Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live Today
Recall Debate Filled With Snipes; Interview With Darrell Issa
Aired September 25, 2003 - 11:01 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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: The recall turns into a free for all. Candidates in the California recall race head back to the campaign trail today after squaring off in a pivotal and lively debate. Our national correspondent Bob Franken joins us from Los Angeles with some of the memorable moments, and they were quite a few. Bob, good morning.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the entire event was memorable, and the word event probably applies here.
You know legal analysts hate this -- excuse me, political analysts hate this, but some feel that these debates, no matter how large-scale, are remembered for one sound byte. And here you had a circumstance where Arnold Schwarzenegger was appearing for the first time with the other four candidates who were considered the principal candidates.
And when it came to the issues, Schwarzenegger recited his positions on issues as he has before. So did Arianna Huffington, so did Cruz Bustamante, the Democratic Lieutenant Governor, as did Green Party candidate Peter Comejo, and of course the conservative Republican, Tom McClintock. No surprises.
But what will be remembered is the testy bickering between Arianna Huffington and Arnold Schwarzenegger which probably will be remembered in the context of Schwarzenegger being criticized by women's groups who are, for instance, very unhappy about his flippant remarks about "Terminator 3" and his character stuffing a female robot into the toilet.
So witness the sound byte I'm talking about.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARIANNA HUFFINGTON (I), CALIF. GOV. CANDIDATE: It's completely hypocritical of Arnold to come here...
(CROSSTALK)
HUFFINGTON: This is how you treat women, we know that. But not now.
STAN STATHAM, MODERATOR: That was a direct and personal attack on Mr. Schwarzenegger, so would you respond?
SCHWARZENEGGER: I would just like to say that I have just realized that a perfect part for you in "Terminator 4." That's it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRANKEN: Now Arnold Schwarzenegger says he is not planning to appear in any of the other debates. Of course, last night, the nonparticipant is Governor Gray Davis. His handlers are saying that what the debate did show is that maybe the recall isn't such a great idea -- Daryn.
KAGAN: All right, well I'll one man who did think it was a great idea, Congressman Darrell Issa. Bob, stand by for this. The congressman, the man who put up more than $1 million to gather signatures that set this whole thing in motion is with us. He stopped by our D.C. bureau. Congressman, good to have you with us.
REP. DARRELL ISSA (R), CALIFORNIA: Thanks for having me on.
And I was monitoring this as you were doing the previous segment. And what has impressed me was, in addition to Arnold Schwarzenegger showing his good humor with Arianna, who was just out of line, Gray Davis was the loser last night because Cruz Bustamante openly said that the problems of California were from Gray's overspending. And he distanced himself last night from that overspending, in spite of the fact that his solution is the same tax increases that Gray Davis is proposing.
KAGAN: Let's ask you something that going on within your party right now, Congressman. And that is the pressure on Tom McClintock, the state senator, to drop out of this race and put his support behind Arnold Schwarzenegger. Do you think that that's what Mr. McClintock needs to do at this time?
ISSA: All of the pressure that may be felt by Tom McClintock is individual. Tom has always said that he won't be a spoiler, that he understands if it's not a crowded field, he may not be able to win. He made a promise to me that he in fact wouldn't be a spoiler.
So the pressure is on Tom to decide whether that has become the reality, that he might be becoming a spoiler.
KAGAN: What do you think?
ISSA: Well, I'm going to be -- I've worked the debates. I've made my mind up. I'm coming back to California to announce my support for a candidate.
KAGAN: Do you want to tell us who that?
ISSA: I think it would be premature to pick one candidate or the other. But clearly, the debates were an opportunity for the voters to make that final look at the three major candidates. And I have no doubt that if we can narrow the field from two to one fiscal conservative, we, in fact, will have a new governor and a governor that will take California in a direction toward better jobs, better employment, exactly the opposite way we've been going for a number of years. KAGAN: That sounds to me like you've made your choice. You've kind of said it without saying it.
I need to ask you a personal question here. You're the guy that got this whole thing going. You're the guy that put up the money. And in the end, do you think the Republican Party kind of stuck it to you, that you're not the one that's leading the way to try to take the governor's office? Come on, this was your dream, Congressman.
ISSA: The amazing thing is, everybody wants to make it my dream.
KAGAN: Yes?
ISSA: The day that I came back from Syria and went to -- in front of the cameras, everybody expected me to announce I was running for Senate, because that was supposed to be my dream.
You know, my dream has already been realized. I've lived the California dream. I came there with nothing. My wife and I built a business. We grew it into an economic success. We've been financially well rewarded. And all we're really doing with the rest of our lives is trying to give back to California and America what we've gotten.
And, yes, I am living my California dream. If I can make California a better place because we've put a little bit of our time, effort and money into changing California from a failed direction toward one that I believe is going to be a success.
KAGAN: You certainly turned California into an interesting place -- Politically.
ISSA: I'm glad you've enjoyed it.
KAGAN: It's been interesting. We thank you for your time. Congressman Darrell Issa, thank you.
ISSA: You're very welcome.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Issa>
Aired September 25, 2003 - 11:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: The recall turns into a free for all. Candidates in the California recall race head back to the campaign trail today after squaring off in a pivotal and lively debate. Our national correspondent Bob Franken joins us from Los Angeles with some of the memorable moments, and they were quite a few. Bob, good morning.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the entire event was memorable, and the word event probably applies here.
You know legal analysts hate this -- excuse me, political analysts hate this, but some feel that these debates, no matter how large-scale, are remembered for one sound byte. And here you had a circumstance where Arnold Schwarzenegger was appearing for the first time with the other four candidates who were considered the principal candidates.
And when it came to the issues, Schwarzenegger recited his positions on issues as he has before. So did Arianna Huffington, so did Cruz Bustamante, the Democratic Lieutenant Governor, as did Green Party candidate Peter Comejo, and of course the conservative Republican, Tom McClintock. No surprises.
But what will be remembered is the testy bickering between Arianna Huffington and Arnold Schwarzenegger which probably will be remembered in the context of Schwarzenegger being criticized by women's groups who are, for instance, very unhappy about his flippant remarks about "Terminator 3" and his character stuffing a female robot into the toilet.
So witness the sound byte I'm talking about.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARIANNA HUFFINGTON (I), CALIF. GOV. CANDIDATE: It's completely hypocritical of Arnold to come here...
(CROSSTALK)
HUFFINGTON: This is how you treat women, we know that. But not now.
STAN STATHAM, MODERATOR: That was a direct and personal attack on Mr. Schwarzenegger, so would you respond?
SCHWARZENEGGER: I would just like to say that I have just realized that a perfect part for you in "Terminator 4." That's it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRANKEN: Now Arnold Schwarzenegger says he is not planning to appear in any of the other debates. Of course, last night, the nonparticipant is Governor Gray Davis. His handlers are saying that what the debate did show is that maybe the recall isn't such a great idea -- Daryn.
KAGAN: All right, well I'll one man who did think it was a great idea, Congressman Darrell Issa. Bob, stand by for this. The congressman, the man who put up more than $1 million to gather signatures that set this whole thing in motion is with us. He stopped by our D.C. bureau. Congressman, good to have you with us.
REP. DARRELL ISSA (R), CALIFORNIA: Thanks for having me on.
And I was monitoring this as you were doing the previous segment. And what has impressed me was, in addition to Arnold Schwarzenegger showing his good humor with Arianna, who was just out of line, Gray Davis was the loser last night because Cruz Bustamante openly said that the problems of California were from Gray's overspending. And he distanced himself last night from that overspending, in spite of the fact that his solution is the same tax increases that Gray Davis is proposing.
KAGAN: Let's ask you something that going on within your party right now, Congressman. And that is the pressure on Tom McClintock, the state senator, to drop out of this race and put his support behind Arnold Schwarzenegger. Do you think that that's what Mr. McClintock needs to do at this time?
ISSA: All of the pressure that may be felt by Tom McClintock is individual. Tom has always said that he won't be a spoiler, that he understands if it's not a crowded field, he may not be able to win. He made a promise to me that he in fact wouldn't be a spoiler.
So the pressure is on Tom to decide whether that has become the reality, that he might be becoming a spoiler.
KAGAN: What do you think?
ISSA: Well, I'm going to be -- I've worked the debates. I've made my mind up. I'm coming back to California to announce my support for a candidate.
KAGAN: Do you want to tell us who that?
ISSA: I think it would be premature to pick one candidate or the other. But clearly, the debates were an opportunity for the voters to make that final look at the three major candidates. And I have no doubt that if we can narrow the field from two to one fiscal conservative, we, in fact, will have a new governor and a governor that will take California in a direction toward better jobs, better employment, exactly the opposite way we've been going for a number of years. KAGAN: That sounds to me like you've made your choice. You've kind of said it without saying it.
I need to ask you a personal question here. You're the guy that got this whole thing going. You're the guy that put up the money. And in the end, do you think the Republican Party kind of stuck it to you, that you're not the one that's leading the way to try to take the governor's office? Come on, this was your dream, Congressman.
ISSA: The amazing thing is, everybody wants to make it my dream.
KAGAN: Yes?
ISSA: The day that I came back from Syria and went to -- in front of the cameras, everybody expected me to announce I was running for Senate, because that was supposed to be my dream.
You know, my dream has already been realized. I've lived the California dream. I came there with nothing. My wife and I built a business. We grew it into an economic success. We've been financially well rewarded. And all we're really doing with the rest of our lives is trying to give back to California and America what we've gotten.
And, yes, I am living my California dream. If I can make California a better place because we've put a little bit of our time, effort and money into changing California from a failed direction toward one that I believe is going to be a success.
KAGAN: You certainly turned California into an interesting place -- Politically.
ISSA: I'm glad you've enjoyed it.
KAGAN: It's been interesting. We thank you for your time. Congressman Darrell Issa, thank you.
ISSA: You're very welcome.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Issa>
