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Page Turners: Interview with Raymond Strother
Aired May 12, 2003 - 15:22 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.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Well, we're continuing now at 3:00 Eastern, our new "Page Turners" segment, where we're interviewing interesting authors.
Raymond Strother is one of the nation's first modern political consultants. He's a Democrat with strong views on individual politicians and fellow consultants. And none of those views is muted in his new memoir called "Falling Up: How a Redneck Help Invent Political Consultants.
I spoke with, Ray Strother, earlier and began by asking him what he learned in Louisiana, his home territory, in a place he called a fox hole.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RAYMOND STROTHER, AUTHOR: I learned there that politics could be dangerous, as well as fun. It was a lot of fun in Louisiana. But I understood that at one point, the temptations were so great that one could end up in jail rather than a political consultant. So Louisiana's a great temptation. It's a great party, a he (UNINTELLIGIBLE) political culture. It's also a place you have to be very careful, you end up before a grand jury, which I never did, thank god.
WOODRUFF: You -- it's pretty clear, from that book, Ray Strother, that you don't think there are many scruples left in political consulting.
For somebody who looks at politics from the outside, what should they know about political consulting and what really makes it work?
STROTHER: Win at any cost. You justify any action whatsoever for victory. In my business, you're never hired for a bad campaign, for a losing campaign. You're never hired if you lose by one vote. You're only hired if you win. If you lose too many campaigns, you're out of business. You're on the street in this business. It's a tough, tough, tough business. So what you set up is a rivalry between political consultants and they influence candidates to do things that probably shouldn't be done in a campaign.
WOODRUFF: You also, though, put a lot of emphasis on the games that are played an the subterfuge and the misperceptions out there there.
How much honesty is there really in American politics?
Depends on the candidate. There are some candidates who are incredibly honest and tell you right away, you make the commercials, I'll make the legislation. Lloyd Bentsen, Gary Hart, Paul Simon was one of those people. People you have to admire, because they won't allow you in any way to change their minds or go in any direction they don't think is proper for the country.
There are people like that make us proud. And so the governor of Georgia who was just defeated because of the Confederate flag, Roy Barnes, I took him in a great idea four years ago for a commercial that I'd worked out with Bill Hamilton, now the deceased, great pollster. And he said, I can't run this commercial. I said why, Roy? He said because I can't do this. When I get to the legislature I can't pass this. I'm not going to say anything I can't do. You don't run into many people like that.
WOODRUFF: Consultants, Republicans, Democrats, you're obviously a Democrat.
STROTHER: Obviously.
WOODRUFF: Is there a difference?
Is one crowd meaner than the other?
STROTHER: Well, of course, I'm partisan and I think the Republicans are much meaner than we are. I've seen some things done with anti-semitism, with calling people unpatriotic because -- Max Cleland was defeated, he was call unpatriotic, a guy missing two legs and an arm. And I saw Jill Docking in Kansas beaten by an anti- semitic campaign under cover on the telephones. So, yes, I think the Republicans, because they were the minority party for so long, they had to be very rough and tough and Lee Atwater sort set the norm for them. And people are sort of following the Atwater tradition right now in my opinion. My Republican friends will yell at me.
WOODRUFF: You're very open about the fact that you're a Democrat. You make it clear that you think the Bill Clinton White House was too influenced by political consulting.
STROTHER: I do.
WOODRUFF: What about the George W. Bush White House?
STROTHER: I think George W. Bush is the next step from Clinton. George W. Bush has Carl Rove in the next office. You have a seamless campaign. The presidential campaign never ended it. It just started over in the White House. It's a campaign headquarters. Bill Clinton did that. Clinton was the first consultant-dependent president, probably.
WOODRUFF: But is there anything wrong with that?
STROTHER: Yes, Yes. I don't think that people that can't -- that presidents should react daily to the changes in polls. I think they should have leadership, they have a plan and they shouldn't be influenced by someone who only looks at the next campaign. Look I don't know anything about government. Nothing.
I'm uncomfortable when I go in the halls of government. I know about campaigns. Why should I govern?
And if I'm inside the White House or inside the Senate office, what I'm doing is looking at the next campaign, I not looking at what's good for the country. I'm looking at what will win votes four years from now, two years, three years.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WOODRUFF: We'll be looking to give the Republicans equal time pretty soon. The author of this book, political consultant Ray Strother and it's titled "Falling Up: How a Redneck Helped Invent Political Consulting."
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 May 12, 2003 - 15:22 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Well, we're continuing now at 3:00 Eastern, our new "Page Turners" segment, where we're interviewing interesting authors.
Raymond Strother is one of the nation's first modern political consultants. He's a Democrat with strong views on individual politicians and fellow consultants. And none of those views is muted in his new memoir called "Falling Up: How a Redneck Help Invent Political Consultants.
I spoke with, Ray Strother, earlier and began by asking him what he learned in Louisiana, his home territory, in a place he called a fox hole.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RAYMOND STROTHER, AUTHOR: I learned there that politics could be dangerous, as well as fun. It was a lot of fun in Louisiana. But I understood that at one point, the temptations were so great that one could end up in jail rather than a political consultant. So Louisiana's a great temptation. It's a great party, a he (UNINTELLIGIBLE) political culture. It's also a place you have to be very careful, you end up before a grand jury, which I never did, thank god.
WOODRUFF: You -- it's pretty clear, from that book, Ray Strother, that you don't think there are many scruples left in political consulting.
For somebody who looks at politics from the outside, what should they know about political consulting and what really makes it work?
STROTHER: Win at any cost. You justify any action whatsoever for victory. In my business, you're never hired for a bad campaign, for a losing campaign. You're never hired if you lose by one vote. You're only hired if you win. If you lose too many campaigns, you're out of business. You're on the street in this business. It's a tough, tough, tough business. So what you set up is a rivalry between political consultants and they influence candidates to do things that probably shouldn't be done in a campaign.
WOODRUFF: You also, though, put a lot of emphasis on the games that are played an the subterfuge and the misperceptions out there there.
How much honesty is there really in American politics?
Depends on the candidate. There are some candidates who are incredibly honest and tell you right away, you make the commercials, I'll make the legislation. Lloyd Bentsen, Gary Hart, Paul Simon was one of those people. People you have to admire, because they won't allow you in any way to change their minds or go in any direction they don't think is proper for the country.
There are people like that make us proud. And so the governor of Georgia who was just defeated because of the Confederate flag, Roy Barnes, I took him in a great idea four years ago for a commercial that I'd worked out with Bill Hamilton, now the deceased, great pollster. And he said, I can't run this commercial. I said why, Roy? He said because I can't do this. When I get to the legislature I can't pass this. I'm not going to say anything I can't do. You don't run into many people like that.
WOODRUFF: Consultants, Republicans, Democrats, you're obviously a Democrat.
STROTHER: Obviously.
WOODRUFF: Is there a difference?
Is one crowd meaner than the other?
STROTHER: Well, of course, I'm partisan and I think the Republicans are much meaner than we are. I've seen some things done with anti-semitism, with calling people unpatriotic because -- Max Cleland was defeated, he was call unpatriotic, a guy missing two legs and an arm. And I saw Jill Docking in Kansas beaten by an anti- semitic campaign under cover on the telephones. So, yes, I think the Republicans, because they were the minority party for so long, they had to be very rough and tough and Lee Atwater sort set the norm for them. And people are sort of following the Atwater tradition right now in my opinion. My Republican friends will yell at me.
WOODRUFF: You're very open about the fact that you're a Democrat. You make it clear that you think the Bill Clinton White House was too influenced by political consulting.
STROTHER: I do.
WOODRUFF: What about the George W. Bush White House?
STROTHER: I think George W. Bush is the next step from Clinton. George W. Bush has Carl Rove in the next office. You have a seamless campaign. The presidential campaign never ended it. It just started over in the White House. It's a campaign headquarters. Bill Clinton did that. Clinton was the first consultant-dependent president, probably.
WOODRUFF: But is there anything wrong with that?
STROTHER: Yes, Yes. I don't think that people that can't -- that presidents should react daily to the changes in polls. I think they should have leadership, they have a plan and they shouldn't be influenced by someone who only looks at the next campaign. Look I don't know anything about government. Nothing.
I'm uncomfortable when I go in the halls of government. I know about campaigns. Why should I govern?
And if I'm inside the White House or inside the Senate office, what I'm doing is looking at the next campaign, I not looking at what's good for the country. I'm looking at what will win votes four years from now, two years, three years.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WOODRUFF: We'll be looking to give the Republicans equal time pretty soon. The author of this book, political consultant Ray Strother and it's titled "Falling Up: How a Redneck Helped Invent Political Consulting."
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
