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President Bush in Asia; Democrats Reach Out to Arab-Americans
Aired October 17, 2003 - 15:03 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: We turn to the conflict in Iraq. Three U.S. military police were killed during an extended gunfight in the holy city of Karbala. Another was killed when a makeshift explosive device blew up in Baghdad.
Here in Washington, the House voted a short while ago to approve the president's $87 billion funding request for Iraq and Afghanistan. The Senate is expected to follow suit later today. Last night, the Senate voted to make $10 billion of the package a loan, against the wishes of the White House. The White House has rejected -- or, rather, the House of Representatives has rejected a similar measure.
Spain today pledged $300 million in financial aid to help rebuild Iraq over the next four years. That is a plus for President Bush, as his tour of Asia got off to something of a shaky start in Japan.
Our senior White House correspondent, John King, is traveling with the president.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): First stop, Tokyo. The first mission, trying to make amends for offending his host.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He's a good friend, a very strong leader.
KING: All smiles after dinner with Prime Minister Koizumi, but there were some ruffled feathers because of how the president's national security adviser described the visit a few days ago.
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: During had layover, the president will meet and dine with Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi, before departing Saturday morning for the Philippines.
KING: The Tokyo stop was just 17 hours, a good deal of that sleeping, but the Japanese would prefer to call it a thank-you visit, not a layover.
Japan is pledging an immediate $1.5 billion for Iraq's reconstruction and perhaps $5 billion over the next several years. The prime minister also is considering sending Japanese troops to Iraq, something that doesn't sit well with these demonstrators.
So, on Air Force One en route to Tokyo, a senior administration official tried to clarify things, saying: "When you go to Japan, it is never a layover. This is one of our best friends, one of our best allies." Mr. Bush himself put another close ally on the spot this week. Asked if he considered Australian Prime Minister John Howard his deputy sheriff in the war on terrorism, Mr. Bush said he considered Australia the sheriff in Southeast Asia.
(on camera): The White House says the president simply meant he considers Australia an equal partner, not in any way a deputy or second fiddle to the United States. But the remark didn't sit well with others in the region, who take offense at times to what they consider the Bush administration's cowboy rhetoric.
John King, CNN, Tokyo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WOODRUFF: Well, back here at home, most of the Democrats running for Mr. Bush's job are reaching out to Arab-American voters in Michigan today.
Our senior political correspondent, Candy Crowley, joins us now. Candy, why are these Democrats speaking out to the Arab-American conference?
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, it's Michigan. And they have a fairly early primary, February 7. It could, at that point, still be up for grabs. Michigan has caucuses, actually, not a primary.
And so it could be definitive in items of some of these campaigns. The second part is that the Arab-American organization gives these candidates a chance to go after what has been their No. 1 target, and that's Attorney General Ashcroft. He is the one that they say is to blame for the overreach of the Patriot Act. It's a big applause line. And they all use it out on the campaign trail.
And, of course, no group has been more affected by John Ashcroft and the Justice Department in the post-9/11 world than Arab-Americans, who say that some of their own have been put in jail without knowing what the charges are, that some of their relatives haven't been able to come back in. So there will be some real resonance in this group for one of the better applause lines for these '04 candidates.
WOODRUFF: But is there a significant Arab-American vote out there?
CROWLEY: Well, there is in Dearborn. There's something like 400,000 Arab-Americans in Dearborn. It's the largest concentration of Arab-Americans.
It's very hard to tell, as far as the exit polls go, as to who is Arab-American and who isn't. They are sort of scattered about in seven states in terms of large concentrations. And in close elections, perhaps you could make a case that any vote is important. But this is not a voting bloc. This is more problematic than the real numbers, because there are very real differences between those who have come into the country from Lebanon and those who have come into the country from Iraq or Iran.
And the war has sort of further deepened the divisions. So it's not exactly a voting bloc. And if it were a voting bloc, it's a minuscule one in terms of numbers.
WOODRUFF: Candy, if it's not a bloc, then how would you say the clout of Arab-Americans has evolved?
CROWLEY: Well, it really has.
And this -- to the Arab-Americans who are putting this on, this is a very, very big day for them. They have seven of these nine candidates. I mean, they recall the days, many of them, James Zogby one of them, who runs this group, that they, in fact, remember the days when Walter Mondale and, in fact, Mr. Dukakis turned back, one, an Arab-American endorsement and the other Arab-American contributions. Now here they are being courted by seven of the nine presidential candidates.
It's a huge day and they think a kind of coming-of-age day for Arab-American voters.
WOODRUFF: I'm sure that it can be seen that way.
All right, Candy, thank you very much. Appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
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Aired October 17, 2003 - 15:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: We turn to the conflict in Iraq. Three U.S. military police were killed during an extended gunfight in the holy city of Karbala. Another was killed when a makeshift explosive device blew up in Baghdad.
Here in Washington, the House voted a short while ago to approve the president's $87 billion funding request for Iraq and Afghanistan. The Senate is expected to follow suit later today. Last night, the Senate voted to make $10 billion of the package a loan, against the wishes of the White House. The White House has rejected -- or, rather, the House of Representatives has rejected a similar measure.
Spain today pledged $300 million in financial aid to help rebuild Iraq over the next four years. That is a plus for President Bush, as his tour of Asia got off to something of a shaky start in Japan.
Our senior White House correspondent, John King, is traveling with the president.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): First stop, Tokyo. The first mission, trying to make amends for offending his host.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He's a good friend, a very strong leader.
KING: All smiles after dinner with Prime Minister Koizumi, but there were some ruffled feathers because of how the president's national security adviser described the visit a few days ago.
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: During had layover, the president will meet and dine with Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi, before departing Saturday morning for the Philippines.
KING: The Tokyo stop was just 17 hours, a good deal of that sleeping, but the Japanese would prefer to call it a thank-you visit, not a layover.
Japan is pledging an immediate $1.5 billion for Iraq's reconstruction and perhaps $5 billion over the next several years. The prime minister also is considering sending Japanese troops to Iraq, something that doesn't sit well with these demonstrators.
So, on Air Force One en route to Tokyo, a senior administration official tried to clarify things, saying: "When you go to Japan, it is never a layover. This is one of our best friends, one of our best allies." Mr. Bush himself put another close ally on the spot this week. Asked if he considered Australian Prime Minister John Howard his deputy sheriff in the war on terrorism, Mr. Bush said he considered Australia the sheriff in Southeast Asia.
(on camera): The White House says the president simply meant he considers Australia an equal partner, not in any way a deputy or second fiddle to the United States. But the remark didn't sit well with others in the region, who take offense at times to what they consider the Bush administration's cowboy rhetoric.
John King, CNN, Tokyo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WOODRUFF: Well, back here at home, most of the Democrats running for Mr. Bush's job are reaching out to Arab-American voters in Michigan today.
Our senior political correspondent, Candy Crowley, joins us now. Candy, why are these Democrats speaking out to the Arab-American conference?
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, it's Michigan. And they have a fairly early primary, February 7. It could, at that point, still be up for grabs. Michigan has caucuses, actually, not a primary.
And so it could be definitive in items of some of these campaigns. The second part is that the Arab-American organization gives these candidates a chance to go after what has been their No. 1 target, and that's Attorney General Ashcroft. He is the one that they say is to blame for the overreach of the Patriot Act. It's a big applause line. And they all use it out on the campaign trail.
And, of course, no group has been more affected by John Ashcroft and the Justice Department in the post-9/11 world than Arab-Americans, who say that some of their own have been put in jail without knowing what the charges are, that some of their relatives haven't been able to come back in. So there will be some real resonance in this group for one of the better applause lines for these '04 candidates.
WOODRUFF: But is there a significant Arab-American vote out there?
CROWLEY: Well, there is in Dearborn. There's something like 400,000 Arab-Americans in Dearborn. It's the largest concentration of Arab-Americans.
It's very hard to tell, as far as the exit polls go, as to who is Arab-American and who isn't. They are sort of scattered about in seven states in terms of large concentrations. And in close elections, perhaps you could make a case that any vote is important. But this is not a voting bloc. This is more problematic than the real numbers, because there are very real differences between those who have come into the country from Lebanon and those who have come into the country from Iraq or Iran.
And the war has sort of further deepened the divisions. So it's not exactly a voting bloc. And if it were a voting bloc, it's a minuscule one in terms of numbers.
WOODRUFF: Candy, if it's not a bloc, then how would you say the clout of Arab-Americans has evolved?
CROWLEY: Well, it really has.
And this -- to the Arab-Americans who are putting this on, this is a very, very big day for them. They have seven of these nine candidates. I mean, they recall the days, many of them, James Zogby one of them, who runs this group, that they, in fact, remember the days when Walter Mondale and, in fact, Mr. Dukakis turned back, one, an Arab-American endorsement and the other Arab-American contributions. Now here they are being courted by seven of the nine presidential candidates.
It's a huge day and they think a kind of coming-of-age day for Arab-American voters.
WOODRUFF: I'm sure that it can be seen that way.
All right, Candy, thank you very much. Appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Americans>
