Return to Transcripts main page
Lou Dobbs Tonight
Democratic National Convention Is Launched; Democrats Trying to Present Positive Image at Convention
Aired July 26, 2004 - 18:00 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.
LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight, we focus on the launch of the Democratic National Convention, tonight's prime-time speeches by an all-star lineup of top Democrats. The convention will, of course, present a strong case for Senator John Kerry and aggressive criticism of President George Bush.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN F. KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The 44th Quadrennial National Convention of the Democratic Party will now come to order!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOBBS: Tonight, my guests are Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe, who is one of tonight's prime-time speakers, and Governor Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas.
I'll also by joined by a man that Democrats don't want at their convention or on the ballot at all, Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader, who says the Democratic Party and the Republicans are undermining democracy and Democrats, like Republicans, are beholden to corporate interests. Ralph Nader joins us.
In our special report tonight, Middle-Class Squeeze, Senator Kerry talks tough about the export of American jobs to cheap overseeing markets, but will he really stop the outsourcing of middle- class jobs?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROGER ALTMAN, SENIOR KERRY ECONOMIC ADVISER: He's never said he's opposed to outsourcing, which he isn't, and he's never said that he will save every job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOBBS: And liberal columnist Molly Ivins, author of "Who Let the Dogs In?", has some uncompromising views about both. President Bush and Senator Kerry. Molly Ivins joins me tonight from Boston.
ANNOUNCER: This is LOU DOBBS TONIGHT for Monday, July 26. Here now for an hour of news, debate and opinion is Lou Dobbs.
DOBBS: Good evening. Tonight, the presidential campaign goes into full swing with the opening of the Democratic National Convention in Boston. Democrats will be focusing, of course, on Senator Kerry, Senator Edwards and the policies they say will help them unseat President George W. Bush. Tonight's speakers will highlight Senator Kerry's proposals to create jobs, to provide affordable health care, and to rebuild foreign alliances.
We begin or coverage tonight with Kelly Wallace in the Convention Center in Boston -- Kelly?
KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Lou, the Democrats we talked to say this party has never been as united as it is right now, and you can see some excitement here as Democratic delegates gather in the FleetCenter here in Boston.
The challenge for John Kerry, though, is not convincing these Democratic delegates to support him, but convincing the swing voters who will be watching that he is the person to lead them into the future.
I am coming to you from a key battleground state, the battleground state of Ohio. No Republican has ever won the White House without winning the Buckeye State. So the stakes are very high for George W. Bush and John Kerry.
And one reason that Democrats feel that they might have an edge in Ohio is when you look at the economy, because while there are signs nationwide the economy might improving, it doesn't seem to be being felt in Ohio.
In our CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll some 36 percent of the people polled say they think the economy is excellent or very good. That is much lower than the national average.
A big question we are all wanting to know, the Kerry campaign wants to have no bashing of the president at this convention. So the question is: Will tonight's speakers comply? At least for the sources we've been talking to, the answer is yes.
First speaker, former Vice President Al Gore, who has been very critical of President Bush and the war in Iraq, but according to Kerry and Gore advisers, this speech has been approved and is being applauded by the Kerry campaign. One Kerry adviser saying we didn't change a thing. Another adviser saying it's a very good tone-setter and a reminder of how much work needs to be done.
Also, we'll hear from former President Jimmy Carter, who told our own Judy Woodruff that no one's vetting his speech and that he won't be deviating from the senior statesman role he plays on the national and international stage.
And then finally last but not least, former President Bill Clinton will be taking the stage. Many Democrats have been asking: Will Bill Clinton ultimately overshadow the presumptive Democratic nominee John Kerry? Well, Kerry advisers say no. They say Bill Clinton's speaking tonight, Monday night, John Kerry giving his speech Thursday night. The main goal, Kerry advisers say, for Bill Clinton's speech, to rally the Democratic Party, and, Lou, you know, no one can quite rally the Democrats like the former President Bill Clinton -- Lou.
DOBBS: Kelly, thank you very much.
Kelly Wallace.
This convention is, of course, not only an opportunity for Democrats to deliver speeches praising Senator Kerry, but it also gives them a platform to showcase their policy differences with the White House.
John King has our report -- John?
JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: And, Lou, policy differences are OK. The Kerry campaign says what they don't want from the podium, as Kelly just noted, is fierce personal attacks on the president. They are trying to present a positive image in part because that is one of the Senator Kerry's weaknesses right now.
As the Democratic nominee running against an incumbent president, many Americans say they still don't know all that much about him. The Bush campaign is saying Senator Kerry's 19-year record in the Senate shows him to be a liberal, shows him to be someone who changes his position on big issues, like the war in Iraq. The Kerry campaign will use this week to try to rebut that message, and they want to speak very positively from the podium.
On the floor, though, Lou, you do see quite a bit of the anti- Bush sentiment that is the unifying glue right now in the Democratic Party, perhaps some viewers of your program. We were over in the Texas delegation earlier. Some prominent bumper stickers there saying "Revive the American Economy, Outsource Bush and Cheney." So, from the podium, polite talk tonight. Here on the floor, you get a great deal of anti-Bush sentiment.
They will focus on policy differences on some key points. President Clinton tonight, we are told, will try to remind Americans that he left surpluses in this country, there are deficits now. He will make the case that this Republican president is no fiscal conservative
Other speakers on behalf of Senator Kerry and then Senator Kerry himself will go after Bush's leadership in the war on terrorism, saying that Mr. Bush has alienated key allies around the world. That perhaps most significantly, Senator Kerry's challenge this week. Right now, 40 percent of Americans -- only 40 percent of Americans -- say the United States is winning the war on terrorism, yet President Bush still has an 18-point advantage over Democratic Senator Kerry on that front.
A major goal of the Kerry campaign this week, Lou, is trying to overcome -- begin to overcome anyway -- that big deficit one of the key questions in this election: Who do you want as commander in chief, and do you want to change commanders in chief in the middle of a war -- Lou?
DOBBS: John, covering the Bush White House for several years now, this is the first time in some time that you've been around this many Democrats. What's it like?
KING: Well, it is great to get out and get a flavor of the other half of the campaign. Boston is home for me, Lou, so I'm very happy to be at this convention.
You get a great sense of energy in the Democratic Party, not unlike we saw in the Democratic Party back in 1992. Democrats have no fights here, no platform fights, no credential fights, no rules fights. This is a very unified Democratic Party, and they're unified by one theme: beating the Republican in the White House, much like when Bill Clinton ran in 1992. That Republican in the White House happens to be named George Bush.
DOBBS: John King -- thank you very much -- reporting from Boston.
Senator Kerry is not scheduled to speak at the convention until Thursday. Today, Senator Kerry held a town hall meeting in Cape Canaveral, Florida, where the senator said he is on the journey of a lifetime.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KERRY: I'm here today, on the first day of the Democratic Convention, because there is no better place to launch something than right here at Cape Canaveral, and that's why we're here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOBBS: Senator Kerry is on a six-day tour of the United States that will end in Boston. That tour designed to introduce Senator Kerry to voters in key battleground states, certainly Florida one of them.
Senator Edwards is also on the campaign trail, today in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he talked about science and technology. Senator Edwards will arrive in Boston tomorrow.
President Bush is spending this week at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, a working holiday. Today, President Bush focused on ways to reform our intelligence community after the September 11 commission's final report. The White House says the president's top priority is to implement reforms that can be introduced quickly through executive order.
White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux reports from Crawford, Texas.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Bush laying low at his Crawford ranch, but on the fast track to making possible intelligence reforms, Monday morning through a secure video teleconference call, he led his first task force meeting on the 9/11 commission's recommendations.
Officials at the highest level of government mobilized in the situation room at the White House and on the line to figure out how to overhaul the country's intelligence system. In attendance, about a dozen Cabinet-level officials, including the vice president, secretaries of Homeland Security and the Defense Department, the acting director of the CIA and the head of the FBI, top officials from Justice, State, and the National Security Council.
Cheney, campaigning in Washington State, elaborated on the meeting.
RICHARD CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're at the beginning here of what will be and should be a great debate as we look at how can improve both the executive branch and legislative branch's ability to function in this area.
MALVEAUX: National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice joined Mr. Bush at the ranch to discuss enacting recommendations that could be implemented immediately by executive order.
A White House spokeswoman said while the task force did not make any decisions on which recommendations will be implemented that the president urged the group to act quickly to come up with a rapid review of the 9/11 report.
One source privy to the deliberations said the president is warming up to one controversial proposal, a national director of intelligence. That recommendation is being pushed by the chairs of the 9/11 commission, both parties in Congress and Bush critics, but was initially rejected by the secretary of Homeland Security and the acting director of the CIA.
(on camera): The Bush administration, eager to show the president is doing everything he can to protect the American people, says Mr. Bush could decide on some of those recommendations within days.
Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, Crawford, Texas.
DOBBS: House Republican leaders also have a sense of urgency about the 9/11 commission report. House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Majority Leader Tom DeLay are planning hearings next week. Both say they want to bring legislation to the floor during the first week of September.
And another sign of urgency about that report, Attorney General John Ashcroft today canceled a trip to Mexico City in order to focus on the need for a major intelligence overhaul.
DOBBS: Still ahead here, Teresa Heinz Kerry tells a reporter to shove it, after she talked about the need for civility in politics. No Stepford wife she.
DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe wants the Democratic convention to focus on the party's message, instead of criticizing President Bush. Terry McAuliffe is our guest.
And Democrats don't want Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader at the convention. He's our guest, too.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: The Kerry campaign tonight is calling Teresa Heinz Kerry an enormous asset to the campaign after she had sharp words for a reporter. It all began after Heinz Kerry spoke to a group of Pennsylvanians about the need for more civility in politics.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TERESA HEINZ KERRY, WIFE OF SENATOR JOHN KERRY: We need to turn back some of the creeping, un-Pennsylvanian and sometimes un-American traits that are coming in to some of our politics.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOBBS: As you just heard, Heinz Kerry said "un-American traits." After the speech, the editorial page editor of "The Pittsburgh Tribune Review," Colin McNichol, asked her for clarification.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLIN MCNICHOL, "THE PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE REVIEW": You mentioned un-American...
HEINZ KERRY: No, I didn't say that.
MCNICHOL: What did you mean?
HEINZ KERRY: I didn't say that. I didn't say that.
MCNICHOL: I'm just asking what you said.
HEINZ KERRY: Well, why are you -- why do you put those words in my mouth?
MCNICHOL: You said something about un-American...
HEINZ KERRY: No, I didn't say that.
MCNICHOL: ... activity.
HEINZ KERRY: I did not say "activity" or "un-American." Those are your words. You can record it and listen to it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOBBS: Well, she didn't say "un-American activities." She said "un-American traits." And just moments later, Heinz Kerry confronted McNichol once again.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HEINZ KERRY: Of course.
MCNICHOL: Come here. You said...
HEINZ KERRY: Understandable.
MCNICHOL: No, no.
HEINZ KERRY: You said something I didn't say. Now shove it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOBBS: After the exchange, a spokeswoman for Heinz Kerry released a statement saying, "This was sheer frustration aimed at a right-wing rag that has consistently and purposely misrepresented the facts in reporting on Mrs. Kerry and her family."
Senator Kerry put it more simply, saying his wife "speaks her mind appropriately."
"The Pittsburgh Tribune Review" said Colin McNichol did just what any good reporter does. He asked questions.
The civility that Mrs. Heinz Kerry called for is expected to be on display throughout the Democratic convention, some tell us. As we reported, Democratic leaders want this convention to promote a positive image of Senator Kerry and Senator Edwards, and, of course, the party is opposed to a negative one of President Bush.
My guest tonight is one of the leaders who will assure that that comes to pass, Democratic Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe.
Terry, good to have you with us.
(INTERVIEW WITH DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN TERRY MCAULIFFE)
DOBBS: One person wielding a lot of power at the convention tonight is not a politician nor is he one of the keynote speakers. His name is Gary Hood. He is the stage manager for the convention.
Hood controls what is called the podium button. It's a small red button, which lowers the podium, causing the lectern to disappear, revealing all of whoever happens to be standing behind him.
Hood says there was only one time that he had to use it during a speech at a convention. That was back in 1988, when Bill Clinton, who you see here, then the governor of Arkansas, spent more than 30 minutes introducing Michael Dukakis.
Clinton speaks again tonight. We're sure Gary hood is there for a purpose and will be watching closely. We're sure the former president is also aware of his presence. That brings us to the subject of tonight's poll: Do you think presidential conventions are now meaningful and relevant? Yes or no? Cast your vote at cnn.com/lou. We'll have the results for you later in the broadcast.
Still ahead, Senator Kerry's plan to keep American jobs in this country. Is it for real? Critics say it will do little to discourage companies from shipping middle-class jobs to cheap overseas labor markets. We'll have our special report in tonight's edition of Middle-Class Squeeze.
Also, the Nader factor. Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader says he's the only choice to stop corporate control of the White House and Washington itself. Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader is our guest.
And nearly 1,000 Americans have been killed in Iraq. We'll have a special report on the statistics of those Americans killed in this war. Those stories and much more are still ahead here tonight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: LOU DOBBS TONIGHT continues. Here now for more news, debate and opinion, Lou Dobbs.
DOBBS: In tonight's kickoff of the Democratic National Convention, some of the biggest names in the Democratic Party will be addressing the delegates, including former Presidents Clinton and Carter.
Joining me now to talk about the major issues Democrats will be focusing on through this week, the co-host of CNN's "CROSSFIRE," Paul Begala.
Paul, good to have you with us.
PAUL BEGALA, CNN "CROSSFIRE": Lou, good to see you again.
DOBBS: Just talking with Terry McAuliffe, he said that the party doesn't need a singular message, that it's about a plan, rather than a statement of purpose and a convincing, persuasive statement at that. Do you agree?
BEGALA: Terry's my neighbor, he's my friend, I love him. He might be the best party chairman of my life, but he's done his job, which is to build the party, to get us out of debt, to make us competitive.
It's now John Kerry's job to give us that sense, so I guess, no, I don't agree. We need a one-sentence explanation of what it is Democrats stand for. I don't think we have it yet.
Let's see what John Kerry says on Thursday night. I think he's getting there when he says he wants us to be stronger at home, more respected in the world. I think that that talks to a lot of things. Stronger at home certainly means jobs, it means controlling health-care costs. It means being more energy independent from the Middle East. And respected in the world means building more allies and trying to leverage the greatness of America around the world.
So he's getting there, I think. I hope that by Friday morning, Democrats can wake up with a one-sentence answer. Governor Cuomo's advice is the best advice I've heard yet.
DOBBS: Paul, let me ask you this as well. One of his principal -- speaking of alliances, of course, Senator Kerry's principal ally is Teresa Heinz Kerry telling a reporter to shove it today. The reaction has been, at least in the media, as if a great cataclysm had swept the party. What's your reaction to both her statement and its political impact or significance, if any?
BEGALA: Oh, I love it. I love it because the problem with these conventions -- and I used to script them, so I know -- is that they're very tightly scripted. Nothing spontaneous happens. And that's good for the party. That's what the party wants.
But, you know, viewers would like a little spontaneity from their political figures, and here we have this woman, brilliant, charismatic, thoughtful, and, you know, some -- he was not a reporter, by the way. It was some, you know, right-wing hacker, some right-wing paper, who was bugging her, and she told him to bug off.
DOBBS: Editor of the -- Paul -- Paul, editor of the editorial page, OK?
BEGALA: Of a newspaper owned by a notoriously right-wing billionaire. I mean, this is not exactly even the most reputable newspaper I've ever seen.
But, be that as it may, he was bugging her, and she told him to go shove it. I think it's great, and it's a far cry from the sort of sanctimony of the Republicans, whose leader Dick Cheney -- or number two leader -- on the floor of the Senate told a United States Senator -- well, he dropped the "F" bomb. Put it that way.
I mean, it's -- I think it's great because it shows some authenticity, some spontaneity, and some toughness. You know, my party has needed a spinal transplant for a long time, and, if Teresa can give it to us, by God, I love it.
DOBBS: What's going to be the reaction, though, if that comes from the first lady as candidate, at least, rather than the candidate himself?
BEGALA: Well, I think it speaks well of the candidate. I mean, you know, when he was courting Teresa -- when John Kerry was courting Teresa, believe me, there were no shoe clerks in that poker game, Lou. I mean, you -- he had to be a strong and secure guy, and I think the fact that he has married such a strong and secure woman speaks well of him. I think the fact that he picked John Edwards, a very strong, charismatic figure -- people didn't think he would. So I think it's a good sign. I will say I think it's a wonderful thing about our president that he, too, married a very strong and opinionated woman. I think it speaks well of President Bush. I think it speaks well of John Kerry.
DOBBS: And will that be the kind of ecumenical bipartisan tone that we'll hear this week from the Democrats, as you just gently gave credit to both the Republican and Democratic candidates.
BEGALA: I hope not. I mean, I like a good fight. You know, I'm like Alice Roosevelt Longworth who used to say, "If you don't have something nice to say about somebody, come sit here by me." I mean, I'm already tired of this sort of everybody-has-to-be-positive convention that they're running.
But I do think -- the one good thing I will say again about President Bush, though, is his wife. She is a delight. But I think when people see Teresa Heinz Kerry, they're going to fall in love with her as well, and that's going to be a really nice story coming out of this convention.
BEGALA: Paul Begala.
Thank you very much. We'll be looking to you to bring many of those stories. And rest up because you can't get tired yet. You've got four days to go.
Paul Begala, thank you.
Well, as the Democrats meet in Boston this week to officially nominate Senator John Kerry, we take a closer look at Senator Kerry's economic policies and how he will be addressing the middle-class squeeze" on millions of Americans. Tonight, we focus on job security, the threat of outsourcing, the high cost of this nation's trade policies.
Peter Viles reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KERRY: We're going to take out of it any benefit, any reward, any incentive, for any Benedict Arnold company or CEO that wants to play games with the tax code, hide the money overseas, take the jobs with them, and stick the American people with the bill.
PETER VILES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-cover): Tough talk, but would President Kerry really fight overseas outsourcing? Kerry adviser Roger Altman:
ALTMAN: He's never said he's opposed to outsourcing, which he isn't, and he's never said that he will save every job because one can't do that. But he has said we need to make American employers more competitive, and that gets -- that means lowering their costs of doing business here, lowering their tax rates. VILES: Kerry's main proposal, tax changes to discourage outsourcing, cut the overall corporate tax by 5 percent, eliminate the special break corporations now receive on their foreign profits, no more holding those profits tax-free overseas. Instead, give them a one-time tax holiday if they bring those profits home.
ALTMAN: There's not really any good reason from a tax policy perspective for companies earning profits abroad to be able to defer U.S. taxes on those profits when they have to pay taxes directly on comparable U.S. operations.
VILES: Business lobbyists say that would put American companies at a disadvantage overseas. Workers' advocates say it wouldn't make a big different anyway because cheap wages, not taxes drive outsourcing.
DEAN BAKER, CENTER FOR ECONOMIC POLICY RESEARCH: You're still paying the workers here $15, $20 an hour plus benefits. In Mexico, you're going to get them for a dollar, maybe $2 an hour, very little by way of benefits. There's very little that John Kerry is talking about that is going to change that equation in any fundamental way.
VILES: More to the Kerry plan, a tax credit for new jobs in manufacturing, and other industries affected by outsourcing and disclosure. Companies would have to tell the government when they're shipping jobs overseas, and call center workers would have to disclose where they're located.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VILES: One other big issue here, trade agreements. Kerry opposes CAFTA, that is the centerpiece of the Bush trade agenda. Kerry says it would only accelerate the race to the bottom in global wages -- Lou.
DOBBS: Pete, thank you very much. Peter Viles.
Well, my guest tonight is the man many people could cost Senator Kerry the election. Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader consistently erases Senator Kerry's slight lead polls when he is factored into the race nationwide. Nader is making his fourth run for the White House to fight what he calls corporate interest in Washington and joins us tonight from our bureau in Washington, D.C.
Good to have you with us.
RALPH NADER (I), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you very much, Lou.
DOBBS: This convention that is now under way in Boston, you wanted to be there, the Democrats said no, because you're receiving support from Republicans, both organizationally and financially, they said. How do you react to that?
NADER: First of all, it's a false characterization. We're receiving no support from organized Republicans. Obviously we welcome support from all Americans who provide legal contributions to our Web site, votenader.org. A huge amount of Republican fat cats have supported Democrats, huge amount of Republican fat cats have supported Republicans -- Democrats supported Republicans because they play both sides of the aisle. So we reject the dirty tricks that the Democrats have been engaging in in Arizona and Oregon and Michigan.
You'll like this one. They got the signatures to put us on the ballot by organized Republican money in Michigan, which we're not taking, we're going to be on the Reform Party candidacy. And they outsourced the analysis of these signatures to India.
(LAUGHTER)
NADER: This is the Democrats, outsourced the analysis to a firm in India; to show you how offensive they are and how empty they are about protecting American jobs.
DOBBS: I think, Ralph, this is where I say, say it ain't so, Ralph.
(LAUGHTER)
NADER: It is. The press has reported it, and there's no denial. In fact the guy who outsourced it said these guys do it cheaper.
DOBBS: They do it cheaper and you're rejecting both, in this case, the Democrats and the Republican organizations, the formal party organizations in Michigan. The Democrats...
NADER: Get off our back, we're saying, yes, get off our back.
DOBBS: Get off your back.
NADER: Yes.
DOBBS: You are also pointing out wherever you can, and the message gets through in some ways for -- I'm so sure not as strongly as you would like, that both parties, Democrats and Republicans, both parties, are simply under the control, the influence, the unparalleled influence of corporate America.
How are you going to get that message through and explain to those who listen to you how important it is that there be a balance, a proportionality of interest in this country's political system?
NADER: Well, in a summary, it's a new book, "The Good Fight: Declare Independence and Close the Democracy Gap", this really deals with what happens when a country such as ours allows its government and other institutions to be under the control of a rampaging concentration of corporate power and greed in the hands of fewer multinational or global corporations, who move to control our elections, look at all the money, to control our government, look at all the lobbyists, and then to block the American people from having access without a bail full of money to their Congress, to their courts, to the executive branch.
And what you see is corporate welfare, huge small tax dollars going to subsidies, handouts, giveaways. And you see corporate crime running amuck with very limited enforcement resources. And you see the abandonment of America by these global corporations that were born in America and went to profit in America, but have no allegiance to our country or community other than to control them or abandon them to China or elsewhere as they see fit. That's the crisis today.
DOBBS: That is the crisis, it extends to education, it extends to our political system, it extends to our trade policies, but the fact is the American populace also has a great responsibility here as well, isn't that true? Because we are the ones buying products, whether they're made in Sri Lanka or whether they're made in San Antonio. We're buying imported goods rather than made in America. We've been indifferent to the loss of our colleagues' jobs, our friends' jobs, our neighbors' jobs. How do we turn that around?
NADER: Well, first of all, we stop lowering our expectations about what politics is supposed to deliver. Politics in the Greek definition is "of the citizen," not "of the Exxons by the General Motors for the Wal-Marts."
And second, we do have to be more discriminatory in how we shop. Wal-Mart, for example, tells its suppliers that if they can't meet the China price by lowering the wages here in America and reducing the benefits, they should open up in China, shut down here and go and open up in China.
I think consumers should begin judging these global corporations by whether they are patriotic, whether they really respond to the need to continually increase wages in this country rather than strip-mine them by cutting deals with dictators in other countries. You can't have free trade with a country that's not free. Senator Moynihan said that years ago and it's very true.
DOBBS: Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. We thank you very much, Ralph Nader, we haven't got enough time to talk about the many important issues. We hope you'll come back soon as we explore them with you.
NADER: I'll be delighted. Thank you for your continued scrutiny on corporate crime and outsourcing, Lou.
DOBBS: Thank you, sir. Ralph Nader, independent candidate for president.
Tonight's thought is on democracy: "Democracy is the only system that persists in asking the powers that be whether they are the powers that ought to be."
Those are the words of journalist Sydney J. Harris.
In Iraq today, insurgents killed eight people, including an interior ministry official and two of his body guards in Baghdad. A suicide bomber attacked an American military base in the northern city of Mosul, killing three Iraqis. Three American soldiers were also wounded. And in the southern city of Basra, insurgents killed two Iraqi women working for British troops. Nearly a year-and-a-half into Operation Iraqi Freedom, more than 900 troops have been killed in Iraq. Those men and women represent a broad cross-section of American society, almost a thousand. Tonight we take a look at the background of the troops who have lost their lives serving their country in Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice-over): There's widespread public belief that a disproportionate number of Americans killed in combat are the young, the unskilled, and minorities. In reviewing the statistics of the identities of the 1000 men and women who have died in Iraq, we find a truth that is at sharp variance with widespread public opinion, particularly when it comes to the racial and gender composition of those who have lost their lives in service to their country.
BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: It's a little bit out of proportion, more whites, Caucasians, are dying than the other ethnic members of the military. I think it's mainly because a lot of the infantry units, as an example, are made up of white troopers.
DOBBS: The U.S. population is about 70 percent white. The rest are nearly evenly black and Hispanic. The makeup of the U.S. military looks like this, 64 percent white, 19 percent black, 9 percent Hispanic. Killed in Iraq, more than 71 percent have been white, 12 percent black, 11 1/2 percent Hispanic.
GRANGE: In the military now you have more of a cross of that representation dies than you did in the Vietnam War, where maybe a lot of people that died did not have the chance to get a deferment, did not have a reason, school or whatever the case may be, to not go to Vietnam.
DOBBS: The only significant variance is the number of women killed in Iraq. While 15 percent of the total U.S. military is made up of women, women accounted for only 2 percent of all combat deaths in Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DOBBS: There is another major difference between the war in Iraq and previous conflicts. Support troops are almost as vulnerable to attacks as troops in combat units, such as the infantry and armor.
Just ahead here, jobs, health care and education are her top priorities. Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius joins us on the eve of her speech to the Democratic National Convention.
And later, she calls President Bush "an incompetent," says John Kerry is "a boring stiff," political columnist, author of "Who Let the Dogs In?" Molly Ivins is our guest tonight.
And one group wants to silence this political satire. We'll tell you why that group says the Internet movie is not very funny.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: My next guess will be speaking at the Democratic Convention tomorrow night about jobs, health care, the economy, the major issues facing not only her state of Kansas, but the entire country.
Joining me now, Kansas governor, Kathleen Sebelius, one of only six female governors in this country. Governor Sebelius also on Senator Kerry's short list in his search for a running mate. Good to have you with us governor.
GOV. KATHLEEN SEBELIUS (D), KANSAS: Thanks, Lou, nice to be here.
DOBBS: Terry McAuliffe was talking about how united the party is, Paul Begala, saying you need a strong unifying message. You're going to be talking about three of the most important issues.
Is there a simple straightforward message the Democrats can put forward on these important issues?
SEBELIUS: Well, I think the important thing is for America to get to know John Kerry and John Edwards and to understand that they have a vision and a plan for the future about how to get our kids' 21st century education so they're ready for the workforce about health care so we can make sure families and business owners and seniors can afford medical care into the future. And about jobs and growing the economy. That's what Kansans talk to me about and I think that's what this ticket is all about.
DOBBS: One of the aspects about Kansas is your unemployment rate is lower than the national average, your economy is adding jobs, both you and, by definition President Bush seem to be doing a good job for the citizens of Kansas.
What will be the appeal of Senator Kerry given that in Kansas?
SEBELIUS: I think that Kansas, like many states is doing better than we were a year ago, and that's good news. And we've worked hard on that in the 18 months I've been governor, a new economic revitalization package, worked to bring jobs and new industry into the state, but I think there's still a level of real uncertainty and insecurity. People don't have faith that they're going to have a job next month or next year. They don't have faith that their children, if they stay in Kansas can have good jobs in the economy, and they worry about their health care. All of that deals with a sense of security, and I think it's important for them to have a leader in the future who identifies with those issues and those concerns.
DOBBS: Ralph Nader, with whom I just spoke, governor, accused both the Democrats and Republicans, as he had previously, of being far too greatly under the influence of corporate America.
Does that concern you for your party as well?
SEBELIUS: I think it's important that party leaders and those of us elected to office speak out for the people in this country and not for the special interests. It's certainly something that I tried to do in my election and have in the last 18 months, that you look at -- you're the voice of the average person, the working families, and so I think the more that the corporate influence skews that message and skews our tax code and our policies, the less parties connect with average Americans, and that's a mistake.
DOBBS: Is this the year the Democratic party reaches back out to the middle class working men and women in this country?
SEBELIUS: I think it's absolutely the year that it's so critical for us to identify with the concerns of the average American, the working families who worry about their kids and their health care and jobs in the future, and that's really, I think, the attractive message that John Kerry and John Edwards have to bring across this country. But they have a vision, they have a plan, they're ready to move forward, and not the special interests, and the -- not tax breaks for the rich, but tax breaks that help us send our kids to school. Not jobs that are shipped overseas, but jobs that actually exist border to border in the heartland. Those kind of initiatives are important.
DOBBS: Governor Sebelius, you will also be carrying that message tomorrow evening. We look forward to it with interest, as you might expect. We thank you for being with us.
SEBELIUS: Thank you for inviting me.
DOBBS: A reminder to vote in our poll tonight. The question to do you think presidential conventions are meaningful and relevant, yes or no?
Please cast your vote at cnn.com/lou, we'll have the results later here.
Millions of Americans have enjoyed the hilarious Internet parody of the candidates singing Woodie Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land." But tonight, the music publisher that owns the song's copyright is trying to stop the parody and end the entertainment. The Richmond Organization has sent a cease and desist order to the Web site running the parody, jibjab.com. He calms the cartoon damages the unifying message of the song, JibJab, of course, disagrees says the cartoon is political satire and JibJab is entitled to the fair use exemption under the Copyright Act. You've got to love that music. The Richmond group has yet to say whether it will take the Web site to court.
Let's listen for just a moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP JIBJAB.COM "THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND")
(SINGING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOBBS: It's a tough political year.
Still ahead here in her new book, my guest asks who let the dogs in. We'll talk about her profiles of politicians, from Ronald Reagan to the current commander and chief to Senator John Kerry, national syndicated political columnist Molly Ivins is our guest. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Well, she's a self-proclaimed Texas liberal who likes to tell it like it is, and by golly she does. In here new book "Who Let the Dogs In," Molly Ivins takes a look back at two decade of political life. Molly Ivins joins us now from the convention center in Boston, the action -- the political action all -- that's the epicenter, Molly. Are you pretty excited?
MOLLY IVINS, NATIONAL SYNDICATED POLITICAL COLUMNIST: Well, I've got to tell you, Lou, there's 10,000 reporters here, and no news. It is -- it is a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) situation. It's like we're struggling with the fact that there's no news, and we're inventing news, and we're getting there, and oh my gosh it's tough.
DOBBS: You know, the statics and for some reason we in the media are not focusing enough on that at least in my opinion. There are just -- well, 15,000 journalists covering those delegates. The ratio is astounding.
IVINS: Well, you need to do important things. Those of us who work for home papers back in our local regions, for example, I'm from Texas, and of course, the arrival of the white trash caucus all from east Texas, always a big deal in our delegations. Their rules are, you've got to drive, you can't fly, you've got to bring your own baloney and beer and ice chest, you've got to carry it into the hotel.
Then when you get invited to the fancy parties where the waiters serve the hors d'oeuvres on the silver tray, that's two questions, one is what is that? And the second is, is that free?
Now, these people are having a good time.
DOBBS: At least somebody is. The fact you say that all of those folks and no news, but you tend to make a little news when you say things like John Kerry and George Bush is a boring stiff in one corner and stupefying incompetency in the other. I take it that you don't see this as an easy choice between these two men.
IVINS: Amazing choice. They always say every four years, they say, it's a defining election. The country will forever be decided by what we do right here. And they may be right this time, but let's face it, John Kerry is a boring stiff, boring stiff with something else going for him, but a boring stiff. And I know that we can't say this on polite television, Lou, but those of us who are, like, not working hard to stay inside the mainstream, can frankly say that invading Iraq was a disastrous idea, so that's where I see it.
Now I must say, as a race, it's like nothing I have ever seen before. Those of us who live in safely red or blue states, this race -- this campaign might as well by happening on Mars. Faint sounds of battle in the distance is all we get. These poor citizens who live in the swing states have been hit by this tsunami, this avalanche, and, you know, there's more money than anybody has ever seen in a political race before. Bush has $200 million, Kerry well over $150 million. All this is going into a handful of safes.
My experience over time, and probably you know this, too, after a long campaign with a whole lot of negative advertising, most people wind up saying, you know, I don't want to vote for either one of those people, and I really think that they're going to drive the vote down.
DOBBS: We've got about 30 seconds, Molly. Just talking with Ralph Nader, do you think it would have made a more interesting and newsworthy convention if the Democrats had let Ralph Nader attend?
IVINS: Well, yes, of course, but I think the booing would have been insufferable.
DOBBS: Molly Ivins, we thank you for being with us. We hope you'll check back in with us during the course of this exciting, electric four days in Boston.
IVINS: Always good to talk with you, Lou.
DOBBS: Thank you, Molly.
When we continue, an unbelievable ride for a truck driver in south Florida. We'll have the remarkable story and the remarkable pictures still ahead. Please stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: It's not all politics in Florida. Traffic tonight moving again on U.S.-1 in the Florida Keys after a dramatic accident high above the water. The accident left the trailer of this semitruck dangling from a bridge as you see there by just its rear wheels. The truck's trailer separated from the cab, went over the guardrail and miraculously was hung up on the rail. Several tow trucks and cranes eventually lifted the trailer back onto the bridge. The highway which links the Florida Keys to the mainland closed in both directions for about six hours. The truck's driver not injured at all, but with some explaining to do.
Turning now to Wall Street, stocks fell once again, not much but they didn't do much, they haven't done much, but meanwhile, the NASDAQ is at a new ten-month low. Christine Romans is here with the market. Christine, any good news?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There is good news in the housing market not in the stock market. In the housing market you had strong numbers there. Existing home sales rose to another record in June. Home prices record high there. Almost $192,000 for the average home in America, up 10 percent from last June.
Now, back to the stock market. July turning out to be a cruel month for stock market investors. The NASDAQ having its worst month in almost three years, down 10 percent just this July, and many tech mutual funds have lost a quarter of their value. Maybe it's not the best environment to take a tech company public, but Google is. It's a two-class stock, demand is high, so high, the company, Lou, says its IPO would value Google at $36 billion. Most startling a price range of up to $135 a share. That would be a price-to-earnings ration of $329. Lou, the founders and executives will still control most of the voting power in this company. Their class-B shares will get 10 votes each.
DOBBS: Well, now that makes it sort of interesting, doesn't it. Over 300 P.E. for a digital stock, a very good one, nonetheless, company at least but 300-plus? Do they think this is 1999 all over again?
ROMANS: It certainly looks like it and you know 329 P.E. is double its closest competitor, Yahoo and the S&P is only 20.
DOBBS: And any investor who buys into a two-class stock had better do some very serious thinking.
ROMANS: So much for Google's idealism.
DOBBS: And the arrogance of that so-called idealism, to put forward a two-class stock. I'll pass. Thank you very much.
Christine, thanks. Christine Romans.
Still ahead here, we'll have the results of tonight's poll. That's worth waiting for. Please stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Now the results of tonight's poll. 64 percent of you say presidential conventions are meaningful and relevant. 36 percent say you do not.
Here at CNN we're thankful for that ratio because we're going to spend a lot of time this week covering the conventions.
Thanks for being with us tonight. Please join us tomorrow. "Washington Post" columnist E.J. Dionne and our panel of top political journalists join us live from the Democratic National Convention.
For all of us here, thanks for being with us. Good night from New York.
"ANDERSON COOPER 360" special convention edition coming up next.
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 July 26, 2004 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight, we focus on the launch of the Democratic National Convention, tonight's prime-time speeches by an all-star lineup of top Democrats. The convention will, of course, present a strong case for Senator John Kerry and aggressive criticism of President George Bush.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN F. KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The 44th Quadrennial National Convention of the Democratic Party will now come to order!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOBBS: Tonight, my guests are Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe, who is one of tonight's prime-time speakers, and Governor Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas.
I'll also by joined by a man that Democrats don't want at their convention or on the ballot at all, Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader, who says the Democratic Party and the Republicans are undermining democracy and Democrats, like Republicans, are beholden to corporate interests. Ralph Nader joins us.
In our special report tonight, Middle-Class Squeeze, Senator Kerry talks tough about the export of American jobs to cheap overseeing markets, but will he really stop the outsourcing of middle- class jobs?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROGER ALTMAN, SENIOR KERRY ECONOMIC ADVISER: He's never said he's opposed to outsourcing, which he isn't, and he's never said that he will save every job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOBBS: And liberal columnist Molly Ivins, author of "Who Let the Dogs In?", has some uncompromising views about both. President Bush and Senator Kerry. Molly Ivins joins me tonight from Boston.
ANNOUNCER: This is LOU DOBBS TONIGHT for Monday, July 26. Here now for an hour of news, debate and opinion is Lou Dobbs.
DOBBS: Good evening. Tonight, the presidential campaign goes into full swing with the opening of the Democratic National Convention in Boston. Democrats will be focusing, of course, on Senator Kerry, Senator Edwards and the policies they say will help them unseat President George W. Bush. Tonight's speakers will highlight Senator Kerry's proposals to create jobs, to provide affordable health care, and to rebuild foreign alliances.
We begin or coverage tonight with Kelly Wallace in the Convention Center in Boston -- Kelly?
KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Lou, the Democrats we talked to say this party has never been as united as it is right now, and you can see some excitement here as Democratic delegates gather in the FleetCenter here in Boston.
The challenge for John Kerry, though, is not convincing these Democratic delegates to support him, but convincing the swing voters who will be watching that he is the person to lead them into the future.
I am coming to you from a key battleground state, the battleground state of Ohio. No Republican has ever won the White House without winning the Buckeye State. So the stakes are very high for George W. Bush and John Kerry.
And one reason that Democrats feel that they might have an edge in Ohio is when you look at the economy, because while there are signs nationwide the economy might improving, it doesn't seem to be being felt in Ohio.
In our CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll some 36 percent of the people polled say they think the economy is excellent or very good. That is much lower than the national average.
A big question we are all wanting to know, the Kerry campaign wants to have no bashing of the president at this convention. So the question is: Will tonight's speakers comply? At least for the sources we've been talking to, the answer is yes.
First speaker, former Vice President Al Gore, who has been very critical of President Bush and the war in Iraq, but according to Kerry and Gore advisers, this speech has been approved and is being applauded by the Kerry campaign. One Kerry adviser saying we didn't change a thing. Another adviser saying it's a very good tone-setter and a reminder of how much work needs to be done.
Also, we'll hear from former President Jimmy Carter, who told our own Judy Woodruff that no one's vetting his speech and that he won't be deviating from the senior statesman role he plays on the national and international stage.
And then finally last but not least, former President Bill Clinton will be taking the stage. Many Democrats have been asking: Will Bill Clinton ultimately overshadow the presumptive Democratic nominee John Kerry? Well, Kerry advisers say no. They say Bill Clinton's speaking tonight, Monday night, John Kerry giving his speech Thursday night. The main goal, Kerry advisers say, for Bill Clinton's speech, to rally the Democratic Party, and, Lou, you know, no one can quite rally the Democrats like the former President Bill Clinton -- Lou.
DOBBS: Kelly, thank you very much.
Kelly Wallace.
This convention is, of course, not only an opportunity for Democrats to deliver speeches praising Senator Kerry, but it also gives them a platform to showcase their policy differences with the White House.
John King has our report -- John?
JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: And, Lou, policy differences are OK. The Kerry campaign says what they don't want from the podium, as Kelly just noted, is fierce personal attacks on the president. They are trying to present a positive image in part because that is one of the Senator Kerry's weaknesses right now.
As the Democratic nominee running against an incumbent president, many Americans say they still don't know all that much about him. The Bush campaign is saying Senator Kerry's 19-year record in the Senate shows him to be a liberal, shows him to be someone who changes his position on big issues, like the war in Iraq. The Kerry campaign will use this week to try to rebut that message, and they want to speak very positively from the podium.
On the floor, though, Lou, you do see quite a bit of the anti- Bush sentiment that is the unifying glue right now in the Democratic Party, perhaps some viewers of your program. We were over in the Texas delegation earlier. Some prominent bumper stickers there saying "Revive the American Economy, Outsource Bush and Cheney." So, from the podium, polite talk tonight. Here on the floor, you get a great deal of anti-Bush sentiment.
They will focus on policy differences on some key points. President Clinton tonight, we are told, will try to remind Americans that he left surpluses in this country, there are deficits now. He will make the case that this Republican president is no fiscal conservative
Other speakers on behalf of Senator Kerry and then Senator Kerry himself will go after Bush's leadership in the war on terrorism, saying that Mr. Bush has alienated key allies around the world. That perhaps most significantly, Senator Kerry's challenge this week. Right now, 40 percent of Americans -- only 40 percent of Americans -- say the United States is winning the war on terrorism, yet President Bush still has an 18-point advantage over Democratic Senator Kerry on that front.
A major goal of the Kerry campaign this week, Lou, is trying to overcome -- begin to overcome anyway -- that big deficit one of the key questions in this election: Who do you want as commander in chief, and do you want to change commanders in chief in the middle of a war -- Lou?
DOBBS: John, covering the Bush White House for several years now, this is the first time in some time that you've been around this many Democrats. What's it like?
KING: Well, it is great to get out and get a flavor of the other half of the campaign. Boston is home for me, Lou, so I'm very happy to be at this convention.
You get a great sense of energy in the Democratic Party, not unlike we saw in the Democratic Party back in 1992. Democrats have no fights here, no platform fights, no credential fights, no rules fights. This is a very unified Democratic Party, and they're unified by one theme: beating the Republican in the White House, much like when Bill Clinton ran in 1992. That Republican in the White House happens to be named George Bush.
DOBBS: John King -- thank you very much -- reporting from Boston.
Senator Kerry is not scheduled to speak at the convention until Thursday. Today, Senator Kerry held a town hall meeting in Cape Canaveral, Florida, where the senator said he is on the journey of a lifetime.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KERRY: I'm here today, on the first day of the Democratic Convention, because there is no better place to launch something than right here at Cape Canaveral, and that's why we're here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOBBS: Senator Kerry is on a six-day tour of the United States that will end in Boston. That tour designed to introduce Senator Kerry to voters in key battleground states, certainly Florida one of them.
Senator Edwards is also on the campaign trail, today in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he talked about science and technology. Senator Edwards will arrive in Boston tomorrow.
President Bush is spending this week at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, a working holiday. Today, President Bush focused on ways to reform our intelligence community after the September 11 commission's final report. The White House says the president's top priority is to implement reforms that can be introduced quickly through executive order.
White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux reports from Crawford, Texas.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Bush laying low at his Crawford ranch, but on the fast track to making possible intelligence reforms, Monday morning through a secure video teleconference call, he led his first task force meeting on the 9/11 commission's recommendations.
Officials at the highest level of government mobilized in the situation room at the White House and on the line to figure out how to overhaul the country's intelligence system. In attendance, about a dozen Cabinet-level officials, including the vice president, secretaries of Homeland Security and the Defense Department, the acting director of the CIA and the head of the FBI, top officials from Justice, State, and the National Security Council.
Cheney, campaigning in Washington State, elaborated on the meeting.
RICHARD CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're at the beginning here of what will be and should be a great debate as we look at how can improve both the executive branch and legislative branch's ability to function in this area.
MALVEAUX: National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice joined Mr. Bush at the ranch to discuss enacting recommendations that could be implemented immediately by executive order.
A White House spokeswoman said while the task force did not make any decisions on which recommendations will be implemented that the president urged the group to act quickly to come up with a rapid review of the 9/11 report.
One source privy to the deliberations said the president is warming up to one controversial proposal, a national director of intelligence. That recommendation is being pushed by the chairs of the 9/11 commission, both parties in Congress and Bush critics, but was initially rejected by the secretary of Homeland Security and the acting director of the CIA.
(on camera): The Bush administration, eager to show the president is doing everything he can to protect the American people, says Mr. Bush could decide on some of those recommendations within days.
Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, Crawford, Texas.
DOBBS: House Republican leaders also have a sense of urgency about the 9/11 commission report. House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Majority Leader Tom DeLay are planning hearings next week. Both say they want to bring legislation to the floor during the first week of September.
And another sign of urgency about that report, Attorney General John Ashcroft today canceled a trip to Mexico City in order to focus on the need for a major intelligence overhaul.
DOBBS: Still ahead here, Teresa Heinz Kerry tells a reporter to shove it, after she talked about the need for civility in politics. No Stepford wife she.
DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe wants the Democratic convention to focus on the party's message, instead of criticizing President Bush. Terry McAuliffe is our guest.
And Democrats don't want Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader at the convention. He's our guest, too.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: The Kerry campaign tonight is calling Teresa Heinz Kerry an enormous asset to the campaign after she had sharp words for a reporter. It all began after Heinz Kerry spoke to a group of Pennsylvanians about the need for more civility in politics.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TERESA HEINZ KERRY, WIFE OF SENATOR JOHN KERRY: We need to turn back some of the creeping, un-Pennsylvanian and sometimes un-American traits that are coming in to some of our politics.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOBBS: As you just heard, Heinz Kerry said "un-American traits." After the speech, the editorial page editor of "The Pittsburgh Tribune Review," Colin McNichol, asked her for clarification.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLIN MCNICHOL, "THE PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE REVIEW": You mentioned un-American...
HEINZ KERRY: No, I didn't say that.
MCNICHOL: What did you mean?
HEINZ KERRY: I didn't say that. I didn't say that.
MCNICHOL: I'm just asking what you said.
HEINZ KERRY: Well, why are you -- why do you put those words in my mouth?
MCNICHOL: You said something about un-American...
HEINZ KERRY: No, I didn't say that.
MCNICHOL: ... activity.
HEINZ KERRY: I did not say "activity" or "un-American." Those are your words. You can record it and listen to it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOBBS: Well, she didn't say "un-American activities." She said "un-American traits." And just moments later, Heinz Kerry confronted McNichol once again.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HEINZ KERRY: Of course.
MCNICHOL: Come here. You said...
HEINZ KERRY: Understandable.
MCNICHOL: No, no.
HEINZ KERRY: You said something I didn't say. Now shove it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOBBS: After the exchange, a spokeswoman for Heinz Kerry released a statement saying, "This was sheer frustration aimed at a right-wing rag that has consistently and purposely misrepresented the facts in reporting on Mrs. Kerry and her family."
Senator Kerry put it more simply, saying his wife "speaks her mind appropriately."
"The Pittsburgh Tribune Review" said Colin McNichol did just what any good reporter does. He asked questions.
The civility that Mrs. Heinz Kerry called for is expected to be on display throughout the Democratic convention, some tell us. As we reported, Democratic leaders want this convention to promote a positive image of Senator Kerry and Senator Edwards, and, of course, the party is opposed to a negative one of President Bush.
My guest tonight is one of the leaders who will assure that that comes to pass, Democratic Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe.
Terry, good to have you with us.
(INTERVIEW WITH DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN TERRY MCAULIFFE)
DOBBS: One person wielding a lot of power at the convention tonight is not a politician nor is he one of the keynote speakers. His name is Gary Hood. He is the stage manager for the convention.
Hood controls what is called the podium button. It's a small red button, which lowers the podium, causing the lectern to disappear, revealing all of whoever happens to be standing behind him.
Hood says there was only one time that he had to use it during a speech at a convention. That was back in 1988, when Bill Clinton, who you see here, then the governor of Arkansas, spent more than 30 minutes introducing Michael Dukakis.
Clinton speaks again tonight. We're sure Gary hood is there for a purpose and will be watching closely. We're sure the former president is also aware of his presence. That brings us to the subject of tonight's poll: Do you think presidential conventions are now meaningful and relevant? Yes or no? Cast your vote at cnn.com/lou. We'll have the results for you later in the broadcast.
Still ahead, Senator Kerry's plan to keep American jobs in this country. Is it for real? Critics say it will do little to discourage companies from shipping middle-class jobs to cheap overseas labor markets. We'll have our special report in tonight's edition of Middle-Class Squeeze.
Also, the Nader factor. Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader says he's the only choice to stop corporate control of the White House and Washington itself. Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader is our guest.
And nearly 1,000 Americans have been killed in Iraq. We'll have a special report on the statistics of those Americans killed in this war. Those stories and much more are still ahead here tonight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: LOU DOBBS TONIGHT continues. Here now for more news, debate and opinion, Lou Dobbs.
DOBBS: In tonight's kickoff of the Democratic National Convention, some of the biggest names in the Democratic Party will be addressing the delegates, including former Presidents Clinton and Carter.
Joining me now to talk about the major issues Democrats will be focusing on through this week, the co-host of CNN's "CROSSFIRE," Paul Begala.
Paul, good to have you with us.
PAUL BEGALA, CNN "CROSSFIRE": Lou, good to see you again.
DOBBS: Just talking with Terry McAuliffe, he said that the party doesn't need a singular message, that it's about a plan, rather than a statement of purpose and a convincing, persuasive statement at that. Do you agree?
BEGALA: Terry's my neighbor, he's my friend, I love him. He might be the best party chairman of my life, but he's done his job, which is to build the party, to get us out of debt, to make us competitive.
It's now John Kerry's job to give us that sense, so I guess, no, I don't agree. We need a one-sentence explanation of what it is Democrats stand for. I don't think we have it yet.
Let's see what John Kerry says on Thursday night. I think he's getting there when he says he wants us to be stronger at home, more respected in the world. I think that that talks to a lot of things. Stronger at home certainly means jobs, it means controlling health-care costs. It means being more energy independent from the Middle East. And respected in the world means building more allies and trying to leverage the greatness of America around the world.
So he's getting there, I think. I hope that by Friday morning, Democrats can wake up with a one-sentence answer. Governor Cuomo's advice is the best advice I've heard yet.
DOBBS: Paul, let me ask you this as well. One of his principal -- speaking of alliances, of course, Senator Kerry's principal ally is Teresa Heinz Kerry telling a reporter to shove it today. The reaction has been, at least in the media, as if a great cataclysm had swept the party. What's your reaction to both her statement and its political impact or significance, if any?
BEGALA: Oh, I love it. I love it because the problem with these conventions -- and I used to script them, so I know -- is that they're very tightly scripted. Nothing spontaneous happens. And that's good for the party. That's what the party wants.
But, you know, viewers would like a little spontaneity from their political figures, and here we have this woman, brilliant, charismatic, thoughtful, and, you know, some -- he was not a reporter, by the way. It was some, you know, right-wing hacker, some right-wing paper, who was bugging her, and she told him to bug off.
DOBBS: Editor of the -- Paul -- Paul, editor of the editorial page, OK?
BEGALA: Of a newspaper owned by a notoriously right-wing billionaire. I mean, this is not exactly even the most reputable newspaper I've ever seen.
But, be that as it may, he was bugging her, and she told him to go shove it. I think it's great, and it's a far cry from the sort of sanctimony of the Republicans, whose leader Dick Cheney -- or number two leader -- on the floor of the Senate told a United States Senator -- well, he dropped the "F" bomb. Put it that way.
I mean, it's -- I think it's great because it shows some authenticity, some spontaneity, and some toughness. You know, my party has needed a spinal transplant for a long time, and, if Teresa can give it to us, by God, I love it.
DOBBS: What's going to be the reaction, though, if that comes from the first lady as candidate, at least, rather than the candidate himself?
BEGALA: Well, I think it speaks well of the candidate. I mean, you know, when he was courting Teresa -- when John Kerry was courting Teresa, believe me, there were no shoe clerks in that poker game, Lou. I mean, you -- he had to be a strong and secure guy, and I think the fact that he has married such a strong and secure woman speaks well of him. I think the fact that he picked John Edwards, a very strong, charismatic figure -- people didn't think he would. So I think it's a good sign. I will say I think it's a wonderful thing about our president that he, too, married a very strong and opinionated woman. I think it speaks well of President Bush. I think it speaks well of John Kerry.
DOBBS: And will that be the kind of ecumenical bipartisan tone that we'll hear this week from the Democrats, as you just gently gave credit to both the Republican and Democratic candidates.
BEGALA: I hope not. I mean, I like a good fight. You know, I'm like Alice Roosevelt Longworth who used to say, "If you don't have something nice to say about somebody, come sit here by me." I mean, I'm already tired of this sort of everybody-has-to-be-positive convention that they're running.
But I do think -- the one good thing I will say again about President Bush, though, is his wife. She is a delight. But I think when people see Teresa Heinz Kerry, they're going to fall in love with her as well, and that's going to be a really nice story coming out of this convention.
BEGALA: Paul Begala.
Thank you very much. We'll be looking to you to bring many of those stories. And rest up because you can't get tired yet. You've got four days to go.
Paul Begala, thank you.
Well, as the Democrats meet in Boston this week to officially nominate Senator John Kerry, we take a closer look at Senator Kerry's economic policies and how he will be addressing the middle-class squeeze" on millions of Americans. Tonight, we focus on job security, the threat of outsourcing, the high cost of this nation's trade policies.
Peter Viles reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KERRY: We're going to take out of it any benefit, any reward, any incentive, for any Benedict Arnold company or CEO that wants to play games with the tax code, hide the money overseas, take the jobs with them, and stick the American people with the bill.
PETER VILES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-cover): Tough talk, but would President Kerry really fight overseas outsourcing? Kerry adviser Roger Altman:
ALTMAN: He's never said he's opposed to outsourcing, which he isn't, and he's never said that he will save every job because one can't do that. But he has said we need to make American employers more competitive, and that gets -- that means lowering their costs of doing business here, lowering their tax rates. VILES: Kerry's main proposal, tax changes to discourage outsourcing, cut the overall corporate tax by 5 percent, eliminate the special break corporations now receive on their foreign profits, no more holding those profits tax-free overseas. Instead, give them a one-time tax holiday if they bring those profits home.
ALTMAN: There's not really any good reason from a tax policy perspective for companies earning profits abroad to be able to defer U.S. taxes on those profits when they have to pay taxes directly on comparable U.S. operations.
VILES: Business lobbyists say that would put American companies at a disadvantage overseas. Workers' advocates say it wouldn't make a big different anyway because cheap wages, not taxes drive outsourcing.
DEAN BAKER, CENTER FOR ECONOMIC POLICY RESEARCH: You're still paying the workers here $15, $20 an hour plus benefits. In Mexico, you're going to get them for a dollar, maybe $2 an hour, very little by way of benefits. There's very little that John Kerry is talking about that is going to change that equation in any fundamental way.
VILES: More to the Kerry plan, a tax credit for new jobs in manufacturing, and other industries affected by outsourcing and disclosure. Companies would have to tell the government when they're shipping jobs overseas, and call center workers would have to disclose where they're located.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VILES: One other big issue here, trade agreements. Kerry opposes CAFTA, that is the centerpiece of the Bush trade agenda. Kerry says it would only accelerate the race to the bottom in global wages -- Lou.
DOBBS: Pete, thank you very much. Peter Viles.
Well, my guest tonight is the man many people could cost Senator Kerry the election. Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader consistently erases Senator Kerry's slight lead polls when he is factored into the race nationwide. Nader is making his fourth run for the White House to fight what he calls corporate interest in Washington and joins us tonight from our bureau in Washington, D.C.
Good to have you with us.
RALPH NADER (I), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you very much, Lou.
DOBBS: This convention that is now under way in Boston, you wanted to be there, the Democrats said no, because you're receiving support from Republicans, both organizationally and financially, they said. How do you react to that?
NADER: First of all, it's a false characterization. We're receiving no support from organized Republicans. Obviously we welcome support from all Americans who provide legal contributions to our Web site, votenader.org. A huge amount of Republican fat cats have supported Democrats, huge amount of Republican fat cats have supported Republicans -- Democrats supported Republicans because they play both sides of the aisle. So we reject the dirty tricks that the Democrats have been engaging in in Arizona and Oregon and Michigan.
You'll like this one. They got the signatures to put us on the ballot by organized Republican money in Michigan, which we're not taking, we're going to be on the Reform Party candidacy. And they outsourced the analysis of these signatures to India.
(LAUGHTER)
NADER: This is the Democrats, outsourced the analysis to a firm in India; to show you how offensive they are and how empty they are about protecting American jobs.
DOBBS: I think, Ralph, this is where I say, say it ain't so, Ralph.
(LAUGHTER)
NADER: It is. The press has reported it, and there's no denial. In fact the guy who outsourced it said these guys do it cheaper.
DOBBS: They do it cheaper and you're rejecting both, in this case, the Democrats and the Republican organizations, the formal party organizations in Michigan. The Democrats...
NADER: Get off our back, we're saying, yes, get off our back.
DOBBS: Get off your back.
NADER: Yes.
DOBBS: You are also pointing out wherever you can, and the message gets through in some ways for -- I'm so sure not as strongly as you would like, that both parties, Democrats and Republicans, both parties, are simply under the control, the influence, the unparalleled influence of corporate America.
How are you going to get that message through and explain to those who listen to you how important it is that there be a balance, a proportionality of interest in this country's political system?
NADER: Well, in a summary, it's a new book, "The Good Fight: Declare Independence and Close the Democracy Gap", this really deals with what happens when a country such as ours allows its government and other institutions to be under the control of a rampaging concentration of corporate power and greed in the hands of fewer multinational or global corporations, who move to control our elections, look at all the money, to control our government, look at all the lobbyists, and then to block the American people from having access without a bail full of money to their Congress, to their courts, to the executive branch.
And what you see is corporate welfare, huge small tax dollars going to subsidies, handouts, giveaways. And you see corporate crime running amuck with very limited enforcement resources. And you see the abandonment of America by these global corporations that were born in America and went to profit in America, but have no allegiance to our country or community other than to control them or abandon them to China or elsewhere as they see fit. That's the crisis today.
DOBBS: That is the crisis, it extends to education, it extends to our political system, it extends to our trade policies, but the fact is the American populace also has a great responsibility here as well, isn't that true? Because we are the ones buying products, whether they're made in Sri Lanka or whether they're made in San Antonio. We're buying imported goods rather than made in America. We've been indifferent to the loss of our colleagues' jobs, our friends' jobs, our neighbors' jobs. How do we turn that around?
NADER: Well, first of all, we stop lowering our expectations about what politics is supposed to deliver. Politics in the Greek definition is "of the citizen," not "of the Exxons by the General Motors for the Wal-Marts."
And second, we do have to be more discriminatory in how we shop. Wal-Mart, for example, tells its suppliers that if they can't meet the China price by lowering the wages here in America and reducing the benefits, they should open up in China, shut down here and go and open up in China.
I think consumers should begin judging these global corporations by whether they are patriotic, whether they really respond to the need to continually increase wages in this country rather than strip-mine them by cutting deals with dictators in other countries. You can't have free trade with a country that's not free. Senator Moynihan said that years ago and it's very true.
DOBBS: Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. We thank you very much, Ralph Nader, we haven't got enough time to talk about the many important issues. We hope you'll come back soon as we explore them with you.
NADER: I'll be delighted. Thank you for your continued scrutiny on corporate crime and outsourcing, Lou.
DOBBS: Thank you, sir. Ralph Nader, independent candidate for president.
Tonight's thought is on democracy: "Democracy is the only system that persists in asking the powers that be whether they are the powers that ought to be."
Those are the words of journalist Sydney J. Harris.
In Iraq today, insurgents killed eight people, including an interior ministry official and two of his body guards in Baghdad. A suicide bomber attacked an American military base in the northern city of Mosul, killing three Iraqis. Three American soldiers were also wounded. And in the southern city of Basra, insurgents killed two Iraqi women working for British troops. Nearly a year-and-a-half into Operation Iraqi Freedom, more than 900 troops have been killed in Iraq. Those men and women represent a broad cross-section of American society, almost a thousand. Tonight we take a look at the background of the troops who have lost their lives serving their country in Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice-over): There's widespread public belief that a disproportionate number of Americans killed in combat are the young, the unskilled, and minorities. In reviewing the statistics of the identities of the 1000 men and women who have died in Iraq, we find a truth that is at sharp variance with widespread public opinion, particularly when it comes to the racial and gender composition of those who have lost their lives in service to their country.
BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: It's a little bit out of proportion, more whites, Caucasians, are dying than the other ethnic members of the military. I think it's mainly because a lot of the infantry units, as an example, are made up of white troopers.
DOBBS: The U.S. population is about 70 percent white. The rest are nearly evenly black and Hispanic. The makeup of the U.S. military looks like this, 64 percent white, 19 percent black, 9 percent Hispanic. Killed in Iraq, more than 71 percent have been white, 12 percent black, 11 1/2 percent Hispanic.
GRANGE: In the military now you have more of a cross of that representation dies than you did in the Vietnam War, where maybe a lot of people that died did not have the chance to get a deferment, did not have a reason, school or whatever the case may be, to not go to Vietnam.
DOBBS: The only significant variance is the number of women killed in Iraq. While 15 percent of the total U.S. military is made up of women, women accounted for only 2 percent of all combat deaths in Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DOBBS: There is another major difference between the war in Iraq and previous conflicts. Support troops are almost as vulnerable to attacks as troops in combat units, such as the infantry and armor.
Just ahead here, jobs, health care and education are her top priorities. Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius joins us on the eve of her speech to the Democratic National Convention.
And later, she calls President Bush "an incompetent," says John Kerry is "a boring stiff," political columnist, author of "Who Let the Dogs In?" Molly Ivins is our guest tonight.
And one group wants to silence this political satire. We'll tell you why that group says the Internet movie is not very funny.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: My next guess will be speaking at the Democratic Convention tomorrow night about jobs, health care, the economy, the major issues facing not only her state of Kansas, but the entire country.
Joining me now, Kansas governor, Kathleen Sebelius, one of only six female governors in this country. Governor Sebelius also on Senator Kerry's short list in his search for a running mate. Good to have you with us governor.
GOV. KATHLEEN SEBELIUS (D), KANSAS: Thanks, Lou, nice to be here.
DOBBS: Terry McAuliffe was talking about how united the party is, Paul Begala, saying you need a strong unifying message. You're going to be talking about three of the most important issues.
Is there a simple straightforward message the Democrats can put forward on these important issues?
SEBELIUS: Well, I think the important thing is for America to get to know John Kerry and John Edwards and to understand that they have a vision and a plan for the future about how to get our kids' 21st century education so they're ready for the workforce about health care so we can make sure families and business owners and seniors can afford medical care into the future. And about jobs and growing the economy. That's what Kansans talk to me about and I think that's what this ticket is all about.
DOBBS: One of the aspects about Kansas is your unemployment rate is lower than the national average, your economy is adding jobs, both you and, by definition President Bush seem to be doing a good job for the citizens of Kansas.
What will be the appeal of Senator Kerry given that in Kansas?
SEBELIUS: I think that Kansas, like many states is doing better than we were a year ago, and that's good news. And we've worked hard on that in the 18 months I've been governor, a new economic revitalization package, worked to bring jobs and new industry into the state, but I think there's still a level of real uncertainty and insecurity. People don't have faith that they're going to have a job next month or next year. They don't have faith that their children, if they stay in Kansas can have good jobs in the economy, and they worry about their health care. All of that deals with a sense of security, and I think it's important for them to have a leader in the future who identifies with those issues and those concerns.
DOBBS: Ralph Nader, with whom I just spoke, governor, accused both the Democrats and Republicans, as he had previously, of being far too greatly under the influence of corporate America.
Does that concern you for your party as well?
SEBELIUS: I think it's important that party leaders and those of us elected to office speak out for the people in this country and not for the special interests. It's certainly something that I tried to do in my election and have in the last 18 months, that you look at -- you're the voice of the average person, the working families, and so I think the more that the corporate influence skews that message and skews our tax code and our policies, the less parties connect with average Americans, and that's a mistake.
DOBBS: Is this the year the Democratic party reaches back out to the middle class working men and women in this country?
SEBELIUS: I think it's absolutely the year that it's so critical for us to identify with the concerns of the average American, the working families who worry about their kids and their health care and jobs in the future, and that's really, I think, the attractive message that John Kerry and John Edwards have to bring across this country. But they have a vision, they have a plan, they're ready to move forward, and not the special interests, and the -- not tax breaks for the rich, but tax breaks that help us send our kids to school. Not jobs that are shipped overseas, but jobs that actually exist border to border in the heartland. Those kind of initiatives are important.
DOBBS: Governor Sebelius, you will also be carrying that message tomorrow evening. We look forward to it with interest, as you might expect. We thank you for being with us.
SEBELIUS: Thank you for inviting me.
DOBBS: A reminder to vote in our poll tonight. The question to do you think presidential conventions are meaningful and relevant, yes or no?
Please cast your vote at cnn.com/lou, we'll have the results later here.
Millions of Americans have enjoyed the hilarious Internet parody of the candidates singing Woodie Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land." But tonight, the music publisher that owns the song's copyright is trying to stop the parody and end the entertainment. The Richmond Organization has sent a cease and desist order to the Web site running the parody, jibjab.com. He calms the cartoon damages the unifying message of the song, JibJab, of course, disagrees says the cartoon is political satire and JibJab is entitled to the fair use exemption under the Copyright Act. You've got to love that music. The Richmond group has yet to say whether it will take the Web site to court.
Let's listen for just a moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP JIBJAB.COM "THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND")
(SINGING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOBBS: It's a tough political year.
Still ahead here in her new book, my guest asks who let the dogs in. We'll talk about her profiles of politicians, from Ronald Reagan to the current commander and chief to Senator John Kerry, national syndicated political columnist Molly Ivins is our guest. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Well, she's a self-proclaimed Texas liberal who likes to tell it like it is, and by golly she does. In here new book "Who Let the Dogs In," Molly Ivins takes a look back at two decade of political life. Molly Ivins joins us now from the convention center in Boston, the action -- the political action all -- that's the epicenter, Molly. Are you pretty excited?
MOLLY IVINS, NATIONAL SYNDICATED POLITICAL COLUMNIST: Well, I've got to tell you, Lou, there's 10,000 reporters here, and no news. It is -- it is a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) situation. It's like we're struggling with the fact that there's no news, and we're inventing news, and we're getting there, and oh my gosh it's tough.
DOBBS: You know, the statics and for some reason we in the media are not focusing enough on that at least in my opinion. There are just -- well, 15,000 journalists covering those delegates. The ratio is astounding.
IVINS: Well, you need to do important things. Those of us who work for home papers back in our local regions, for example, I'm from Texas, and of course, the arrival of the white trash caucus all from east Texas, always a big deal in our delegations. Their rules are, you've got to drive, you can't fly, you've got to bring your own baloney and beer and ice chest, you've got to carry it into the hotel.
Then when you get invited to the fancy parties where the waiters serve the hors d'oeuvres on the silver tray, that's two questions, one is what is that? And the second is, is that free?
Now, these people are having a good time.
DOBBS: At least somebody is. The fact you say that all of those folks and no news, but you tend to make a little news when you say things like John Kerry and George Bush is a boring stiff in one corner and stupefying incompetency in the other. I take it that you don't see this as an easy choice between these two men.
IVINS: Amazing choice. They always say every four years, they say, it's a defining election. The country will forever be decided by what we do right here. And they may be right this time, but let's face it, John Kerry is a boring stiff, boring stiff with something else going for him, but a boring stiff. And I know that we can't say this on polite television, Lou, but those of us who are, like, not working hard to stay inside the mainstream, can frankly say that invading Iraq was a disastrous idea, so that's where I see it.
Now I must say, as a race, it's like nothing I have ever seen before. Those of us who live in safely red or blue states, this race -- this campaign might as well by happening on Mars. Faint sounds of battle in the distance is all we get. These poor citizens who live in the swing states have been hit by this tsunami, this avalanche, and, you know, there's more money than anybody has ever seen in a political race before. Bush has $200 million, Kerry well over $150 million. All this is going into a handful of safes.
My experience over time, and probably you know this, too, after a long campaign with a whole lot of negative advertising, most people wind up saying, you know, I don't want to vote for either one of those people, and I really think that they're going to drive the vote down.
DOBBS: We've got about 30 seconds, Molly. Just talking with Ralph Nader, do you think it would have made a more interesting and newsworthy convention if the Democrats had let Ralph Nader attend?
IVINS: Well, yes, of course, but I think the booing would have been insufferable.
DOBBS: Molly Ivins, we thank you for being with us. We hope you'll check back in with us during the course of this exciting, electric four days in Boston.
IVINS: Always good to talk with you, Lou.
DOBBS: Thank you, Molly.
When we continue, an unbelievable ride for a truck driver in south Florida. We'll have the remarkable story and the remarkable pictures still ahead. Please stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: It's not all politics in Florida. Traffic tonight moving again on U.S.-1 in the Florida Keys after a dramatic accident high above the water. The accident left the trailer of this semitruck dangling from a bridge as you see there by just its rear wheels. The truck's trailer separated from the cab, went over the guardrail and miraculously was hung up on the rail. Several tow trucks and cranes eventually lifted the trailer back onto the bridge. The highway which links the Florida Keys to the mainland closed in both directions for about six hours. The truck's driver not injured at all, but with some explaining to do.
Turning now to Wall Street, stocks fell once again, not much but they didn't do much, they haven't done much, but meanwhile, the NASDAQ is at a new ten-month low. Christine Romans is here with the market. Christine, any good news?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There is good news in the housing market not in the stock market. In the housing market you had strong numbers there. Existing home sales rose to another record in June. Home prices record high there. Almost $192,000 for the average home in America, up 10 percent from last June.
Now, back to the stock market. July turning out to be a cruel month for stock market investors. The NASDAQ having its worst month in almost three years, down 10 percent just this July, and many tech mutual funds have lost a quarter of their value. Maybe it's not the best environment to take a tech company public, but Google is. It's a two-class stock, demand is high, so high, the company, Lou, says its IPO would value Google at $36 billion. Most startling a price range of up to $135 a share. That would be a price-to-earnings ration of $329. Lou, the founders and executives will still control most of the voting power in this company. Their class-B shares will get 10 votes each.
DOBBS: Well, now that makes it sort of interesting, doesn't it. Over 300 P.E. for a digital stock, a very good one, nonetheless, company at least but 300-plus? Do they think this is 1999 all over again?
ROMANS: It certainly looks like it and you know 329 P.E. is double its closest competitor, Yahoo and the S&P is only 20.
DOBBS: And any investor who buys into a two-class stock had better do some very serious thinking.
ROMANS: So much for Google's idealism.
DOBBS: And the arrogance of that so-called idealism, to put forward a two-class stock. I'll pass. Thank you very much.
Christine, thanks. Christine Romans.
Still ahead here, we'll have the results of tonight's poll. That's worth waiting for. Please stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Now the results of tonight's poll. 64 percent of you say presidential conventions are meaningful and relevant. 36 percent say you do not.
Here at CNN we're thankful for that ratio because we're going to spend a lot of time this week covering the conventions.
Thanks for being with us tonight. Please join us tomorrow. "Washington Post" columnist E.J. Dionne and our panel of top political journalists join us live from the Democratic National Convention.
For all of us here, thanks for being with us. Good night from New York.
"ANDERSON COOPER 360" special convention edition coming up next.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
