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Military Record Could be Key to Election

Aired February 10, 2004 - 14:38   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, ANCHOR: Let's talk more about the President Bush -- President Bush's military record, rather, with our own political analyst, Bill Schneider.
A lot happening today...

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right.

PHILLIPS: ... coming out of the White House and the Pentagon.

Let's talk about the Air National Guard. Is this the type of situation where Kerry is touting his medals and touting his military background. So now all of a sudden, the smearing campaign comes out; the skeletons come out? I mean looking for anything here?

SCHNEIDER: Well, Kerry certainly has a military record he can be proud of. But to start disparaging the president's record, I mean, he didn't do that. It was the chairman of the Democratic Party. And frankly, I think it was a mistake.

George Bush is president of the United States. Americans really don't want that sort of innuendo and smears against the president of the United States.

It all came out in 2000. It was in a "Boston Globe" article. The president answered it partly then, and more information has come out now.

This is a very risky thing to do about the commander in chief of the American armed forces.

PHILLIPS: Now the military, being -- serving in the military, is it a big issue now in this election because of 9/11, because of Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom? Is that why it's such a hot issue right now?

SCHNEIDER: National security credentials are absolutely crucial in this campaign, as they were during the Cold War.

Look, we elected people in the Cold War one after another, starting with JFK, who -- Dwight Eisenhower for that matter, who had had military experience. It was considered an essential qualification for office.

So much so that Lyndon Johnson actually went out of his way to sort of engineer a war record so that he could have it there to make his claim for the presidency. Then there was a ten-year period -- And I can date it exactly. The end of the Cold War was on December 25, Christmas Day, 1991. The Soviet Union collapsed. Until September 11, 2001, when we had terrorist attacks.

In that ten-year period, suddenly national security vanished from the agenda. And it was only in that period that we could have elected a Bill, Clinton who had no national security credentials, or for that matter, George W. Bush, whose national security experience wasn't yet proved.

They could have gotten elected then, because national security didn't weigh very much. Now it does. And it's a very crucial matter. And it's one of the things that John Kerry has going for him.

PHILLIPS: You're saying also something that John Kerry has going for him is that the men really like him. But I asked you do more men vote, do more women vote? You sort of laid out the numbers. There may be more women, but more men are voting.

SCHNEIDER: Yes. Well, you know, I talked to women voters in New Hampshire.

And when I asked them why they were voting for Kerry, a lot of them said, you know, when you go to a Kerry rally, he's surrounded by veterans. He's surrounded by firefighters. He was endorsed by the firefighter's union. Done a lot for volunteer firefighters.

And one woman said it's like going to a Chippendale's review. He's surrounded by all these hunky guys. But the woman explained, "But seriously, he looks like a Democrat who can keep us safe."

Security moms. That's very important in this day and age. And that's one of the main credentials that John Kerry has.

PHILLIPS: Security moms. You also learned about the security politics of NASCAR dads.

SCHNEIDER: Yes. That's right. NASCAR dads has become a kind of buzzword in this campaign. And frankly, when people thought it might be a race between George Bush and Howard Dean, they said NASCAR dads, they'll never even think about voting for Howard Dean.

But it doesn't look like it's going to be Howard Dean. It looks like it will be John Kerry. And John Kerry, as a decorated war veteran, a military hero, in this intensely patriotic constituency, not very political but very patriotic, I'm not sure you can say George Bush has that vote sewn up.

PHILLIPS: I know it's -- You're going to the next NASCAR race. Right?

SCHNEIDER: I'm hoping to next month. Take a look at those NASCAR dads.

The only thing I'm told is they don't like to talk about politics. When Bill Clinton went to a NASCAR race in 1992 and started to make a speech, he got booed. Not because of who he was, but because these guys said, "We want to see the race! We don't want to listen to politicians."

So I hope I can get them to talk about Bush and Kerry. Maybe after the race.

PHILLIPS: There you go. And bring your earplugs.

SCHNEIDER: Yes, exactly.

PHILLIPS: Thank you, 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 February 10, 2004 - 14:38   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, ANCHOR: Let's talk more about the President Bush -- President Bush's military record, rather, with our own political analyst, Bill Schneider.
A lot happening today...

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right.

PHILLIPS: ... coming out of the White House and the Pentagon.

Let's talk about the Air National Guard. Is this the type of situation where Kerry is touting his medals and touting his military background. So now all of a sudden, the smearing campaign comes out; the skeletons come out? I mean looking for anything here?

SCHNEIDER: Well, Kerry certainly has a military record he can be proud of. But to start disparaging the president's record, I mean, he didn't do that. It was the chairman of the Democratic Party. And frankly, I think it was a mistake.

George Bush is president of the United States. Americans really don't want that sort of innuendo and smears against the president of the United States.

It all came out in 2000. It was in a "Boston Globe" article. The president answered it partly then, and more information has come out now.

This is a very risky thing to do about the commander in chief of the American armed forces.

PHILLIPS: Now the military, being -- serving in the military, is it a big issue now in this election because of 9/11, because of Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom? Is that why it's such a hot issue right now?

SCHNEIDER: National security credentials are absolutely crucial in this campaign, as they were during the Cold War.

Look, we elected people in the Cold War one after another, starting with JFK, who -- Dwight Eisenhower for that matter, who had had military experience. It was considered an essential qualification for office.

So much so that Lyndon Johnson actually went out of his way to sort of engineer a war record so that he could have it there to make his claim for the presidency. Then there was a ten-year period -- And I can date it exactly. The end of the Cold War was on December 25, Christmas Day, 1991. The Soviet Union collapsed. Until September 11, 2001, when we had terrorist attacks.

In that ten-year period, suddenly national security vanished from the agenda. And it was only in that period that we could have elected a Bill, Clinton who had no national security credentials, or for that matter, George W. Bush, whose national security experience wasn't yet proved.

They could have gotten elected then, because national security didn't weigh very much. Now it does. And it's a very crucial matter. And it's one of the things that John Kerry has going for him.

PHILLIPS: You're saying also something that John Kerry has going for him is that the men really like him. But I asked you do more men vote, do more women vote? You sort of laid out the numbers. There may be more women, but more men are voting.

SCHNEIDER: Yes. Well, you know, I talked to women voters in New Hampshire.

And when I asked them why they were voting for Kerry, a lot of them said, you know, when you go to a Kerry rally, he's surrounded by veterans. He's surrounded by firefighters. He was endorsed by the firefighter's union. Done a lot for volunteer firefighters.

And one woman said it's like going to a Chippendale's review. He's surrounded by all these hunky guys. But the woman explained, "But seriously, he looks like a Democrat who can keep us safe."

Security moms. That's very important in this day and age. And that's one of the main credentials that John Kerry has.

PHILLIPS: Security moms. You also learned about the security politics of NASCAR dads.

SCHNEIDER: Yes. That's right. NASCAR dads has become a kind of buzzword in this campaign. And frankly, when people thought it might be a race between George Bush and Howard Dean, they said NASCAR dads, they'll never even think about voting for Howard Dean.

But it doesn't look like it's going to be Howard Dean. It looks like it will be John Kerry. And John Kerry, as a decorated war veteran, a military hero, in this intensely patriotic constituency, not very political but very patriotic, I'm not sure you can say George Bush has that vote sewn up.

PHILLIPS: I know it's -- You're going to the next NASCAR race. Right?

SCHNEIDER: I'm hoping to next month. Take a look at those NASCAR dads.

The only thing I'm told is they don't like to talk about politics. When Bill Clinton went to a NASCAR race in 1992 and started to make a speech, he got booed. Not because of who he was, but because these guys said, "We want to see the race! We don't want to listen to politicians."

So I hope I can get them to talk about Bush and Kerry. Maybe after the race.

PHILLIPS: There you go. And bring your earplugs.

SCHNEIDER: Yes, exactly.

PHILLIPS: Thank you, 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