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CNN Live At Daybreak

John King's Guest Appearance on "The Daily Show"

Aired January 31, 2002 - 06:57   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 COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Are you ready to smile? Something you may have missed last night, our chief White House correspondent John King on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," talking politics and the State of the Union with comedian Jon Stewart -- listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JON STEWART, HOST, "THE DAILY SHOW": How's this speech going to play overseas? Do we come off looking arrogant, this whole "evil axis" proposal? How do you think this is going to play or is it even intended to play overseas?

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well sure it's intended to play overseas. The president talking very tough and he's raised a lot of eyebrows. North Korea, Iran, Iraq, these are not little countries. This is not Afghanistan. If you're Osama bin Laden and you chose to hide in North Korea, you're thinking bad choice.

The president's about to go to Asia. There are a lot of people saying what is he talking about? Is he talking about a war against, in the case of North Korea, a country with a huge army, just over the border from South Korea? The White House says, no, this is not about military action right now. But that was -- that was a pretty tough speech last night and there will be a lot of questions about it.

But you know, I was listening to the opening of the show, this guy redefines optimism. We're at war, we're in recession, the whole world is worried, and the State of the Union's never been stronger. Okay.

(LAUGHTER)

STEWART: That is the best -- I think honestly the beauty of the Bush magic is I think that he believes if I say it enough, it shall pass. And I -- and I do, I -- you have to give him credit. He was, you know, owning a baseball team and he said I'm going to be president, and everyone went, "of the baseball league."

(LAUGHTER)

KING: Now remember ...

STEWART: And it worked for him. So in some respects, I'm starting to almost believe in him. (END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: As he said before, Bush is Bushtastic (ph).

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