Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

'Gimme a Minute'

Aired February 07, 2003 - 08:33   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We want to get to our weekly Friday segment right now. We call it "Gimme a Minute," and we've invited three people to give us there perspectives on the events, the big events of the past week. Each one has one minute, broken up into 20- second chunks here to try and dazzle us.
Panelists this morning, Donna Brazile from the DNC, the Democratic National Committee.

Good morning, Donna.

Jonah Goldberg from National Review online. They both join us in D.C.

And here in New York City, where the snow comes down, Andy, how are you? Andy Borowitz of the of "The New Yorker."

Good morning to everyone.

Donna, in the interest of ladies first, chivalry still lives here. Topic number one, about 20 seconds ago right now, Colin Powell's presentation over and done. Can the U.S. close the deal regarding the Security Council?

DONNA BRAZILE, DNC: Well, his diplomatic dance, I believe, is just beginning. He's picking up partners as he goes along. So perhaps he will abandon the two steps and get down with the twist, but I think Colin Powell will be quite successful this week in getting more dance partners for the United States.

HEMMER: So bottom line is they get it then, right, is that what you're saying?

BRAZILE: Well, the music is being played all over the world, that the United States has the evidence, and I believe once the allies hear the evidence and they digest what Colin Powell has presented, they'll come on board.

HEMMER: All right, that's the pitch. Jonah, do you agree?

JONAH GOLDBERG, NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE: Pretty much. I think in some ways the real accomplishment for Powell was getting the Powell numbers in America to move in favor of war, and we've always known that the Security Council, including the profidious (ph) French, will go along with anything America does if America is serious about doing it. They all want to be on the bandwagon for the post-victory celebrations and cutting up the oil pie. So I think once it's clear that America is going to go ahead and do it, we're going to get a lot of people falling in line.

HEMMER: Got it, looks like two for two. Andy, you on board this one to make it three for three?

ANDY BOROWITZ, "THE NEW YORKER": Well, I'm undecided. But still one big development has already come out of the playing of that audiotape, which I've just heard that Saddam Hussein has taken away his officers' cell phone privileges. They had this Family and Friends program where they could talk about hiding weapons for an unlimited number of minutes, and that's in the past.

HEMMER: Like that.

Donna, topic number two right now, 2.2 trillion, "T" as in trillion, as in Texas, the budget proposed from the White House, going to run a huge deficit. Does the president get a pass on this one?

BRAZILE: Absolutely not. This is a budget that was written apparently by the producers of "Joe Millionaire." It will only go to the very wealthy and rich. The poor will suffer, middle class families.

A couple of years ago, the president said that we could have our cake and eat it, too. He said we can balance a budget, because we're like a family. Well, this will wreck the family if this budget goes through.

HEMMER: It's not clear just yet whether or not Joe is a millionaire or not, but eventually we may all know that.

Jonah, what do you think?

GOLDBERG: First of all, I think the budget is so boring, I'm losing consciousness. But second of all, look, the rich pay more in this than they do currently. And deficits really, historically don not matter both fiscally and politically. If the economy is good, voters don't care about the deficit. And if the economy is bad, voters don't care about the deficit, because they care about the economy being bad.

HEMMER: I wonder if voters care about Michael Jackson? Andy, what did you think about last night, and how do we make sense of this?

BOROWITZ: Michael Jackson -- well, of course the big bombshell there, of course, was that Michael Jackson admitted for the first time he's had plastic surgery, but France is not convinced; they want more time.

(LAUGHTER)

HEMMER: More time and more evidence.

BOROWITZ: Right.

HEMMER: Donna, what do you think? Michael Jackson, thriller or not? BRAZILE: Well, he's a thriller. He's also bad. And I tell you, we want the old Michael back , so we with teach him the ABCs and we can hear the 123s again. Where's the old Michael? He had so much makeup and plastic surgeon, we couldn't recognize him last night. And I want to know those parents who allow their children to sleep with Michael Jackson. That is outrageous.

HEMMER: Listen, all fair questions, and why Daryn Kagan was doing the moonwalk this morning, we are at not quite sure.

Jonah, quickly, weigh in on Michael Jackson, what are we to make?

GOLDBERG: I agree with Donna, you have to be dumber than a spellchecker at an M&M factory to let your kid go stay with that -- you know, he's turning literally to a creature out of Tolkien, and I think we're fascinated with monsters, and he's turning himself into one.

HEMMER: A monster, wow.

Andy, what's under the radar on your radar this past week?

BOROWITZ: Big undercovered story, I can't get enough of this Clara Harris trial in Houston. She's the woman who's been accused of running over her husband with a Mercedes. And she said this week that her husband was her best friend and the love of her life, which I guess is why she didn't run him over with a Hummer.

HEMMER: She'd have as to upgrade by a couple thousand dollars or so.

Donna, what's on your radar?

BRAZILE: Well, there was another stupid remark from Congress from North Carolina, Howard Coble, who suggested that the United States government was quite right to intern Japanese citizens during World War II. He's now apologizing to his colleagues on Capitol Hill; perhaps he should apologize to the American people as well.

HEMMER: Interesting.

Jonah, 10 seconds -- under your radar is what?

GOLBERG: Sure, in terms of defending the indefensible, we all know that Yasser Arafat is supposedly against suicide bombers, which is funny, because he just launched a new soccer tournament named after the suicide bombers who pulled off the Passover massacre, and all of the other teams are named after suicide bombers to celebrate their great victories against Israel. So much for being against suicide bombers.

HEMMER: Go figure, huh. Enjoy you weekend, all right, guys, stay out of the snow. Donna Brazile, Jonah Goldberg, Andy Borowitz.

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 7, 2003 - 08:33   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We want to get to our weekly Friday segment right now. We call it "Gimme a Minute," and we've invited three people to give us there perspectives on the events, the big events of the past week. Each one has one minute, broken up into 20- second chunks here to try and dazzle us.
Panelists this morning, Donna Brazile from the DNC, the Democratic National Committee.

Good morning, Donna.

Jonah Goldberg from National Review online. They both join us in D.C.

And here in New York City, where the snow comes down, Andy, how are you? Andy Borowitz of the of "The New Yorker."

Good morning to everyone.

Donna, in the interest of ladies first, chivalry still lives here. Topic number one, about 20 seconds ago right now, Colin Powell's presentation over and done. Can the U.S. close the deal regarding the Security Council?

DONNA BRAZILE, DNC: Well, his diplomatic dance, I believe, is just beginning. He's picking up partners as he goes along. So perhaps he will abandon the two steps and get down with the twist, but I think Colin Powell will be quite successful this week in getting more dance partners for the United States.

HEMMER: So bottom line is they get it then, right, is that what you're saying?

BRAZILE: Well, the music is being played all over the world, that the United States has the evidence, and I believe once the allies hear the evidence and they digest what Colin Powell has presented, they'll come on board.

HEMMER: All right, that's the pitch. Jonah, do you agree?

JONAH GOLDBERG, NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE: Pretty much. I think in some ways the real accomplishment for Powell was getting the Powell numbers in America to move in favor of war, and we've always known that the Security Council, including the profidious (ph) French, will go along with anything America does if America is serious about doing it. They all want to be on the bandwagon for the post-victory celebrations and cutting up the oil pie. So I think once it's clear that America is going to go ahead and do it, we're going to get a lot of people falling in line.

HEMMER: Got it, looks like two for two. Andy, you on board this one to make it three for three?

ANDY BOROWITZ, "THE NEW YORKER": Well, I'm undecided. But still one big development has already come out of the playing of that audiotape, which I've just heard that Saddam Hussein has taken away his officers' cell phone privileges. They had this Family and Friends program where they could talk about hiding weapons for an unlimited number of minutes, and that's in the past.

HEMMER: Like that.

Donna, topic number two right now, 2.2 trillion, "T" as in trillion, as in Texas, the budget proposed from the White House, going to run a huge deficit. Does the president get a pass on this one?

BRAZILE: Absolutely not. This is a budget that was written apparently by the producers of "Joe Millionaire." It will only go to the very wealthy and rich. The poor will suffer, middle class families.

A couple of years ago, the president said that we could have our cake and eat it, too. He said we can balance a budget, because we're like a family. Well, this will wreck the family if this budget goes through.

HEMMER: It's not clear just yet whether or not Joe is a millionaire or not, but eventually we may all know that.

Jonah, what do you think?

GOLDBERG: First of all, I think the budget is so boring, I'm losing consciousness. But second of all, look, the rich pay more in this than they do currently. And deficits really, historically don not matter both fiscally and politically. If the economy is good, voters don't care about the deficit. And if the economy is bad, voters don't care about the deficit, because they care about the economy being bad.

HEMMER: I wonder if voters care about Michael Jackson? Andy, what did you think about last night, and how do we make sense of this?

BOROWITZ: Michael Jackson -- well, of course the big bombshell there, of course, was that Michael Jackson admitted for the first time he's had plastic surgery, but France is not convinced; they want more time.

(LAUGHTER)

HEMMER: More time and more evidence.

BOROWITZ: Right.

HEMMER: Donna, what do you think? Michael Jackson, thriller or not? BRAZILE: Well, he's a thriller. He's also bad. And I tell you, we want the old Michael back , so we with teach him the ABCs and we can hear the 123s again. Where's the old Michael? He had so much makeup and plastic surgeon, we couldn't recognize him last night. And I want to know those parents who allow their children to sleep with Michael Jackson. That is outrageous.

HEMMER: Listen, all fair questions, and why Daryn Kagan was doing the moonwalk this morning, we are at not quite sure.

Jonah, quickly, weigh in on Michael Jackson, what are we to make?

GOLDBERG: I agree with Donna, you have to be dumber than a spellchecker at an M&M factory to let your kid go stay with that -- you know, he's turning literally to a creature out of Tolkien, and I think we're fascinated with monsters, and he's turning himself into one.

HEMMER: A monster, wow.

Andy, what's under the radar on your radar this past week?

BOROWITZ: Big undercovered story, I can't get enough of this Clara Harris trial in Houston. She's the woman who's been accused of running over her husband with a Mercedes. And she said this week that her husband was her best friend and the love of her life, which I guess is why she didn't run him over with a Hummer.

HEMMER: She'd have as to upgrade by a couple thousand dollars or so.

Donna, what's on your radar?

BRAZILE: Well, there was another stupid remark from Congress from North Carolina, Howard Coble, who suggested that the United States government was quite right to intern Japanese citizens during World War II. He's now apologizing to his colleagues on Capitol Hill; perhaps he should apologize to the American people as well.

HEMMER: Interesting.

Jonah, 10 seconds -- under your radar is what?

GOLBERG: Sure, in terms of defending the indefensible, we all know that Yasser Arafat is supposedly against suicide bombers, which is funny, because he just launched a new soccer tournament named after the suicide bombers who pulled off the Passover massacre, and all of the other teams are named after suicide bombers to celebrate their great victories against Israel. So much for being against suicide bombers.

HEMMER: Go figure, huh. Enjoy you weekend, all right, guys, stay out of the snow. Donna Brazile, Jonah Goldberg, Andy Borowitz.

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