Return to Transcripts main page

Live From...

Democratic Candidates Question Bush's Handling of Terrorism

Aired May 19, 2003 - 14:45   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.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The Democratic presidential candidates seemed to find their voices over the weekend. They criticized President Bush for his handling of the situation in Iraq, the war on terror, homeland security, and the U.S. economy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BOB GRAHAM (D), FLORIDA: We have let al Qaeda off the hook. We had them on the ropes, close to dismantlement. And then as we moved resources out of Afghanistan and Pakistan to fight a war in Iraq, we let them regenerate.

REP. RICHARD GEPHARDT (D), MISSOURI: ... are vulnerable to future attacks because this administration has not done its job and has not increased our ability to have homeland security.

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D), NORTH CAROLINA: When I am on a stage with George W. Bush in 2004, as I intend to be, we have a question for the American people. Are you better off than you were four years ago?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: All right. Sort of a similar message from all of those that we chose there to give you brief excerpts of.

Candy Crowley, our political correspondent, joining us now with a little more on this, a little bit of tweedle dee (ph) there, I think. It sort of seems like they're all reading the same talking points, Candy. Is that possibly a coincidence? Are they all glomming onto one issue here?

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're all politicians, and they're smart politicians, and they get it. Look, this came in the wake of the attack in Saudi Arabia, the Moroccan car bombings. So it was a hot subject on Saturday night. Then, too, Senator Graham, who you saw first from Florida, this has been his gig all along is to take the president on on the issue of homeland security and say, Look, we went after Iraq at the expense of not getting al Qaeda.

Clearly, they see a vulnerability here. It was a -- you know, used to be sort of a tenant of running in 2004 that, in fact, you wouldn't take the president on on terrorism or homeland security. They now see that a president with this high of a rating -- I think he's still in the 60 percentile rating -- you are going to have to take him on on his home turf as well as on other things, like the economy. O'BRIEN: It seems like it is a pretty risky move, but as you say, what choice do they have. I suppose, if that is, in fact, the strategy that might work for the Democrats, Howard Dean has probably got a lock on it because he was out there early and often on this issue.

CROWLEY: Well, but so were others, specifically on homeland security, which is separate apart from whether we should have gone on the war in Iraq. Howard Dean really got all the notice because he opposed the war in Iraq, where many of those -- at least the senators other than Graham -- had voted to give the president permission to go after Iraq.

So whether Dean can take that popularity and push it on into the Homeland Security remains to be seen. But, sure, they -- what they've decided is that this is a vulnerability. Now, you're right. It's hugely risky because what we don't know is how the American people feel about this. Are they going to look at an attack in Saudi Arabia or an attack in Morocco and see that as a vulnerability of the president's? I guess we are going to have to wait and see.

O'BRIEN: Well, and I guess the conventional wisdom is that the American people don't like to switch horses in the midst of a war, and if this war on terror continues, that leads you to the conclusion that the president has a pretty good, firm handle on reelection.

CROWLEY: Well, you know, one of the things -- I mean, it depends, really, on who Democrats end up nominating. If you take someone like, say, a Joe Lieberman, who has been, really, very supportive of the president on the issue of war against Iraq, specifically, whose main aim is to say, Look, there are some things I agree with the president on. Let's take those off the table. What about the economy? The Democrats would much rather talk about the economy. They think that's their strong point. But I think what you see here is that homeland security is a domestic issue to people. Are you safe? They really feel they do need to take this on in some respects, but they would much rather be talking about the economy.

O'BRIEN: So why not talk about the economy? Why not? If you keep drumming that point home, won't that work? Because isn't it pocketbook issues, after all, that really, really have traction with people?

CROWLEY: Sure. I'll have a really definitive answer to that come a year from November on what the issues are. But I think, yes, conventionally, it's always about the pocketbook, and they are talking about that, and they have talked about that.

But, again, this president is seen as a war president -- at least in the polling that we've seen so far. This is a president who was given very high marks for how he is attacking the war on terrorism and, indeed, for the prosecution of the war in Iraq. So they're going to have to take him on on that playing field, as well as on the field of the economy.

It's something they really can't afford to ignore, which is some advice that they got from former President Clinton when they really got their clocks cleaned in the midterms. Former President Clinton came out and said, Look, you've got to talk about foreign policy. You've got to look at your vision of foreign policy. Homeland security and terrorism are a part of that.

O'BRIEN: It is interesting that that advice would come from him when his motto was "It's the economy, stupid."

CROWLEY: Right, but the fact of the matter is that when you put Democrats up against Republicans in sort of a generic polling and you ask who do you trust more to deal with military issues, defense issues, foreign policy, it almost always comes out a Republican. Democrats need to get stronger there, and they know that, and I think this is part of it, but I think, really, why now? Why at this point? Well, it bounced off, again, both Morocco and Saudi Arabia, and it's certainly is something that Bob Graham has sort of stirred the pot on because he -- early on said here's what I'm running on. Homeland Security, I'm a member of the Intelligence Committee. We took our eye off the ball, as you heard him say there. So right now, it looks to them like very fertile territory.

O'BRIEN: All right. Candy Crowley, who is watching political territory for us as we get into the campaign in earnest, it seems, already. Thank you very much for dropping by.

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




Terrorism>


Aired May 19, 2003 - 14:45   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The Democratic presidential candidates seemed to find their voices over the weekend. They criticized President Bush for his handling of the situation in Iraq, the war on terror, homeland security, and the U.S. economy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BOB GRAHAM (D), FLORIDA: We have let al Qaeda off the hook. We had them on the ropes, close to dismantlement. And then as we moved resources out of Afghanistan and Pakistan to fight a war in Iraq, we let them regenerate.

REP. RICHARD GEPHARDT (D), MISSOURI: ... are vulnerable to future attacks because this administration has not done its job and has not increased our ability to have homeland security.

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D), NORTH CAROLINA: When I am on a stage with George W. Bush in 2004, as I intend to be, we have a question for the American people. Are you better off than you were four years ago?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: All right. Sort of a similar message from all of those that we chose there to give you brief excerpts of.

Candy Crowley, our political correspondent, joining us now with a little more on this, a little bit of tweedle dee (ph) there, I think. It sort of seems like they're all reading the same talking points, Candy. Is that possibly a coincidence? Are they all glomming onto one issue here?

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're all politicians, and they're smart politicians, and they get it. Look, this came in the wake of the attack in Saudi Arabia, the Moroccan car bombings. So it was a hot subject on Saturday night. Then, too, Senator Graham, who you saw first from Florida, this has been his gig all along is to take the president on on the issue of homeland security and say, Look, we went after Iraq at the expense of not getting al Qaeda.

Clearly, they see a vulnerability here. It was a -- you know, used to be sort of a tenant of running in 2004 that, in fact, you wouldn't take the president on on terrorism or homeland security. They now see that a president with this high of a rating -- I think he's still in the 60 percentile rating -- you are going to have to take him on on his home turf as well as on other things, like the economy. O'BRIEN: It seems like it is a pretty risky move, but as you say, what choice do they have. I suppose, if that is, in fact, the strategy that might work for the Democrats, Howard Dean has probably got a lock on it because he was out there early and often on this issue.

CROWLEY: Well, but so were others, specifically on homeland security, which is separate apart from whether we should have gone on the war in Iraq. Howard Dean really got all the notice because he opposed the war in Iraq, where many of those -- at least the senators other than Graham -- had voted to give the president permission to go after Iraq.

So whether Dean can take that popularity and push it on into the Homeland Security remains to be seen. But, sure, they -- what they've decided is that this is a vulnerability. Now, you're right. It's hugely risky because what we don't know is how the American people feel about this. Are they going to look at an attack in Saudi Arabia or an attack in Morocco and see that as a vulnerability of the president's? I guess we are going to have to wait and see.

O'BRIEN: Well, and I guess the conventional wisdom is that the American people don't like to switch horses in the midst of a war, and if this war on terror continues, that leads you to the conclusion that the president has a pretty good, firm handle on reelection.

CROWLEY: Well, you know, one of the things -- I mean, it depends, really, on who Democrats end up nominating. If you take someone like, say, a Joe Lieberman, who has been, really, very supportive of the president on the issue of war against Iraq, specifically, whose main aim is to say, Look, there are some things I agree with the president on. Let's take those off the table. What about the economy? The Democrats would much rather talk about the economy. They think that's their strong point. But I think what you see here is that homeland security is a domestic issue to people. Are you safe? They really feel they do need to take this on in some respects, but they would much rather be talking about the economy.

O'BRIEN: So why not talk about the economy? Why not? If you keep drumming that point home, won't that work? Because isn't it pocketbook issues, after all, that really, really have traction with people?

CROWLEY: Sure. I'll have a really definitive answer to that come a year from November on what the issues are. But I think, yes, conventionally, it's always about the pocketbook, and they are talking about that, and they have talked about that.

But, again, this president is seen as a war president -- at least in the polling that we've seen so far. This is a president who was given very high marks for how he is attacking the war on terrorism and, indeed, for the prosecution of the war in Iraq. So they're going to have to take him on on that playing field, as well as on the field of the economy.

It's something they really can't afford to ignore, which is some advice that they got from former President Clinton when they really got their clocks cleaned in the midterms. Former President Clinton came out and said, Look, you've got to talk about foreign policy. You've got to look at your vision of foreign policy. Homeland security and terrorism are a part of that.

O'BRIEN: It is interesting that that advice would come from him when his motto was "It's the economy, stupid."

CROWLEY: Right, but the fact of the matter is that when you put Democrats up against Republicans in sort of a generic polling and you ask who do you trust more to deal with military issues, defense issues, foreign policy, it almost always comes out a Republican. Democrats need to get stronger there, and they know that, and I think this is part of it, but I think, really, why now? Why at this point? Well, it bounced off, again, both Morocco and Saudi Arabia, and it's certainly is something that Bob Graham has sort of stirred the pot on because he -- early on said here's what I'm running on. Homeland Security, I'm a member of the Intelligence Committee. We took our eye off the ball, as you heard him say there. So right now, it looks to them like very fertile territory.

O'BRIEN: All right. Candy Crowley, who is watching political territory for us as we get into the campaign in earnest, it seems, already. Thank you very much for dropping by.

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




Terrorism>