of us.
I try to be as real as I can with both the left, right, white, black, everything else, trying to talk about -- as I see it, at least -- how we can make this world, this country a better place.
LIN: You get to mix it up a little bit this afternoon
(CROSSTALK)
LIN: ... on "TALKBACK."
SMILEY: I'm looking forward to it.
LIN: All right, one more thing -- they're telling me to wrap, but I have got to show you this.
Did you see this in "USA Today"?
SMILEY: I have not seen the paper yet.
LIN: Read it out loud: "CNN in Discussions With Rush Limbaugh."
SMILEY: Well, see, this guy follows me everywhere. I show up at CNN and now Rush is trying to -- what can I tell you?
LIN: Do you believe this? Do know anything about this?
SMILEY: I know nothing about it. I know about nothing about it. But I -- Rush -- I take on Rush pretty hard on this book, "Hard Left." He's a great talk show host, though. LIN: Yes.
SMILEY: We disagree on practically everything. We've gone at each other before. But he's a great entertainer, a great talk show host. And I think he would be a credit to any network that has him on in terms of bringing his point of view to the airwaves.
LIN: Rush Limbaugh, Tavis Smiley: "CROSSFIRE." Can you see it?
SMILEY: I can deal with it. I could handle it. Bring it on.
LIN: All right. I'll be your agent -- 10 percent gross. That's all I take.
SMILEY: Anything for you, Carol.
LIN: All right, thanks, Tavis. Have fun this afternoon.
SMILEY: Thank you.
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