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American Morning
Condit's Conundrum Takes a Toll on Democrats
Aired July 09, 2001 - 11:25 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: Chandra Levy's disappearance could end up costing Congressman Gary Condit, even the Democrats, whether he is involved in this case or not. Let's bring in our CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider, who is in Washington.
Bill, good morning.
BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
KAGAN: Well, of course, as we have this conversation, we want to stress that we understand that the focus of this case is to find Chandra Levy and that it is a missing person's case and her welfare is the most important thing. But it is Washington and there is the political fallout from what seems to be a snowballing case for Congressman Condit.
SCHNEIDER: That's right. There's a lot of speculation about what could happen if he no longer represents his district. He says he doesn't have, has no intention of stepping down, but he's certainly a vulnerable congressman at this point. And what's interesting is he's a Democrat, but he's one of the most conservative Democrats in the country, outside the South, in the House of Representatives. And that means the district appears vulnerable to a Republican takeover.
And with the margin of the majority so small in this House of Representatives, Republicans have just -- all Democrats need is five seats, that there's a scramble after every single seat. So Republicans are looking hungrily at this district.
KAGAN: What does Congressman Condit need to do politically now? Do you think it would help him to come out and make a public statement?
SCHNEIDER: Well, I think he's behaved rather foolishly throughout this entire episode by not making a public statement. My guess is he didn't. He wanted to avoid the mistakes of Bill Clinton, whom he criticized during the impeachment story a couple of years ago.
KAGAN: But in some ways it seems like he's making the same mistakes.
SCHNEIDER: Well, in some ways he is, but what he tried to do was not make a public statement, because remember all the embarrassment over President Clinton coming out and saying, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman," and then later having to retract it. So Condit has been fairly cautious about not saying anything in public.
But that's just made things worse because there's a mystery here, a possible tragedy. A woman is missing. She's been missing for over two months and he appeared indifferent, unconcerned, and as if he were hiding something. And eventually he did let the story out that he had no personal relationship with this woman. He allowed his staff to report that story. He's reported also to have said the same thing to his colleagues. He never made a public statement, but that just meant people were more and more convinced he must be hiding something.
KAGAN: And this is grabbing interest not only here in the U.S., but across North America and also, as reported in "The Washington Post" this weekend, across the world, as well.
SCHNEIDER: That's right. Sally Quinn of "The Washington Post" said that she had spent time in Dublin and London and people were talking about it as if, she said, it was a local event. And I think there is fascination. Look, this is a story about human foibles, possibly a human tragedy, a missing person. People are fascinated by this. People in high places always create a lot of interest.
But I think in Europe it takes -- it has an additional dimension. They love to laugh at the United States, how unsophisticated we are, how we make a person's private life a major public issue. So they see this as a kind of echo of the impeachment story, and the congressman is, in a sense, trying to use that in his own defense.
His attorney was on CNN this weekend on the WOLF BLITZER REPORTS show, and he said Gary Condit is a public figure who believes that even a public figure is entitled to a private life. That's his defense and that's the reason that he has not been speaking out. But still, the fact that he's not been speaking out and hasn't been at the forefront of the effort to find this woman raises a lot of questions.
KAGAN: Questions that continue to mount instead of get answered, it seems. Bill Schneider in Washington, always a pleasure to have you and your perspective along. Good to see you.
You can follow the latest twists and turns in the Chandra Levy case and you can give your opinion on how the mystery is unfolding. You can go to our Web page at cnn.com, America Online keyword, CNN.
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