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Tampa Bay Bucs Web Site Spoofs Bush, Weapons of Mass Destruction

Aired August 27, 2003 - 15:40   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: Now, political football. President Nixon submitted a play to a Super Bowl team and his successor, Gerald Ford, was an all-American center.
Now there's this, the home page of NFL's Tampa Bay Bucks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED VOICE ACTOR: Sir, you're holding in your hands photographic evidence of weapons of mass destruction.

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Anyone offended? Well, a team spokesperson says the Buccaneers haven't gotten any complaints. But just in case, the spokesperson says -- quote -- "we regret if anyone might be upset." That certainly was not our intention.

Joining us now to chew this over, I guess, a bit, political commentator Martin Lewis. He's joining us now live from Los Angeles.

OK, Martin, what do you think? Is it insensitive?

MARTIN LEWIS, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, insensitive -- well, I think what is insensitive is that this president lied to 290 million American people about why we were going to war. Nearly 300 brave American soldiers have died so far and the lie was that there were weapons of mass destruction. We haven't found any. It turned out to be a weapon of mass distraction. This president didn't want anyone paying attention to how he was decimating the American economy. I think that's a joke. America has become a laughing stock around the world because we -- our president literally lied.

And it's strange, really, in this country that we had a president who cheated on his wife and he got impeached for it. Here we've got a guy who's cheated on 290 million Americans and not much has been happening. Bravo to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Bravo to them.

PHILLIPS: Oh, so you think this is not a bad thing. You think it's OK?

LEWIS: I think it's extremely good and it shows up for a complete laughing stock that George Bush has made this country. It's time for -- you know what? George Bush has been cut so much slack. The American people are very decent people. After 9/11 they said, Look, the guy he said is a couple of tacos short of a combo plate, but at least he's trying his best. So everyone rallied around him. But he's turned out to be deceptive. He's used the fact that everyone rallies around the flag in a time of crisis and he lied to us. He lied on something serious.

PHILLIPS: All right.

LEWIS: Not about an affair. He lied about something serious.

PHILLIPS: Let's get back to this Web site, OK? And the weapons of mass destruction. You know, and it opens up and all of a sudden, the Tampa Bay Buccaneer players come out, you know, as the weapons of mass destruction. When do political parodies go too far, though? I mean, Martin, come on. You know, weapons of mass destruction killed hundreds and hundreds of Kurds and it could have been a massive threat to thousands more people.

LEWIS: Well, the only -- but the reality is the most strong thing they found there, the masochists that took place there which nobody, we have to remember, the massacres that took place during the ages were a time when the Reagan and George Bush Sr. governments were actually supporting the Iraqis. We have to remember that. Nobody makes light of those weapons of mass destruction. But the British prime minister, Tony Blair, is imminently likely to lose his job because they just weren't there any more. So they may have been there at one time, but Saddam Hussein had got rid of them and he was bragging.

The most dangerous thing they found is about 500 canisters of mosquito repellent, which might be dangerous for mosquitoes. It's not going to damage -- there's no danger to America, whatsoever. You know that.

PHILLIPS: You're a political commentator. Would you ever make fun of weapons of mass destruction?

LEWIS: It's not a matter of making fun of weapons of mass destruction, it's making a satirical jab and they obviously want -- there's much more danger -- I wouldn't want to be confronted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on a dark night. Those guys look to me a lot more dangerous than anything we found over the entirety of Iraq.

Look how long we have been in Iraq. What have we found? Nothing. We have, however, found that nearly 300 brave Americans have lost their lives. Don't you think that that's one -- something that the American public are upset about? I believe so.

And so the Buccaneers are just using a little bit of satire. Of course, the Republicans could dish the satire. We got a lot of jokes about Bill Clinton, who I seem to remember was actually a very successful president. But they cannot take a joke or a satirical dig at themselves. It shows how thin-skinned they are, doesn't it? PHILLIPS: Oh, Martin. OK, we got someone else on the phone here to play in on this. James Hirsen joins us now on the phone from Anaheim. James, I'm sorry we were not able to get the technical connection so we could see you, but we can hear you. I don't know if you've heard what Martin had to say. But what do you think about this Web site and this, I guess, political parity, if you will.

JAMES HIRSEN, "TALES FROM THE LEFT COAST": Well, I did hear what Martin had to say, Kyra, and he proves the point of how people can take something that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers intended as sort of innocent promotion and in a comedic fashion, and turn it into some leftist propaganda, at a time when we're about to celebrate the anniversary of 9/11, at a time we have young men and women in uniform, brave people, volunteers risking their lives-- and this is a very controversial subject and you see this Web site goes out across the world.

This is the Super Bowl champion we're talking about. The amount of people that see the Super Bowl is just a vast audience and people from all over the world are tuning into this Web site and left wing zealots like Martin all over the world use it for exactly the kind of, what I have to say, is just horribly irresponsible rhetoric at a time of war.

Can you imagine this kind of rhetoric that Martin has and this kind of promotion occurring in the time after Pearl Harbor? This is an abomination. I think the Tampa Bay Buccaneers would be well suited to take it down. This is unsportsmanlike conduct on behalf of them.

PHILLIPS: Martin, James brings up an interesting point. If you do go back to 9/11 -- I mean, political humorists, cartoonists, late night talk show hosts -- I mean, there were no political parodies going on at that point.

LEWIS: Absolutely, because we rally around -- a nation rallies around the leaders at that time, even if they don't approve of them. We have to remember that right before 9/11 George Bush's political approval was right in the toilet. It came back up because the American people are decent and they supported their president at a tough time.

However, now, as the passage of time goes by and our very brave military is losing their lives over a war that seems to be a quagmire, that's not a leftwing zealot speaking. This is the opinion of decent, majority of Americans who are starting to question why they were lied to --and I just put it to you very simply. This isn't zealotry. We quite rightly -- I believe Bill Clinton should have been questioned about why he lied about sex. I thought it was inappropriate.

But when somebody lies about weapons of mass destruction and when he's sending people to a place where they can be killed, this is a man, who we know, went AWOL during the Vietnam War. Don't you think we have the right to at least ask him why he lied? We would accept him if he would just own up, fess up and say, Hey, I goosed it up a little bit because I needed the war to happen. But he won't do that. Don't you think that we should ask him? PHILLIPS: James, final thoughts.

HIRSEN: Kyra, this is a sports team and now a sports team's Web site gives Martin the opportunity to slander the president and over and over again call him a liar. He has not lied. This president is not a liar and this idea that there were no weapons of mass destruction. Bring Martin on and we'll serve him a nice heaping of grow when we bring out the evidence which will be coming out very soon about the weapons of mass destruction.

PHILLIPS: On a lighter not, are you a bucks fan, James?

HIRSEN: Actually, I am a Chicago Bears fan. And they were called the monsters of the midway, which I think is a more appropriate name for defense.

PHILLIPS Martin, you want to call your team before we wrap it up?

LEWIS: My team is the Henden (ph) soccer team, a much more manly game than this American football.

HIRSEN: I think the Stalinists would be more appropriate.

PHILLIPS: You two are out of control. Martin Lewis, James Hirsen, always a pleasure. Thanks, guys.

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





Destruction>


Aired August 27, 2003 - 15:40   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Now, political football. President Nixon submitted a play to a Super Bowl team and his successor, Gerald Ford, was an all-American center.
Now there's this, the home page of NFL's Tampa Bay Bucks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED VOICE ACTOR: Sir, you're holding in your hands photographic evidence of weapons of mass destruction.

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Anyone offended? Well, a team spokesperson says the Buccaneers haven't gotten any complaints. But just in case, the spokesperson says -- quote -- "we regret if anyone might be upset." That certainly was not our intention.

Joining us now to chew this over, I guess, a bit, political commentator Martin Lewis. He's joining us now live from Los Angeles.

OK, Martin, what do you think? Is it insensitive?

MARTIN LEWIS, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, insensitive -- well, I think what is insensitive is that this president lied to 290 million American people about why we were going to war. Nearly 300 brave American soldiers have died so far and the lie was that there were weapons of mass destruction. We haven't found any. It turned out to be a weapon of mass distraction. This president didn't want anyone paying attention to how he was decimating the American economy. I think that's a joke. America has become a laughing stock around the world because we -- our president literally lied.

And it's strange, really, in this country that we had a president who cheated on his wife and he got impeached for it. Here we've got a guy who's cheated on 290 million Americans and not much has been happening. Bravo to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Bravo to them.

PHILLIPS: Oh, so you think this is not a bad thing. You think it's OK?

LEWIS: I think it's extremely good and it shows up for a complete laughing stock that George Bush has made this country. It's time for -- you know what? George Bush has been cut so much slack. The American people are very decent people. After 9/11 they said, Look, the guy he said is a couple of tacos short of a combo plate, but at least he's trying his best. So everyone rallied around him. But he's turned out to be deceptive. He's used the fact that everyone rallies around the flag in a time of crisis and he lied to us. He lied on something serious.

PHILLIPS: All right.

LEWIS: Not about an affair. He lied about something serious.

PHILLIPS: Let's get back to this Web site, OK? And the weapons of mass destruction. You know, and it opens up and all of a sudden, the Tampa Bay Buccaneer players come out, you know, as the weapons of mass destruction. When do political parodies go too far, though? I mean, Martin, come on. You know, weapons of mass destruction killed hundreds and hundreds of Kurds and it could have been a massive threat to thousands more people.

LEWIS: Well, the only -- but the reality is the most strong thing they found there, the masochists that took place there which nobody, we have to remember, the massacres that took place during the ages were a time when the Reagan and George Bush Sr. governments were actually supporting the Iraqis. We have to remember that. Nobody makes light of those weapons of mass destruction. But the British prime minister, Tony Blair, is imminently likely to lose his job because they just weren't there any more. So they may have been there at one time, but Saddam Hussein had got rid of them and he was bragging.

The most dangerous thing they found is about 500 canisters of mosquito repellent, which might be dangerous for mosquitoes. It's not going to damage -- there's no danger to America, whatsoever. You know that.

PHILLIPS: You're a political commentator. Would you ever make fun of weapons of mass destruction?

LEWIS: It's not a matter of making fun of weapons of mass destruction, it's making a satirical jab and they obviously want -- there's much more danger -- I wouldn't want to be confronted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on a dark night. Those guys look to me a lot more dangerous than anything we found over the entirety of Iraq.

Look how long we have been in Iraq. What have we found? Nothing. We have, however, found that nearly 300 brave Americans have lost their lives. Don't you think that that's one -- something that the American public are upset about? I believe so.

And so the Buccaneers are just using a little bit of satire. Of course, the Republicans could dish the satire. We got a lot of jokes about Bill Clinton, who I seem to remember was actually a very successful president. But they cannot take a joke or a satirical dig at themselves. It shows how thin-skinned they are, doesn't it? PHILLIPS: Oh, Martin. OK, we got someone else on the phone here to play in on this. James Hirsen joins us now on the phone from Anaheim. James, I'm sorry we were not able to get the technical connection so we could see you, but we can hear you. I don't know if you've heard what Martin had to say. But what do you think about this Web site and this, I guess, political parity, if you will.

JAMES HIRSEN, "TALES FROM THE LEFT COAST": Well, I did hear what Martin had to say, Kyra, and he proves the point of how people can take something that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers intended as sort of innocent promotion and in a comedic fashion, and turn it into some leftist propaganda, at a time when we're about to celebrate the anniversary of 9/11, at a time we have young men and women in uniform, brave people, volunteers risking their lives-- and this is a very controversial subject and you see this Web site goes out across the world.

This is the Super Bowl champion we're talking about. The amount of people that see the Super Bowl is just a vast audience and people from all over the world are tuning into this Web site and left wing zealots like Martin all over the world use it for exactly the kind of, what I have to say, is just horribly irresponsible rhetoric at a time of war.

Can you imagine this kind of rhetoric that Martin has and this kind of promotion occurring in the time after Pearl Harbor? This is an abomination. I think the Tampa Bay Buccaneers would be well suited to take it down. This is unsportsmanlike conduct on behalf of them.

PHILLIPS: Martin, James brings up an interesting point. If you do go back to 9/11 -- I mean, political humorists, cartoonists, late night talk show hosts -- I mean, there were no political parodies going on at that point.

LEWIS: Absolutely, because we rally around -- a nation rallies around the leaders at that time, even if they don't approve of them. We have to remember that right before 9/11 George Bush's political approval was right in the toilet. It came back up because the American people are decent and they supported their president at a tough time.

However, now, as the passage of time goes by and our very brave military is losing their lives over a war that seems to be a quagmire, that's not a leftwing zealot speaking. This is the opinion of decent, majority of Americans who are starting to question why they were lied to --and I just put it to you very simply. This isn't zealotry. We quite rightly -- I believe Bill Clinton should have been questioned about why he lied about sex. I thought it was inappropriate.

But when somebody lies about weapons of mass destruction and when he's sending people to a place where they can be killed, this is a man, who we know, went AWOL during the Vietnam War. Don't you think we have the right to at least ask him why he lied? We would accept him if he would just own up, fess up and say, Hey, I goosed it up a little bit because I needed the war to happen. But he won't do that. Don't you think that we should ask him? PHILLIPS: James, final thoughts.

HIRSEN: Kyra, this is a sports team and now a sports team's Web site gives Martin the opportunity to slander the president and over and over again call him a liar. He has not lied. This president is not a liar and this idea that there were no weapons of mass destruction. Bring Martin on and we'll serve him a nice heaping of grow when we bring out the evidence which will be coming out very soon about the weapons of mass destruction.

PHILLIPS: On a lighter not, are you a bucks fan, James?

HIRSEN: Actually, I am a Chicago Bears fan. And they were called the monsters of the midway, which I think is a more appropriate name for defense.

PHILLIPS Martin, you want to call your team before we wrap it up?

LEWIS: My team is the Henden (ph) soccer team, a much more manly game than this American football.

HIRSEN: I think the Stalinists would be more appropriate.

PHILLIPS: You two are out of control. Martin Lewis, James Hirsen, always a pleasure. Thanks, guys.

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





Destruction>