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President Bush Comments on Lott Controversy

Aired December 12, 2002 - 13:15   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.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: We'll go to Jonathan Karl now in our D.C. bureau. He just got off the phone with Trent Lott's office.
John, what did they have to say?

JONATHAN KARL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, I just spoke with the press secretary for Trent Lott after these very critical -- which hopefully, we will play in a minute -- these very critical comments the president made about what Trent Lott had said. Lott's statement was very short, but to the point. Senator Lott agreed with President Bush that his words were wrong, he repudiates segregation, and it is immoral.

Now, this comes as Lott has already been under an enormous amount of pressure from -- internally, quietly, not publicly, but from Republicans on Capitol Hill, who are upset not only with his original comments, but the fact that he took so long to apologize for them. Many of them privately found his apology unacceptable.

As a matter of fact, some of the moderate Republicans, some of the Republicans that you would look to get response have said nothing about Trent Lott, have neither supported him nor come out and criticized him. That includes Elizabeth Dole, who we have been trying for two days to get a statement out of. She has said nothing about this. Jim Talent, the new Republican from Missouri, has said nothing this yet. I'm told that he is coming out with a statement now that the president has said what he has said. And Olympia Snowe, really one of the conscience of the moderate Republicans in the Senate, has said nothing about what Trent Lott has said, neither criticizing him or pointedly defending him, saying that she accepts his apology. We will be waiting to hear from those senators and others who are quiet.

Right now, most of the pressure has been coming from the other side, from Democrats, including two Democrats in the Senate, who said Lott should resign, step down as majority leader. Now in talking to Trent Lott's spokesperson, he also pointed out that the president's spokesman, Ari Fleischer, the press secretary for the White House...

PHILLIPS: Jon, just as you say that, I understand that we have the sound from the president. We'll roll it, and we'll talk again. Hold on.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Any suggestion that the segregated past was acceptable, or positive is offensive and it is wrong. (APPLAUSE)

BUSH: Recent comments by Senator Lott do not reflect the spirit of our country. He has apologized, and rightly so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: All right. Now, we have set the stage. Now we heard from the president once again.

John, you were saying Ari Fleischer, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer making comments today. Please continue your thought.

KARL: Well, you will notice first that in those comments the president did not say whether or not he accepted Trent Lott's apology. I pointed that out to the Trent Lott's spokesperson, he said, yes, but Ari Fleischer, the president's spokesman has said now for two days running that the president accepts Trent Lott's apology.

But the president himself was silent on the point, simply saying that Senator Lott has apologized, and rightly so.

PHILLIPS: All right, Jon Karl from D.C., thanks so much. No doubt we will talk about this throughout the day. Let's head to the White House now, John King with reaction from there.

John, what is the understanding? Is the president accepting this apology or not?

JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the president is saying through aides privately at the White House that he will not get involved, publicly anyway, in the debate over whether Senator Lott should stay in his job or not. We are told that the president did have top aides a heads up that he would make the statement. Mr. Bush was in an audience in Philadelphia, where he knew there would be a predominantly African-American mayor on hand, including the mayor, John Street, with whom the president has tried to build close relations. This is a president, if you flash back a little in history, who thought he would do fairly well among African- Americans in the 2000 presidential campaign. He received only 9 percent of the vote. That has burned this president. He wants to do better among African-Americans. He did do better as Texas governor among African-Americans.

The president told top aides he knew that he had to speak out about the issue, about Senator Lott's comments, if he was to have any credibility in reaching out for African-American support politically for the initiatives like the faith-based initiative and when he seeks re-election two years down the road.

The president felt strongly, aides say, that he had to rebuke Senator Lott's comments. The White House is saying that the senator has apologized and the president does not believe he should be forced to resign his leadership position, but the White House also says the president has no intention of getting into the daily tug-of-war, hourly tug-of-war here in Washington about that controversy, about Senator Lott's standing in the Senate. They say the president simply wanted to say that he thought the remarks were wrong, and that he wanted to rebuke them, because of any comments about promoting segregation -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: John, what are the options then? Would it have to be a resignation letter? Would it have to be pressure from Congress, the Senate? What could happen next?

KING: White House aides say that that is up to Senator Lott and that is up to Senate Republicans who would have to support him. They say privately here that people make mistakes, and that Senator Lott has apologized, and that it is up to Senator Lott to decide how to go forward from here. They say that is not a debate for the president to be involved in, but the president wanted to rebuke substance of the remarks, and they did give Senator Lott's office a heads up, because they did understand that as president did give this very strong public rebuke that it was going to prolong the story, if you will, and add to the controversy here in Washington, but they insist that is not the president's concern, that he felt the need as president to rebuke the remarks, that he does not want to get involved in the daily or hourly discussion about Senator Lott's own future.

PHILLIPS: John King from the White House, thanks, John.

Let's take it now to our political analyst Bill Schneider to talk more about this. He's live from Washington.

Bill, race relations, I mean, a very volatile issue, an important issue, a sensitive issue. What do you think is going to happen? What's going to be the fallout?

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Look, this was a very harsh rebuke by the president of the United States, both in the words and in the tone. Listen to what the president said, we just heard it, "recent comments by Senator Lott do not reflect the spirit of our country," and he got a tremendous response interest what was in fact a heavily African-American audience. That indicates to me clearly that Senator Lott has lost the confidence of the president. When the president says that about a Republican senator, that is a very harsh judgment, indeed.

The president did not go further and call for any action. He said, he's apologized and rightly so. It really is up to Senator Lott and his colleagues. His colleague have to ask themselves. If we have a leader who does not have the confidence of the president of the United States, someone that he has made that statement about, can he continue to work with the president, and can he continue to be our leader?

PHILLIPS: Representatives from the NAACP say no, and of course they've come out and been very vocal about that. Let's listen to some sound and talk about it, Bill.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Senator Lott is from the old school, where you pull off the sheets and put on the two-piece suits.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Hits you in the heart there.

SCHNEIDER: That's right. That was referring to, you know -- the old school. When you know, when the Jim Crow system was invented, there's a great historian, C. Van Woodward wrote a book called "The Strange Career of Jim Crow," pointing out that it was the establishment of Southern politics that embraced white supremacy as a way to stay in power, and what this woman was saying is that she's accusing Senator Lott of doing the same thing, embracing racism as a way to stay in power. That's a very harsh judgment, but a lot of African-Americans may feel that way, and some conservatives and Republicans, Jack Kemp, William Bennett have both spoken out. In fact, they both said, that if he does not give an adequate explanation of the remarks, not simply that they were thoughtless and inadvertent, but repudiate racism, then he should step aside.

PHILLIPS: Political analyst Bill Schneider. Thanks, Bill.

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 December 12, 2002 - 13:15   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: We'll go to Jonathan Karl now in our D.C. bureau. He just got off the phone with Trent Lott's office.
John, what did they have to say?

JONATHAN KARL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, I just spoke with the press secretary for Trent Lott after these very critical -- which hopefully, we will play in a minute -- these very critical comments the president made about what Trent Lott had said. Lott's statement was very short, but to the point. Senator Lott agreed with President Bush that his words were wrong, he repudiates segregation, and it is immoral.

Now, this comes as Lott has already been under an enormous amount of pressure from -- internally, quietly, not publicly, but from Republicans on Capitol Hill, who are upset not only with his original comments, but the fact that he took so long to apologize for them. Many of them privately found his apology unacceptable.

As a matter of fact, some of the moderate Republicans, some of the Republicans that you would look to get response have said nothing about Trent Lott, have neither supported him nor come out and criticized him. That includes Elizabeth Dole, who we have been trying for two days to get a statement out of. She has said nothing about this. Jim Talent, the new Republican from Missouri, has said nothing this yet. I'm told that he is coming out with a statement now that the president has said what he has said. And Olympia Snowe, really one of the conscience of the moderate Republicans in the Senate, has said nothing about what Trent Lott has said, neither criticizing him or pointedly defending him, saying that she accepts his apology. We will be waiting to hear from those senators and others who are quiet.

Right now, most of the pressure has been coming from the other side, from Democrats, including two Democrats in the Senate, who said Lott should resign, step down as majority leader. Now in talking to Trent Lott's spokesperson, he also pointed out that the president's spokesman, Ari Fleischer, the press secretary for the White House...

PHILLIPS: Jon, just as you say that, I understand that we have the sound from the president. We'll roll it, and we'll talk again. Hold on.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Any suggestion that the segregated past was acceptable, or positive is offensive and it is wrong. (APPLAUSE)

BUSH: Recent comments by Senator Lott do not reflect the spirit of our country. He has apologized, and rightly so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: All right. Now, we have set the stage. Now we heard from the president once again.

John, you were saying Ari Fleischer, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer making comments today. Please continue your thought.

KARL: Well, you will notice first that in those comments the president did not say whether or not he accepted Trent Lott's apology. I pointed that out to the Trent Lott's spokesperson, he said, yes, but Ari Fleischer, the president's spokesman has said now for two days running that the president accepts Trent Lott's apology.

But the president himself was silent on the point, simply saying that Senator Lott has apologized, and rightly so.

PHILLIPS: All right, Jon Karl from D.C., thanks so much. No doubt we will talk about this throughout the day. Let's head to the White House now, John King with reaction from there.

John, what is the understanding? Is the president accepting this apology or not?

JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the president is saying through aides privately at the White House that he will not get involved, publicly anyway, in the debate over whether Senator Lott should stay in his job or not. We are told that the president did have top aides a heads up that he would make the statement. Mr. Bush was in an audience in Philadelphia, where he knew there would be a predominantly African-American mayor on hand, including the mayor, John Street, with whom the president has tried to build close relations. This is a president, if you flash back a little in history, who thought he would do fairly well among African- Americans in the 2000 presidential campaign. He received only 9 percent of the vote. That has burned this president. He wants to do better among African-Americans. He did do better as Texas governor among African-Americans.

The president told top aides he knew that he had to speak out about the issue, about Senator Lott's comments, if he was to have any credibility in reaching out for African-American support politically for the initiatives like the faith-based initiative and when he seeks re-election two years down the road.

The president felt strongly, aides say, that he had to rebuke Senator Lott's comments. The White House is saying that the senator has apologized and the president does not believe he should be forced to resign his leadership position, but the White House also says the president has no intention of getting into the daily tug-of-war, hourly tug-of-war here in Washington about that controversy, about Senator Lott's standing in the Senate. They say the president simply wanted to say that he thought the remarks were wrong, and that he wanted to rebuke them, because of any comments about promoting segregation -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: John, what are the options then? Would it have to be a resignation letter? Would it have to be pressure from Congress, the Senate? What could happen next?

KING: White House aides say that that is up to Senator Lott and that is up to Senate Republicans who would have to support him. They say privately here that people make mistakes, and that Senator Lott has apologized, and that it is up to Senator Lott to decide how to go forward from here. They say that is not a debate for the president to be involved in, but the president wanted to rebuke substance of the remarks, and they did give Senator Lott's office a heads up, because they did understand that as president did give this very strong public rebuke that it was going to prolong the story, if you will, and add to the controversy here in Washington, but they insist that is not the president's concern, that he felt the need as president to rebuke the remarks, that he does not want to get involved in the daily or hourly discussion about Senator Lott's own future.

PHILLIPS: John King from the White House, thanks, John.

Let's take it now to our political analyst Bill Schneider to talk more about this. He's live from Washington.

Bill, race relations, I mean, a very volatile issue, an important issue, a sensitive issue. What do you think is going to happen? What's going to be the fallout?

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Look, this was a very harsh rebuke by the president of the United States, both in the words and in the tone. Listen to what the president said, we just heard it, "recent comments by Senator Lott do not reflect the spirit of our country," and he got a tremendous response interest what was in fact a heavily African-American audience. That indicates to me clearly that Senator Lott has lost the confidence of the president. When the president says that about a Republican senator, that is a very harsh judgment, indeed.

The president did not go further and call for any action. He said, he's apologized and rightly so. It really is up to Senator Lott and his colleagues. His colleague have to ask themselves. If we have a leader who does not have the confidence of the president of the United States, someone that he has made that statement about, can he continue to work with the president, and can he continue to be our leader?

PHILLIPS: Representatives from the NAACP say no, and of course they've come out and been very vocal about that. Let's listen to some sound and talk about it, Bill.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Senator Lott is from the old school, where you pull off the sheets and put on the two-piece suits.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Hits you in the heart there.

SCHNEIDER: That's right. That was referring to, you know -- the old school. When you know, when the Jim Crow system was invented, there's a great historian, C. Van Woodward wrote a book called "The Strange Career of Jim Crow," pointing out that it was the establishment of Southern politics that embraced white supremacy as a way to stay in power, and what this woman was saying is that she's accusing Senator Lott of doing the same thing, embracing racism as a way to stay in power. That's a very harsh judgment, but a lot of African-Americans may feel that way, and some conservatives and Republicans, Jack Kemp, William Bennett have both spoken out. In fact, they both said, that if he does not give an adequate explanation of the remarks, not simply that they were thoughtless and inadvertent, but repudiate racism, then he should step aside.

PHILLIPS: Political analyst Bill Schneider. Thanks, Bill.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com