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Lou Dobbs Tonight
President Bush to Announce New Iraq Strategy Next Week; Democrats Promising Bold Agenda in First 100 Hours
Aired January 02, 2007 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LOU DOBBS, HOST: Tonight, President Bush could announce his new strategy for the war in Iraq within a matter of days as the number of our troops killed in Iraq has passed 3,000.
We'll have a special report from the White House tonight.
And one of the biggest automobile manufacturers in this country joining forces with a Chinese company to sell Chinese cars in the United States.
We'll have that special report.
And war on the middle class.
All of that and a great deal more straight ahead here tonight.
ANNOUNCER: This is LOU DOBBS TONIGHT, news, debate and opinion for Tuesday, January 2nd.
Live in New York, Lou Dobbs.
DOBBS: Happy New Year and good evening, everybody.
President Bush tonight is preparing to announce a new military strategy for the war in Iraq as soon as next week. One of the options is a temporary increase in the number of our troops in Iraq, but that idea is facing powerful opposition from some members of the president's own party.
Many Democrats also opposing any so-called surge of troops in Iraq, but Democrats, about to take control of Congress, have not offered any new strategies of their own.
Suzanne Malveaux reports from the White House on the president's difficult military and political choices in the war in Iraq.
Arwa Damon reports from Baghdad on the increasing chaos in Iraq after the execution of Saddam Hussein.
And Dana Bash reports from Capitol Hill tonight on the Democrats' ambitious plans for their first 100 hours.
We turn to Suzanne Malveaux at the White House -- Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Lou, you may recall that it was on Thursday President Bush said a number of things have to happen before he announces his -- any change in tactics regarding his Iraq policy. Of course, consultations with members of Congress and consultations with the Iraqi government.
What we have learned today is that the president, in the days to come, is certainly taking some of those steps. Tomorrow is when the president will host a reception for the House, as well as Senate Democratic leadership, as well as Republicans. We are told by sources that it is really a meeting to talk about the year ahead. Also included in those informal discussions, the deliberations on Iraq.
Secondly, we are told and emphasized -- Bush administration officials emphasized while talks continue between officials here and those in Iraq that they're consistent and constant, President Bush is expected to reach out to Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki before he presents the plan to the American people, to the public. That has not yet happened, Lou.
And third, we have learned from several sources, do not expect any kind of announcement this week, that it is very likely that it would happen early to mid next week. Sources saying, look, the president has not yet signed off on anything. One source saying that he is driving toward a conclusion.
And Lou, I should let you know, about this meeting tomorrow, one senior administration official says, look, this is more of a social occasion. The president will continue to consult with members of Congress. And, in fact, the White House is expected to give a heads up to members of Congress a couple of days before he makes that address to the nation -- Lou.
DOBBS: Suzanne, thank you.
Suzanne Malveaux from the White House.
The military today reported the first American combat death of this year. A roadside bomb killing one of our soldiers southwest of Baghdad yesterday. The soldier's death comes after the third most deadliest month of the entire war for our troops.
One hundred thirteen of our troops killed in the month of December. That is the highest monthly total since November of 2004.
3,003 of our troops have been killed in this war. 22,565 of our troops have been wounded, 10,107 of them so seriously they couldn't return to duty within three days.
The ratio of troops killed to troops wounded in Iraq, 7-1, much higher than the 3-1 ratio seen in previous wars. This is due in large part to advances in battlefield medical procedures. But whether our troops are killed or wounded, they are all casualties of war.
December also a deadly month for Iraqis. The Iraqi government says 2,075 Iraqis were killed last month. All but 148 of them civilians.
At least 48 more Iraqis were killed today. The new violence came as some Iraqis continued to protest the execution of Saddam Hussein.
Arwa Damon reports from Baghdad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In front of the glistening golden dome of the Al-Askari Mosque in Samarra, one of the holiest Shia shrines, the image of Saddam Hussein displayed by angry Sunni demonstrators. Crowds here carried a mock coffin and photos of their former leader, parading through the courtyard of the shrine still showing scars left by a bombing back in February, an attack by Sunni extremists that catapulted sectarian violence to a new level.
In the days after Saddam's death, outrage is only increasing, as more details of what really happened in that execution chamber come to light. The day of the execution, Iraq's national security adviser, who was present as Saddam tumbled to his death, told CNN.
MOWAFFAK AL-RUBAIE, IRAQI NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: There was absolutely no humiliation to Saddam Hussein when he was alive and when -- and after he -- he was executed.
DAMON: But then this cell phone video appeared on the Internet, uncensored images fully portraying the chilling scene at the gallows, showing Saddam being taunted in his final moments by cries of "Muqtada, Muqtada, Muqtada," a reference to Muqtada al-Sadr, the radical Shia cleric whose Mehdi militia is believed to be behind much of the sectarian violence -- the images confirming Sunni fears that the execution of Saddam by Iraq's Shia-led government was a sectarian affair.
A U.S. warning to Iraq's government that it avoid giving the perception of a rush to judgment fell on deaf ears, with an aide to Iraq's prime minister that Nouri al-Maliki was determined to put Saddam to death before the end of the year.
The government said it has launched an investigation as to how the cell phones were snuck into the gallows and footage was shot obviously in plain view of the authorities who were present.
Munqith Faroon, perplexed and disturbed by what happened, was one of the 14 people present in that room.
MUNQITH FAROON, CHIEF PROSECUTOR (through translator): We were searched one by one before going into the room. They had a box to place phones in. How these phones were snuck in, I don't know.
DAMON: A mistake the government is already paying for.
(on camera): With Shia chants defining Saddam Hussein's last moments turning his execution into an act of Shia revenge, Saddam's death risks driving even moderate Sunnis farther away from a Shia-led government that they already have little faith in and, rather than uniting Iraqis, seems to be only further dividing them.
Arwa Damon, CNN, Baghdad. (END VIDEOTAPE)
DOBBS: The war in Iraq, of course, will be dominant as the new Congress convenes Thursday. The Democrats will be in control of Congress for the first time in 12 years. But the Democrats aren't using their political power to offer any new strategies for this war. They're putting their domestic agenda first.
Dana Bash reports now from Washington -- Dana?
DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Lou, as soon as House Democrats officially take control on Thursday, they'll start debating the dizzying legislative agenda they promised in the first 100 hours of the new Congress which, in reality, adds up to about two and a half weeks. Democratic leadership aides say this will be the schedule on the House floor.
Thursday and Friday, they'll be taking up measures to reform the House lobbying and ethics rules. We'll get details on that tomorrow.
Next week, House Democrats will vote to implement some outstanding 9/11 Commission recommendations, vote to raise the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour, lift federal funding limits on stem cell research, and take up a measure intended to negotiate lower prescription drug prices for Medicare.
The following week, they'll take up a bill to cut student loan interest rates in half, and also want to cut subsidies for oil companies.
Now, in order to get all of that passed, and fast, Democratic leadership aides say they'll limit Republicans' ability to offer competing measures. Now, that's exactly the way Republicans ran the House for 12 years, shutting out Democrats on most key legislation. But Republicans are crying foul now.
They're pointing to quote after quote from incoming speaker Nancy Pelosi promising open debate with room for opposition. And GOP leaders are even holding a press conference tomorrow to propose a stead of what they call minority rights that Pelosi herself demanded before the election.
Now, on another front, Democrats are also moving full speed ahead to take advantage of their new ability to hold hearings and conduct oversight, especially on the Iraq war. Incoming Senate Armed Services chairman Carl Levin today said he would tentatively schedule the first of three Iraq hearings for next Thursday, January 11th, and the new defense secretary, Robert Gates, is expected to be his sole witness. And Foreign Relations chairman Joe Biden has already said he's going to have three weeks of hearings on Iraq starting next week also -- Lou.
DOBBS: Dana, thank you.
Dana Bash from Capitol Hill. Voters are uncertain that this new Congress will introduce any meaningful reform, but a new CNN opinion poll shows voters are more optimistic about the future of the country than in 1994, the last time the Congress changed political party control.
Bill Schneider reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST (voice over): 1994, Republicans take over Congress for the first time in 40 years. People thought the new Republican Congress would be good for the country by 50 to 26 percent.
2006, Democrats regain control of Congress after 12 years. Sixty-one percent say Democratic control of the Congress will be good for the country and 32 percent bad.
Both elections were negative judgments about the president. Bill Clinton's approval rating at the time of the 1994 election, 46 percent.
WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I accept my share of the responsibility in the result of the elections.
SCHNEIDER: George W. Bush's approval rating at the time of the 2006 election, 35 percent.
BUSH: No question Iraq was on people's minds.
SCHNEIDER: Men feel about the same way now about the Democrats coming to power as they did in 1994 about the Republicans, fairly optimistic. The big shift is among women.
Sixty-four percent of women say Democratic control of Congress will be good for the country. Nancy Pelosi will be the first woman speaker of the House. Fewer than half of women felt optimistic about Newt Gingrich and the Republicans in 1994.
Remember how excited Republicans were to take over Congress in 1994?
NEWT GINGRICH (R), FMR. HOUSE SPEAKER: I mean, if this is not a mandate to move in a particular direction, I would like somebody to explain to me what a mandate would look like.
SCHNEIDER: Then, 81 percent of Republicans thought a Republican Congress would be good for the country. Well, guess what? Democrats are even more excited now. Ninety-one percent of Democrats believe a Democratic Congress will be good for the country.
But in 1994, fewer than half of Democrats thought the Republican Congress would be bad for the country. Now nearly three quarters of Republicans believe a Democratic Congress will be bad for the country.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCHNEIDER: So the bottom line, Nancy Pelosi takes over in a more deeply divided country than Gingrich did in 1994 -- Lou.
DOBBS: Thank you very much.
Bill Schneider from Washington.
In Washington today, Republicans and Democrats put aside their partisan differences to pay final respects to former president Gerald Ford. President Bush led 3,000 mourners at a state funeral for the 38th president at the National Cathedral. President Bush said President Ford brought "calm and healing to the country" after one of the most divisive periods in our history.
Tonight President Ford's casket arrived in his hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he will be buried tomorrow afternoon.
We'll have more on the president's state funeral later in this broadcast.
Also, one of the biggest automobile companies in the country escalating the war on our middle class, forming an alliance with communist China.
We'll have that special report.
Beijing also challenging American foreign policy, defying U.S. law, seeking a huge energy deal with Iran.
We'll have that story.
And one state has passed a law that could set an example for the nation on how to stop illegal immigration.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: There is little question as of tonight whether the American automobile industry is in decline. DaimlerChrysler is now teaming up with communist China's Chery Automobile. The Chinese company will be manufacturing a small car for the U.S. market because DaimlerChrysler executives say they can't make a profit if they build them in this country.
They apparently can sell them here.
Bill Tucker reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Few Americans have probably ever heard of the Chery auto, but everybody knows the name of DaimlerChrysler, and that is how China's Chery subcompact will appear to American buyers, as a DaimlerChrysler product, thus giving the Chinese automaker access to the American market for the first time ever.
A spokesman for Chrysler explaining the deal will allow the automaker to market and sell a subcompact car, a car that it cannot afford to build in America.
GEORGE MAGLIANO, GLOBAL INSIGHT: What they're saying, they've got to find a way of competing in that business, competing profitably. So they're going to give up a piece of the checkerboard, so to speak. And the question is, when you give up one piece, does that open the door? I mean, does it open the floodgates? And, you know, dealing with China, it could be.
TUCKER: The Chinese auto industry is expanding rapidly. Its exports set a record in 2006 -- 340,000 cars. Just two years ago, that number was 78,000.
The deal has critics of Bush's trade and industrial policy alarmed.
PETER MORICI, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND: Within 10 years, China could wipe out the lower end of the U.S. market. It's not astounding, not when you consider how jug-headed U.S. policy has been towards China.
We let them in the WTO, we gave them free access to this market. They maintain high tariffs on automobiles there, they require U.S. automakers to make their parts there, to transfer technology, to teach their local companies how to make cares.
TUCKER: All while being hamstrung by an undervalued Chinese currency.
Chrysler is not disclosing details of their deal. Not when it will began, nor how many cars will be imported, or the price, which many analysts think will be somewhere around $10,000 to $12,000.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TUCKER: Now, the deal is not done yet. It still has to be approved by the Chinese government and the board of supervisors at DaimlerChrysler. The president of the United Autoworkers sits on that board, and he will vote on this alliance. We called the UAW today, Lou, asking for a comment, and they had no comment.
DOBBS: You mean, they haven't thought this out, as to how good it is for American workers?
TUCKER: I guess they haven't, yes.
DOBBS: Just when you think that U.S. trade policy can't get any dumber or more antithetical to the interests of the American worker, a German automobile company, the big German one, DaimlerChrysler, which is in third place competing against what is the big two -- it's interesting to me that people keep talking about the big three in Detroit.
TUCKER: Right.
DOBBS: It's a big two. But neither one of them is as big as Toyota now.
TUCKER: Right.
DOBBS: Nobody seems to be noticing that. Incredible.
Thank you very much, Bill Tucker.
Two hundred guest workers from India are in Mississippi tonight. The guest workers are filling welder and fitter positions at shipyards run by Signal International. Signal says they aggressively recruit local workers, but a shortage in skilled workers following hurricanes Katrina and Rita forced them to recruit overseas. And that the workers will be needed until the Gulf Coast returns to normal.
Companies in Tennessee with -- doing business with the state tonight must take steps to make sure they don't hire illegal alien workers. The new statewide law affects companies seeking contracts with the state government. Companies caught knowingly employing illegal workers will be banned from seeking state contracts for an entire year. Companies who unwittingly hire illegal aliens are exempt from any penalty.
Tonight, officials in Cherokee County, Georgia, are debating whether they should enforce a law that prevents landlords from renting to illegal aliens. County officials say they weren't prepared for the cost of defending the measure of legal challenges from groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and other national organizations.
Many towns are passing local laws trying to deal with the impact, the problems created by illegal aliens since the federal government has refused to enforce either border security or our immigration laws. But these local laws are facing increasingly difficult legal challenge from activist groups. Again, the American Civil Liberties Union and other open borders and illegal alien amnesty advocate groups.
A Houston jury today began considering whether a man convicted in the smuggling deaths of 19 illegal aliens should be executed. Truck driver Tyrone Williams was convicted last month of murder. The victims were locked in an oven-like trailer, being smuggled from south Texas to Houston, when they died from suffocation.
Now tonight's poll.
Our question is, do you think the new Democratic Congress will take steps to secure our nation's broken borders? Yes or no?
Cast your vote at loudobbs.com. We'll have those results for you later in the show.
Up next, Hispanic students have the lowest graduation rates in the United States. I'll be talking with a former congressman, Herman Badillo. We'll find out what he says could be done to reverse that trend. And China pursuing a $16 billion energy deal with Iran, and the deal in violation of U.S. law.
We'll have that special report about what, if anything, is being done about it.
And the nation's leaders pay their respects to President Gerald R. Ford. We'll have the latest, and I'll have a few thoughts of my own on the pomp and circumstance of presidential funerals and presidential libraries.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: A energy-hungry China challenging American diplomatic efforts to sideline Iran and its support for global terrorism. China's state oil company is now pledging $16 billion to develop Iran's natural gas infrastructure, a deal that would violate American law.
Christine Romans reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): China's state oil company, CNOOC, pledging $16 billion to develop Iran's natural gas infrastructure, strengthening Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's regime, and in violation of American law, specifically the Iran Libya Sanctions Act, or ILSA.
BEHNAM DAYANIM, ATTORNEY, PAUL HASTINGS: This is precisely the kind of transaction that the Iran Sanctions Act is designed to address. It falls squarely within the scope of the statute, and it would seem to require the president either to impose sanctions or to formally waive sanctions, which he can do under the statute.
ROMANS: Passed in 1996, it punishes foreign companies that invest in Iran's energy sector. The law was reauthorized last year and called the Iran Freedom Support Act. It aims to isolate Iran's energy sector, profits from which drive its nuclear developments and support for terrorism.
Critics say CNOOC's deal is an end run around American foreign policy and speeds Iran's nuclear goal.
ILAN BERMAN, AUTHOR, "TEHRAN RISING": Sixteen billion dollars into this economy that their regime can use for priority investment in strategic programs such as a nuclear program or the ballistic missile program will accelerate that timeline. It will make it harder for us to stop Iran from going nuclear.
ROMANS: The House International Relations Committee will investigate. Incoming chairman Tom Lantos telling CNN, "China needs to be warned of the serious penalties it may incur if it pursues implementation of this agreement." (END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: But lawyers familiar with this law say it is unlikely the Bush administration will pursue those sanctions. The president has wide discretion in granting waivers to this law. And in fact, in 10 years, no country or company has been sanctioned for illegal energy deals with Iran -- Lou.
DOBBS: I wonder why? That's astounding. Maybe you can give us the answer tomorrow.
And since it would be clearly in violation of American law, the New York Stock Exchange, where CNOOC is listed, what they might be courageous enough to do.
ROMANS: We'll report back to you then -- Lou.
DOBBS: I'm sure that they will be focused squarely on the national interest.
Christine Romans, thank you very much.
And Congressman Tom Lantos, the incoming chairman of the House International Relations Committee, is our guest here Thursday. We'll be hearing his view on this China-Iran gas deal and find out what this new Congress plans to do about it.
That's Thursday right here on LOU DOBBS TONIGHT, 6:00 p.m. Eastern. Please join us.
Time now for some of your thoughts.
Steve in Arizona said, "It's not that DaimlerChrysler can't make money in America. Cheap labor isn't cheap. It's a short-term boom for fat cat share traders and another unneeded bonus check for CEOs."
Well, David in Virginia said, "Lou, I see Chrysler Corporation is going to build small cars in China. They say they can't afford to build them in the United States. We should say we cannot afford to buy them."
And Patrick in Delaware, "Lou, keep up the good work. To DaimlerChrysler and the like: If you can't make money making cars in the USA, don't plan on making money selling cars in the USA."
Send us your thoughts to loudobbs.com. More of your thoughts upcoming here later. Each of you whose e-mail is read here receives a copy of my book, "War on the Middle Class."
Up next, a discussion with three of the nation's leading talk show hosts on radio around the country.
A final good-bye in Washington for President Gerald Ford. And I have a few thoughts on the events, the pomp, the circumstance, the pretense surrounding presidential funerals and museums. And the nation's first Puerto Rican-born congressman tells Hispanics to start taking responsibility for their educational futures. Herman Badillo is our guest.
And across the country, severe weather wreaking havoc on everything from roads to livestock.
Stay with us for all of that and a great deal more straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: The top stories tonight.
President Bush expected to announce a new strategy for the war in Iraq. That announcement to come next week. One option, to temporarily raise the number of American troops in Iraq by as many as 35,000 soldiers and Marines.
Separately, President Bush will make a statement in the Rose Garden tomorrow after a cabinet meeting. No word yet on what he's likely to say.
The incoming chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Carl Levin, plans to begin hearings on the conduct of this war. He'll begin them next week. The first hearings will be held on the 11th of January.
Communist China forming a huge energy alliance with one of our most dangerous enemies in the global war on terror, Iran. The proposed deal comes as the United States tries to introduce tough new sanctions against Iran and to stop Tehran from developing nuclear weapons.
In other news tonight, National Guard troops going door to door and dropping food bundles in the Great Plains states, where some residents have been snowed in now for days. Rescuers also searching for starving livestock. They're starting a hay lift to save cattle that had been stranded by the blizzards and storms. A 1997 blizzard killed as many as 30,000 head of farm animals in Colorado alone.
Two storms in a week downing hundreds of miles of electrical lines. Thousands of people are suffering the cold without power tonight. Utility officials say it may still be days before those lines can be repaired.
Florida Republican Vern Buchanan will be sworn into the 110th Congress Thursday. But the fight between Buchanan and Democrat Christine Jennings for the hotly disputed House seat continues. That seat, once occupied by Katherine Harris.
Legal proceedings on a House inquiry into the e-voting procedures continue. Some 18,000 e-voting ballots didn't record votes. Those votes could have changed, of course, the outcome of the election.
Outgoing Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney will file paperwork tomorrow to form a presidential exploratory committee. Romney had planned to file today, but he chose to hold off until after former President Gerald ford is laid to rest tomorrow in Michigan.
Romney also has roots in Michigan. He joins Senator John McCain, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani in forming exploratory committees for the GOP nomination.
President Bush and other national leaders today honored President Gerald Ford. The ceremony at the National Cathedral, the final ceremony in Washington for the later president. President Ford's body was flown to Michigan this afternoon. There will be a final public service in Grand Rapids tomorrow.
John King reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was by his own design that Gerald Ford's last day in Washington began in the Rotunda of the House.
To remember a man is to retrace his steps in history. And the gentleman from Michigan served here for a quarter century.
GEORGE H.W. BUSH, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I watched from the back bench. I watched this good man. To political ally and adversary alike, Jerry Ford's word was always good. To know Jerry was to know a Norman Rockwell painting come to life.
KING: Across the Capitol to the Senate, vice presidents also serve as president of the Senate. It was not a job he wanted.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When President Nixon needed to replace a vice president who had resigned in scandal, he naturally turned to a man whose name was a synonym for integrity, Gerald R. Ford.
KING: He was vice president just eight short months.
Son Steve wiping a tear before retracing his father's most important steps, down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House.
HENRY KISSINGER, FMR. SECRETARY OF STATE: Propelled into the presidency by a sequence of unpredictable events, he had an impact so profound, it's rightly to be considered providential.
KING: In Washington's majestic National Cathedral, they gathered to remember the unassuming son of a broken family who held a nation together after its president resigned in disgrace.
GEORGE W. BUSH: And when he thought that the nation needed to put Watergate behind us, he made the tough and decent decision to pardon President Nixon, even though that decision probably cost him the presidential election.
KING: The only man to serve as vice president and president without being elected to either job. Just two and a half years in the Oval Office, yet days of considerable consequence, surviving the stain of Watergate and the humiliation of defeat in Vietnam.
GEORGE H.W. BUSH: For this and for so much more, his presidency will be remembered as a time of healing in our land. History has a way of matching man and moment.
KING: Mr. Ford's impact hardly ended when he left the White House. Vice President Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld are among the many old Ford hands who have had major roles in the current administration.
Humor was one of Mr. Ford's favorite political tools. And this self-deprecating man would have enjoyed one more laugh at his expense.
GEORGE H.W. BUSH: "I know I'm playing better golf," President Ford once reported to friends, "because I'm hitting fewer spectators."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Present arms!
KING: And after a few last steps...
(MUSIC)
KING: ... and "Hail to the Chief" in a blustery breeze, what he would have cherished most: his beloved Betty looking on, making sure he was settled in comfortably for the final trip home.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING (on camera): And, Lou, the 38th president of the United States, Gerald R. Ford, now back home in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He was born in Nebraska but adopted western Michigan as his home, represented that area for 25 years in the Congress.
A final memorial service tomorrow and he will be laid to rest at the Gerald R. Ford Museum -- Lou.
DOBBS: John, thank you very much.
John King from Washington.
I want to extend my condolences to Mrs. Ford and the entire Ford family.
And I want to offer now a few of my thoughts on the funeral of President Ford, a good and honorable man who served this nation well in uniform and in government service.
And I hope what I have to say here isn't taken the wrong way, but I'm sure there are some who will insist on doing so.
It seems to me the pomp and circumstance that is becoming a national tradition in bidding farewell to our former presidents is reaching unseemly proportions. Unseemly for any American, it seems to me, and more in keeping with European royal prerogative and pretense that the founders of this great nation renounced more than 200 years ago.
President Ford's body is lying in public repose tonight in the Gerald R. Ford Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan. And tomorrow he'll be buried near the museum. The Ford Museum and all other presidential museums are, again, it seems to me, entirely consonant with a ceaselessly televised pageant that presidential funerals have become. Museums that are modern and, in my view, lamentable monuments that rival the egoistic excess of the Egyptian pharaohs who built the pyramids, monuments that have outlasted by thousands of years their inhabitants' achievements. Let's hope the same can never be said of our presidential museums.
Up next, former Congressman Herman Badillo. He says he knows why Hispanics aren't being educated. He's be our guest, and talk radio show hosts on the agenda of the incoming Democratic Congress. That should be lively.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Hispanic students in this nation are failing and the numbers are nothing less than devastating: the lowest graduation rates in the nation and the highest dropout rates. It's a crisis and there is no easy solution.
Joining us tonight here is Herman Badillo. He's a former U.S. Congressman from the state of New York and the author of the important new book, "One Nation, One Standard: an Ex-Liberal on How Hispanics Can Succeed Just Like Other Immigrant Groups".
Herman, it's good to have you with us.
HERMAN BADILLO, AUTHOR, "ONE NATION, ONE STANDARD": Thank you.
DOBBS: It's been a while. An important book, it is starting to raise a lot of attention and controversy, as you would hope and intended, I'm sure.
You said that the Hispanic students in this country have the lowest high school graduation rates, just over 53 percent according to the statistics you use.
BADILLO: Yes. It's very grim.
DOBBS: Why?
BADILLO: Why? Because I believe the parents don't get involved in seeing to it that the educational system performs. They don't recognize that there are things like social promotion where everybody passes. And what happens is the students are passed along. When they get to the ninth or tenth grade, they really can't perform. And so they drop out.
DOBBS: But this is also true, in only slightly lesser degrees of black students in this country and lesser degrees yet of white students.
BADILLO: Yes, but the point is, I'm talking as a Hispanic about the Hispanic community. And we cannot continue to have those low graduation rates because today, not having a high school diploma means a life of poverty. And what people have to understand is that there is an answer to poverty. It's not government. It's getting an education.
Government is never going to provide jobs for all or housing for all or health care for all. If you get a good education, you provide for your own job, get your own housing and take care of your families. So that is a real answer to poverty.
DOBBS: And you've been criticized, interestingly enough in this book, "One Nation, One Standard" for putting the blame on Hispanic parents, putting a large measure of the blame on them.
BADILLO: Well, they have to take a responsibility for not getting involved with the educational system. And that is the problem that I've talked to many teachers and Hispanic parents don't show up during parent/teachers conference days and they don't really know what is going on.
DOBBS: But, again, Herman, I talk with educators, teachers, administrators all across the country. They say exactly the same thing of black parents, white parents. Race doesn't seem to matter in that regard.
BADILLO: I'm not saying it's only Hispanics, but I'm talking to Hispanics because I represent the Hispanic community and it's time that the Hispanics would wake up to recognize what's going on. I hope the others will as well.
DOBBS: You and me both. This part does affect principally Hispanic parents. You say and I quote, "Although intended" -- on the issue of bilingual education -- if we can see this quote by Herman Badillo. "Although intended as a bridge to full English comprehension, bilingual education has become in practice a substitute for it. Because bilingualism has actually become monolingualism. It has hindered not only Hispanic progress in education, but more broadly Hispanic assimilation into American life."
I can hear the screams from a lot of quarters on that one.
BADILLO: But this is something I know about.
DOBBS: Sure.
BADILLO: Because I was the author of the bilingual education bill in Congress. When we passed it in Congress, bilingual education was supposed to make sure that the kids learn to speak English. It was not supposed to be for two, four, six and eight years as it is now and it was not supposed to be monolingual education. So that's why I say that bilingual education has been distorted.
DOBBS: And I think it's important to say it again. Herman Badillo was the author of the original bilingual legislation, which means you're cursed in a lot of circles.
BADILLO: Yes, but that was not what we intended, unfortunately.
DOBBS: I understand. Once the government gets a hold of things, the results are not always exactly what anyone envisioned.
BADILLO: Exactly.
DOBBS: Again, what is the solution? Do you think this Congress has the courage to not pander to -- because the advocacy groups, the 115,000 strong...
BADILLO: ... I don't think we should wait for Congress because the Congress has had decades in which to make a correction.
DOBBS: What should we do?
BADILLO: I think the solution is that parents have got to be involved and see to it that the kids do not go into monolingualism, that the kids really learn in the school system. And that is the responsibility that parents have got to assume. We cannot wait for Congress or any part of government to change the system.
DOBBS: Herman Badillo, the book is "One Nation, One Standard." And I think it's a title that applies across so many, many subjects and issues in this great society of ours. Herman, good to see you again.
BADILLO: Thank you.
DOBBS: A reminder to vote in our poll. Do you think the new Democratic Congress will take steps to security our nation's broken borders? Yes or no. Cast your vote at LouDobbs.com. We'll have the results upcoming.
And next, I'll be talking with some of the nation's leading talk show hosts on radio on the president's pending Iraq strategy and the prospect of success by this Democratically-controlled Congress. Stay with us.
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DOBBS: Joining me now three of this country's leading talk radio show hosts and three of my favorites. Peter Boyles from KHOW in Denver. Good to have you with us. Joe Madison, WOL in Washington, D.C. Good to see you, you skinny son of a gun. We're going to have to talk about this. And Charles Goyette from KFNX in Phoenix. Great to have you with us and happy new year, gentlemen.
Let's start with -- I love the polls, we have a new beginning in this country with this happy new year. We have a new poll showing with this new Congress -- let's put this up. The CNN poll conducted December 15th through the 17th. Will Democrats bring real reform to Congress? Yes, there you see the numbers, 46 percent. No, 49 percent. Division is behind us, bipartisanship is here. It's all great, right, Charles? CHARLES GOYETTE, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: I wish it were true but I'm afraid we're going to have to resuscitate the phrase, stay the course, Lou. It's going to be more military spending, more empire, continuing decline of the U.S. dollar, a lot more of the same. The new Congress committed to more military spending.
It sounds as though they're committed to what I'm calling an escalation in Iraq, rather than a drawdown despite being handed a silver plate victory in November, a referendum from the people to step back from Iraq, it sounds like they're willing to stand by and watch it escalate.
DOBBS: Do you agree, Joe?
JOE MADISON, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Absolutely and I think you're going to see it not only in terms of Iraq, but you're going to see it on the issue that you talk about all the time, immigration. I'm not one of these people that usually says I told you so, but I remember our discussion in New York that you weren't going to see any meaningful legislation in that lame duck Congress.
DOBBS: Joe Madison, you tell me you told me so every time you get the chance, what are you talking about?
MADISON: Well, and I told you so. But I do think what's going to happen with the Democrats -- and I'll be very brief with this -- is that after 12 years in the wilderness, I think they're going to -- I think they're going to try and compromise as much as they can with the president. But I agree. It's going to be stay the course, they'll never use that term again, but it's just going to be the same old thing.
DOBBS: You and Charles both of you using the phrase is giving me shutters. Peter, how about you?
PETER BOYLES, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: I think this election results was more an anti-Bush vote than a pro-Democratic party vote. They will now claim they have this currency that George Bush once claimed to have. I agree with the other two fellows. The immigration reform will be a disaster. George Bush will now get what he wants. We saw that bill in the Senate this summer honcho'ed by Mr. Republican Arlen Specter and some others. It's going to be a disastrous couple of years. And I don't know -- I just think that George Bush will continue to be George Bush.
DOBBS: Well, I wished the three of you a happy new year and you haven't exactly reciprocated by cheering any of us up here. Peter let me ask you this, what are you most optimistic about this year?
BOYLES: This year, I think to see some sort of results on immigration that will come as a populist movement in this country. There are some voices in the wilderness, Tancredo, yourself, a dozen other pretty brave men and women, but there's a ground swell in Denver and in Colorado that I can sense every morning. And it's coming as a stronger, stronger voice. And George Bush and other politicians are going to have to deal with this, Lou. MADISON: And I'm seeing it, too, even with our black audience. Let me tell you, the black political leadership is so far behind their constituents on this one it is a shame, and to the point they're almost being, as one person says, they're being hosed.
Something else I'm optimistic about, I think that Bush is finally going to have to get tough, Lou Dobbs, on Darfur. The 31st date came and is gone, and you're going to see now a swell in this country like you've never seen before, and I think you're also going to see the middle class becoming an activist class.
DOBBS: I sure hope you're right about that. Charles.
GOYETTE: Lou, I don't share the sanguine attitude that they both have about immigration and the borders here in the United States. It's Goyette's second law, that to the extent we're busy securing borders elsewhere around the world, our own will go neglected.
Here in Phoenix, I mean, I've heard these people pass bills. They've created bills over the years, they never do anything.
In the '90s, in the '90s, I was talking on my radio show, about six million illegals. Let's get a handle on the problem. And now who knows where we are? Fifteen million or so. And they keep trotting out new bills, new measures, and there are only -- I watch for the people, nothing substantive ever happens.
MADISON: Well, they never deal with the employer. That's the biggest -- I mean, let me be honest. That's what my listeners keep saying is that, look, this is about outsourcing and trying to find cheap labor.
DOBBS: Let me ask...
MADISON: We've seen that all day, all during this broadcast.
DOBBS: Tonight we're reporting that DaimlerChrysler, a German- owned American car manufacturer, is going into business -- appears to be going into business with communist China's Chery automobile company, and would be manufacturing cheap Chery Chinese cars in this country.
Charles Goyette, does that make any sense to you? Is that just another assault on the American worker?
GOYETTE: It is an assault on the American worker, but how can you blame them? General Motors' only profitable division last time I looked was their Chinese operation. I mean, there's something fundamentally wrong here in the United States. I think finally it's time we identify the American people instead of the politicians.
The American people have decided they want something for nothing, and the politicians have been willing to give it to them.
So I see Hillary Clinton saying a couple of months ago, well, she wants to give every newborn American baby bonds. There go another quarter of a million jobs overseas. Somebody says, well, we've got to have paternity leave for dads. There goes another half a million jobs overseas.
Everything the politicians give away has a cost in terms of American jobs. Nobody is willing to trot out the cost and make the American people confront it.
MADISON: I lived in Detroit for 20 years, and I totally disagree. They've forgotten the lesson of Henry Ford I. You pay people enough money to be able to buy their product, and they'll buy it. And that was the success of Henry Ford, and it's still successful business today.
DOBBS: What do you think, Peter?
BOYLES: No one was harder on the working man than Henry Ford became, his anti-union movements and the rest of it.
What's interesting is the power of the multinational corporation. That's what we're really, truly watching. We're watching -- the working man in this country, the middle class in this country being marginalized every day. And soon, they will be coming back to this country seeking lower wages. Watch it, you can book it. It's the multinational corporation that holds more sway in this country today than ever, ever, ever before.
DOBBS: We're out of time, gentlemen. But you're saying that your audiences are in tune with what you're describing here.
BOYLES: Very much so.
MADISON: Every day.
GOYETTE: Lou, they're in tune with what you're talking about. The politicians do not get it yet.
DOBBS: Charles Goyette, we thank you very much. Joe Madison, thank you, sir. And Peter Boyles, thank you very much for being here. And happy new year.
Coming up at the top of the hour, "THE SITUATION ROOM" and Wolf Blitzer -- Wolf.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks very much, Lou. Don't ask, don't tell. We're going to find out why the nation's former top military officer now wants to rethink the military's policy on gays.
Secret dossier exposed. A sneak peak at Rudy Giuliani's plan to win the White House. Among other things, find out why he fears his ex-wife could come back to bite.
Also, Oprah Winfrey's $40 million dream come true. We'll find out how she's transforming the lives of hundreds of girls. All that, Lou, coming up right here in "THE SITUATION ROOM."
DOBBS: Wolf, thank you. Still ahead here, the results of our poll tonight. We'll have more of your thoughts. Stay with us.
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DOBBS: Well, the results of our poll tonight, and a substantial margin of you saying you don't think the new Congress will be taking steps to secure our nation's broken borders. In fact, 73 percent of you say you doubt that. Twenty-seven percent, however, have some considerable faith. We'll see.
Time now to take a look at more of your thoughts.
Sandy in Indiana wrote in to say -- "Lou, as I watch President Ford's funeral, CNN reported he was a president who saved us from a political nightmare. I think that today, this country is in a political nightmare. Now, who is going to save us?"
Shafer in New York said -- "I'm very angry with advocates who defend the immigrants' resistance to learn English and assimilate to our culture. I am a naturalized U.S. citizen, who was able to master the English language with hard work. I ultimately achieved two bachelor degrees, two master's degrees and a doctoral degree. I am totally in agreement with you that we need a strong immigration policy that prevents illegals from crossing our borders and requires English as the primary spoken language. Keep up the pressure on those politicians who care more about votes than promoting policies that are right for a multi-cultural, unified America."
And from Lydia in Maryland -- "Dear Lou, I don't believe border guards Compean and Ramos should be pardoned by the president. According to Webster's dictionary, a pardon is forgiveness for a wrongdoing. These men did nothing wrong. Instead of a jail term for doing their jobs, they should get a new fair trial, or be released altogether. And while we're at it, perhaps the judge who presided over the trial and the three jurors who say they were intimidated into bringing in a guilty verdict should be tried as well."
We love hearing from you. Send us your thoughts at loudobbs.com.
And finally tonight, I want to welcome the very newest addition to the Dobbs family. Born in the afternoon of December 27th, to Buffy and Chance Dobbs, the lovely Devin Nicole (ph) Dobbs, weighing in at 7 pounds, 13 ounces of joy and delight, our second grandchild. Mother, daughter and father all doing super.
We thank you for being with us tonight, and please join us here tomorrow, when two leading congressmen calling for a presidential pardon for those two Border Patrol agent, who must report to prison this month for shooting a Mexican drug smuggler given immunity. Congressman Ted Poe and Congressman Walter Jones join us, among our other guests.
For all of us, thanks for watching. Good night from New York. Happy new year. "THE SITUATION ROOM" with Wolf Blitzer begins now -- Wolf. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.voxant.com
