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CNN Live At Daybreak
As Election Looms, Ad Campaigns Turn Negative Again
Aired November 06, 2001 - 08:49 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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Right now we're going to check in with Jack Cafferty of CNN Financial News who is going to join us about every morning this time to share some of his thoughts about today's political races. And we're going to call your segment, "What I Don't Get." What don't you get today, Jack?
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN FINANCIAL ANCHOR: It's a very long list. There's a lot of stuff I don't get. How long have you been around New York City?
ZAHN: A long time, like --
CAFFERTY: Ten years, twenty years --
ZAHN: -- now, 16 years, 15 years.
CAFFERTY: So you have a good sense -- feel of city. The kind of town it is. Gritty, hard driving, intense.
ZAHN: Yes, I'd like to think so. Yes.
CAFFERTY: That all changed September the 12th. Remember? People walked a little slower, you didn't hear the horns honking. Words like please and thank you. People stopped communicating with their fingers (LAUGHTER) out of cab windows.
ZAHN: Oh, I don't know that they've completely gotten rid of that, Jack, but less of that.
CAFFERTY: But there was a civility that descended on the city, correct?
ZAHN: Yeah. You're right.
CAFFERTY: And it lasted for a while, and what a nice thing it was. And then the elections were on the horizon, and the politicians smelled these offices, and -- well before we get into that, remember this love-in in Washington, D.C., there's a little piece of tape where, I mean, they just stopped short of kissing each other on the lips. Watch this.
(VIDEO CLIP)
CAFFERTY: That's was actually not the piece of tape I was thinking it was. I was thinking of the one that they did outside where they were recording a rap song together, and they were all together.
ZAHN: Oh, that's the one we laughed about.
CAFFERTY: Yeah.
ZAHN: And we told them to keep their day jobs.
CAFFERTY: There was -- this embrace of the opposition party. This wonderful spirit of "we're all in this together." And now, within the last several days, the political ads, by people who want to be our leaders, they want to be our leaders. They are supposed to be the Rudy Giulianis of the next administration, or the governors of the -- you know -- have adopted these shrill, business as usual attack ads that just take politicians right back to the lowest common denominator. You know, the opportunity to try to maybe sustain some of that sense of cohesion that we had was tossed over in favor of the other guy's a bum, and I say that because I don't know what I have to really offer, so I'll just say that the other guy's a bum. I actually heard a commercial on a radio station in New Jersey saying the Republicans stole the election in Florida, and they're going to steal this one too. So get out there and vote Democratic because those Republicans are going to steal the election. And they have these slates of candidates that run for the assembly and the senate, and they put them up, and they say, "this guy's going to raise your taxes, and that guy is in favor of military assault weapons in the street." And it is kind of a sad commentary, that politicians can't surprise us, just once, and adhere to some kind of -- I don't want to say higher standard -- just a standard, of some kind, that would preclude them from acting like gutter snipes. You know, these shrill, nasty --
ZAHN: Well, let me ask you this: maybe we haven't changed as much in New York as you think we have.
CAFFERTY: Oh, I don't know --
ZAHN: And they wouldn't be running these things if they didn't work.
CAFFERTY: I'm not sure it's about New York. I think New York, maybe, has changed. And I say that in the context of the rescue workers, and the firemen, and the people at ground zero and all of the money that was raised and the kind of outpouring that you saw for the Yankees and the World Series -- I mean, there's a tremendous sense of pride in the city that hasn't disappeared. It's the politicians. It's these -- politicians. Who only know one way to go about these things, and it's just -- it's a bit of a disappointment that maybe, for once in light of the events that happened, they couldn't have said, "you know what, there is a better way to do this. Here's what I have to offer, my other guy's probably got some good ideas, let's look at all the good ideas, and you guys decide what you want." But I guess that's too much to ask.
ZAHN: Well, let's see if your words have any impact this time -- well, it won't be next year in the election cycle, but let's see how many positive ads will fly.
CAFFERTY: Probably not many, as you point out, the negative ads work.
ZAHN: Yeah, they work. Jack Cafferty, good to see you. Have you voted yet today? No, you've been working. You've got a little time to get out there. You've got until 9:00.
CAFFERTY: That's right. New Jersey. I live in New Jersey.
ZAHN: Go through the tunnel.
CAFFERTY: I'm on my way.
ZAHN: Obey the speed limits.
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