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American Morning

Tax Cut Group Quotes Kennedy

Aired May 12, 2003 - 09:42   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: When one U.S. president quotes another, it is nothing unusual, but when a conservative group that is pushing President Bush's tax cut plan compared it to President Kennedy's position on taxes, the fireworks started flying. Why is that? Well, that is why we have senior analyst Jeff Greenfield to talk about that -- good morning.
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST: Well, if you have ever played pickup baseball, you know the most powerful way to settle an argument is to say, Your own man says so. That is what the Club for Growth, a big supporter of tax cuts, did in a recent ad supporting the Bush plan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Kennedy cut income taxes and the economy soared. President Reagan cut taxes more, and created 15 million new jobs. President Bush knows tax cuts create jobs, and that helps balance the budget.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GREENFIELD: Now, some members of the Kennedy family objected to that ad, saying that President Kennedy's cut was completely different, was aimed at a different economy, but this is hardly the first time this sort of thing has happened. When Ronald Reagan was running for president back in 1980, he did exactly the same thing. In an ad he said that when President Kennedy was in office, he cut taxes, and Reagan grinned and said, If I'm elected, we're going to try that again. And in fact, Reagan, who was once a Democrat himself, enjoyed invoking Democratic icons. In his 1980 acceptance speech in Detroit he cited another Democratic hero.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RONALD REAGAN, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: "I propose to you, my friends, and through you, that government of all kinds, big and little, be made solvent and that the example be set by the president of the United States and his cabinet" -- end of quote. That was Franklin Delano Roosevelt's words as he accepted the Democratic nomination for president in 1932.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GREENFIELD: Now, there was a time when invoking Franklin Roosevelt's name at a Republican convention would have been a cue for boos. Thirty-five years after his death, it was a different story. And by the way, just a few days ago, President Bush himself invoked JFK in talking about Middle East peace.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Forty-six years ago, Senator John F. Kennedy came to this campus to address the graduating class of 1957. He spoke of the great problems of that time, including, he said, "untangling the strife-ridden, hate-ridden Middle East."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GREENFIELD: Now, what's the lesson here? If the other party's president has been out of power or dead long enough, then he is no longer a partisan figure, and also citing their hero for your idea is always a good way to get into your adversary's face. In fact, I would not be at all surprised to hear Democratic presidential candidates begin to quote not just Teddy Roosevelt, a Republican, about the evils of corporate power, but perhaps Ronald Reagan about the need for balanced budgets -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Want to get to the Democratic candidates in just a moment, but this has gotten more than just the attention of Democrats. Ted Kennedy, as you were mentioning, is demanding that this be taken off the air. Is that going to do anything?

GREENFIELD: No, you don't have a property right on the words of your late brother. It is just a way -- I think it's always an effective argument, if you can invoke somebody else's -- some other party's hero to say, Look, this is what they thought, it has some impact. It's a lot more effective than Bush quoting, say, his father.

But the idea that this is somehow a completely dishonest ad, I'm sorry. You get a lot of slack in politics, and you can argue from now until the cows come home -- that is a New York City expression...

KAGAN: Well, thank you.

GREENFIELD: ... about whether President Kennedy's tax cuts were different. No they're not, they're the same. I just think it is part of the game and it's always an effective tool.

KAGAN: OK. We saw President Bush speak at the University of South Carolina. Also in South Carolina, you saw the first debate among the Democratic contenders so far. Already starting to see some tension, especially from two of the candidates from the North -- two of the Yankees as they say down South.

GREENFIELD: We actually showed a clip of that, I think, last week, where Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor, and Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts clearly have a testy relationship. Dean has accused Kerry of hypocrisy on the war. Kerry has accused Dean of suggesting it's OK if the U.S. military become weak, and the political reason for this is that they are both looking at New Hampshire, the first in the nation primary as we are required to say, as a potential death blow to either one of those candidates. Howard Dean is a long shot. That is neighboring state, he has got to do really well. Kerry, also a neighbor of New Hampshire. He is the purported possible front runner. So because it's a zero sum game, politics, in this case, one of these guys is going to do well, and the other is going to do less well, and that is why they are aiming at each other.

KAGAN: And that is why it is, and that is why we're watching it and still seems so far away.

GREENFIELD: It is far away.

KAGAN: And yet, it will be here before you know it. Jeff Greenfield, thank you for that.

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 May 12, 2003 - 09:42   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: When one U.S. president quotes another, it is nothing unusual, but when a conservative group that is pushing President Bush's tax cut plan compared it to President Kennedy's position on taxes, the fireworks started flying. Why is that? Well, that is why we have senior analyst Jeff Greenfield to talk about that -- good morning.
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST: Well, if you have ever played pickup baseball, you know the most powerful way to settle an argument is to say, Your own man says so. That is what the Club for Growth, a big supporter of tax cuts, did in a recent ad supporting the Bush plan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Kennedy cut income taxes and the economy soared. President Reagan cut taxes more, and created 15 million new jobs. President Bush knows tax cuts create jobs, and that helps balance the budget.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GREENFIELD: Now, some members of the Kennedy family objected to that ad, saying that President Kennedy's cut was completely different, was aimed at a different economy, but this is hardly the first time this sort of thing has happened. When Ronald Reagan was running for president back in 1980, he did exactly the same thing. In an ad he said that when President Kennedy was in office, he cut taxes, and Reagan grinned and said, If I'm elected, we're going to try that again. And in fact, Reagan, who was once a Democrat himself, enjoyed invoking Democratic icons. In his 1980 acceptance speech in Detroit he cited another Democratic hero.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RONALD REAGAN, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: "I propose to you, my friends, and through you, that government of all kinds, big and little, be made solvent and that the example be set by the president of the United States and his cabinet" -- end of quote. That was Franklin Delano Roosevelt's words as he accepted the Democratic nomination for president in 1932.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GREENFIELD: Now, there was a time when invoking Franklin Roosevelt's name at a Republican convention would have been a cue for boos. Thirty-five years after his death, it was a different story. And by the way, just a few days ago, President Bush himself invoked JFK in talking about Middle East peace.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Forty-six years ago, Senator John F. Kennedy came to this campus to address the graduating class of 1957. He spoke of the great problems of that time, including, he said, "untangling the strife-ridden, hate-ridden Middle East."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GREENFIELD: Now, what's the lesson here? If the other party's president has been out of power or dead long enough, then he is no longer a partisan figure, and also citing their hero for your idea is always a good way to get into your adversary's face. In fact, I would not be at all surprised to hear Democratic presidential candidates begin to quote not just Teddy Roosevelt, a Republican, about the evils of corporate power, but perhaps Ronald Reagan about the need for balanced budgets -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Want to get to the Democratic candidates in just a moment, but this has gotten more than just the attention of Democrats. Ted Kennedy, as you were mentioning, is demanding that this be taken off the air. Is that going to do anything?

GREENFIELD: No, you don't have a property right on the words of your late brother. It is just a way -- I think it's always an effective argument, if you can invoke somebody else's -- some other party's hero to say, Look, this is what they thought, it has some impact. It's a lot more effective than Bush quoting, say, his father.

But the idea that this is somehow a completely dishonest ad, I'm sorry. You get a lot of slack in politics, and you can argue from now until the cows come home -- that is a New York City expression...

KAGAN: Well, thank you.

GREENFIELD: ... about whether President Kennedy's tax cuts were different. No they're not, they're the same. I just think it is part of the game and it's always an effective tool.

KAGAN: OK. We saw President Bush speak at the University of South Carolina. Also in South Carolina, you saw the first debate among the Democratic contenders so far. Already starting to see some tension, especially from two of the candidates from the North -- two of the Yankees as they say down South.

GREENFIELD: We actually showed a clip of that, I think, last week, where Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor, and Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts clearly have a testy relationship. Dean has accused Kerry of hypocrisy on the war. Kerry has accused Dean of suggesting it's OK if the U.S. military become weak, and the political reason for this is that they are both looking at New Hampshire, the first in the nation primary as we are required to say, as a potential death blow to either one of those candidates. Howard Dean is a long shot. That is neighboring state, he has got to do really well. Kerry, also a neighbor of New Hampshire. He is the purported possible front runner. So because it's a zero sum game, politics, in this case, one of these guys is going to do well, and the other is going to do less well, and that is why they are aiming at each other.

KAGAN: And that is why it is, and that is why we're watching it and still seems so far away.

GREENFIELD: It is far away.

KAGAN: And yet, it will be here before you know it. Jeff Greenfield, thank you for that.

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