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American Morning
'Gimme A Minute'
Aired February 14, 2003 - 08:36 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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: With so many important events on the table this morning, it's a good time for our weekly segment, "Gimme a Minute." We've got a fast-talking panel here -- they have to be -- ready to give their perspective on the big topics of the week. But they only get 60 seconds per topic, and we're going to hold them to it today with a clock.
Here with me now, Andy Borowitz of "The New Yorker" magazine -- he's usually pretty well-behaved -- Elaine Kamarck, a former advisor to President Clinton, and in Washington, David Frum, former speech writer for President Bush.
Good to see you all -- welcome.
DAVID FRUM, AUTHOR, "THE RIGHT MAN": Good to be here.
ANDY BOROWITZ, "THE NEW YORKER": Thank you.
ZAHN: Elaine, I'm going to start with you this morning because it is Valentine's Day after all -- ladies first.
The CIA director announced earlier this week that North Korea has a nuclear device that he fears could hit the West Coast of the United States. Do you think the Bush administration is focusing on the wrong end of the axis of evil?
ELAINE KAMARCK, FMR. PRES. CLINTON ADVISOR: I do, and so do a lot of people. Here's the mystery that I think a lot of Americans are confronting on this Valentine's Day. You've got an evil dictator in violation of international agreements who can hurt the United States. You've got another evil dictator in violation of international agreements who's trying to hurt the United States, but can't. And we're going to war against the second one and we're negotiating with the first one. I think to a lot of people, that doesn't make much sense.
ZAHN: David Frum, it's your turn.
FRUM: They say -- to those people, they say exactly the opposite if the situation were exactly opposite. Whatever President Bush would do would be wrong. The evil dictator we're dealing with first is the evil dictator most closely connected to the terrorism that struck the United States on September 11.
ZAHN: Andy Borowitz.
BOROWITZ: Well, you know, at first, I was a little worried or concerned that President Bush didn't seem concerned about missiles hitting the western United States, but then I remembered that in 2000, California went for Gore. So, Elaine, maybe, you can back me up on that.
ZAHN: You guys are very good. We just hit that minute mark. You made it.
We'll move on to our next question. Oh, ta-da! Bush administration officials continue to assert that Iraq is cooperating with al Qaeda. David Frum, your reaction to that. There was a lot of question of whether that's the truth or not.
FRUM: I think it's pretty clearly the truth, and I think it's something we have to face up to, and especially in this week, where the mood at the U.N. is to see how many obvious facts are we going to be able to ignore.
ZAHN: Elaine.
KAMARCK: I think there is some cooperation, but I also think that Saddam Hussein --- I man, that Osama bin Laden has used the excuse of the American intervention in Iraq to further his goals of getting rid of all of the secular leaders in the Islamic countries.
ZAHN: Andy Borowitz. How much are you buying the administration argument that there are firmly established linkages between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein?
BOROWITZ: Well, I'm not sure I buy it, but I will say this: That if Iraq is cooperating with al Qaeda, and their cooperation with al Qaeda is anything like their cooperation with the weapons inspectors, I don't think we have anything to worry about.
ZAHN: OK, let's move on to duct tape now. Is this the new Cipro, Elaine?
KAMARCK: I think the real story that we should be focusing on is not duct tape, which has become the butt of jokes and I can't wait to hear what Andy has to say about it. But I think the real story is that for 17 months, the administration has not managed to get money into the hands of policemen and firemen around the country, who are the first responders. And they really are our protection against terrorism, and that, I think is really a crying shame.
ZAHN: David Frum, you know what Mayor Bloomberg thinks of all of this? Check out this headline in the "Daily News" this morning: "Daffy Duct!" Are we overreacting?
FRUM: Well, duct tape is not the new Cipro. Cipro works. But I do -- and duct tape does not. But I do happen to disagree with Elaine. I think that it's just sad that some people would see that this moment of national crisis is one more moment to dust off a Democratic agenda of more spending, transfers to states and localities. The solution to terrorism is found where the terrorists live in the Middle East.
ZAHN: Andy Borowitz, you've got about 12 seconds.
BOROWITZ: Well, I have to take issue with this whole thing that duct tape doesn't work. Duct tape has always been very useful in bondage fetishes, and with Valentine's Day coming up, plenty to keep in mind.
ZAHN: Saved by the bell, Andy.
Elaine, final thought this morning on the under-covered story of the week.
KAMARCK: The under-covered story of the week has been the under- covered story of the last six months, which is the crisis in North Korea.
ZAHN: David.
FRUM: The under-covered story of the week is the alienation of the Iraqi National Congress, the opposition movement in Iraq that speaks for democratic Iraq that has been feeling very neglected by people in official Washington, and it has gone to the newspapers in the past week to complain that the people best represented in democratic Iraq are not being heard.
ZAHN: Boy, your partners, Andy, are so disciplined this morning. You get 30 seconds to tell us your favorite under-covered story of the week.
BOROWITZ: Well, I guess I'll just talk slowly then. But this is pretty exciting actually. Chiquita Bananas turned 100 this week. That's a good news story.
ZAHN: We saw that at the New York Stock Exchange yesterday.
BOROWITZ: That's right. Well and here's the great thing. To mark this milestone, Tom Ridge actually upgraded Chiquita Bananas from yellow to orange, which was great. So, it was a good news story in a way.
ZAHN: Oh, you are very bad, indeed, Andy Borowitz.
BOROWITZ: Oh, thank you.
ZAHN: Well, we thank you all for joining us and being such good (UNINTELLIGIBLE) this morning. Ta-da!
BOROWITZ: Wow!
ZAHN: You got under the radar with no time violations here.
BOROWITZ: Awesome.
ZAHN: Happy Valentine's Day to you all. And thank you all for your perspectives. David Frum, Elaine Kamarck and 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 14, 2003 - 08:36 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: With so many important events on the table this morning, it's a good time for our weekly segment, "Gimme a Minute." We've got a fast-talking panel here -- they have to be -- ready to give their perspective on the big topics of the week. But they only get 60 seconds per topic, and we're going to hold them to it today with a clock.
Here with me now, Andy Borowitz of "The New Yorker" magazine -- he's usually pretty well-behaved -- Elaine Kamarck, a former advisor to President Clinton, and in Washington, David Frum, former speech writer for President Bush.
Good to see you all -- welcome.
DAVID FRUM, AUTHOR, "THE RIGHT MAN": Good to be here.
ANDY BOROWITZ, "THE NEW YORKER": Thank you.
ZAHN: Elaine, I'm going to start with you this morning because it is Valentine's Day after all -- ladies first.
The CIA director announced earlier this week that North Korea has a nuclear device that he fears could hit the West Coast of the United States. Do you think the Bush administration is focusing on the wrong end of the axis of evil?
ELAINE KAMARCK, FMR. PRES. CLINTON ADVISOR: I do, and so do a lot of people. Here's the mystery that I think a lot of Americans are confronting on this Valentine's Day. You've got an evil dictator in violation of international agreements who can hurt the United States. You've got another evil dictator in violation of international agreements who's trying to hurt the United States, but can't. And we're going to war against the second one and we're negotiating with the first one. I think to a lot of people, that doesn't make much sense.
ZAHN: David Frum, it's your turn.
FRUM: They say -- to those people, they say exactly the opposite if the situation were exactly opposite. Whatever President Bush would do would be wrong. The evil dictator we're dealing with first is the evil dictator most closely connected to the terrorism that struck the United States on September 11.
ZAHN: Andy Borowitz.
BOROWITZ: Well, you know, at first, I was a little worried or concerned that President Bush didn't seem concerned about missiles hitting the western United States, but then I remembered that in 2000, California went for Gore. So, Elaine, maybe, you can back me up on that.
ZAHN: You guys are very good. We just hit that minute mark. You made it.
We'll move on to our next question. Oh, ta-da! Bush administration officials continue to assert that Iraq is cooperating with al Qaeda. David Frum, your reaction to that. There was a lot of question of whether that's the truth or not.
FRUM: I think it's pretty clearly the truth, and I think it's something we have to face up to, and especially in this week, where the mood at the U.N. is to see how many obvious facts are we going to be able to ignore.
ZAHN: Elaine.
KAMARCK: I think there is some cooperation, but I also think that Saddam Hussein --- I man, that Osama bin Laden has used the excuse of the American intervention in Iraq to further his goals of getting rid of all of the secular leaders in the Islamic countries.
ZAHN: Andy Borowitz. How much are you buying the administration argument that there are firmly established linkages between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein?
BOROWITZ: Well, I'm not sure I buy it, but I will say this: That if Iraq is cooperating with al Qaeda, and their cooperation with al Qaeda is anything like their cooperation with the weapons inspectors, I don't think we have anything to worry about.
ZAHN: OK, let's move on to duct tape now. Is this the new Cipro, Elaine?
KAMARCK: I think the real story that we should be focusing on is not duct tape, which has become the butt of jokes and I can't wait to hear what Andy has to say about it. But I think the real story is that for 17 months, the administration has not managed to get money into the hands of policemen and firemen around the country, who are the first responders. And they really are our protection against terrorism, and that, I think is really a crying shame.
ZAHN: David Frum, you know what Mayor Bloomberg thinks of all of this? Check out this headline in the "Daily News" this morning: "Daffy Duct!" Are we overreacting?
FRUM: Well, duct tape is not the new Cipro. Cipro works. But I do -- and duct tape does not. But I do happen to disagree with Elaine. I think that it's just sad that some people would see that this moment of national crisis is one more moment to dust off a Democratic agenda of more spending, transfers to states and localities. The solution to terrorism is found where the terrorists live in the Middle East.
ZAHN: Andy Borowitz, you've got about 12 seconds.
BOROWITZ: Well, I have to take issue with this whole thing that duct tape doesn't work. Duct tape has always been very useful in bondage fetishes, and with Valentine's Day coming up, plenty to keep in mind.
ZAHN: Saved by the bell, Andy.
Elaine, final thought this morning on the under-covered story of the week.
KAMARCK: The under-covered story of the week has been the under- covered story of the last six months, which is the crisis in North Korea.
ZAHN: David.
FRUM: The under-covered story of the week is the alienation of the Iraqi National Congress, the opposition movement in Iraq that speaks for democratic Iraq that has been feeling very neglected by people in official Washington, and it has gone to the newspapers in the past week to complain that the people best represented in democratic Iraq are not being heard.
ZAHN: Boy, your partners, Andy, are so disciplined this morning. You get 30 seconds to tell us your favorite under-covered story of the week.
BOROWITZ: Well, I guess I'll just talk slowly then. But this is pretty exciting actually. Chiquita Bananas turned 100 this week. That's a good news story.
ZAHN: We saw that at the New York Stock Exchange yesterday.
BOROWITZ: That's right. Well and here's the great thing. To mark this milestone, Tom Ridge actually upgraded Chiquita Bananas from yellow to orange, which was great. So, it was a good news story in a way.
ZAHN: Oh, you are very bad, indeed, Andy Borowitz.
BOROWITZ: Oh, thank you.
ZAHN: Well, we thank you all for joining us and being such good (UNINTELLIGIBLE) this morning. Ta-da!
BOROWITZ: Wow!
ZAHN: You got under the radar with no time violations here.
BOROWITZ: Awesome.
ZAHN: Happy Valentine's Day to you all. And thank you all for your perspectives. David Frum, Elaine Kamarck and 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.
