Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
'Gimme a Minute'
Aired July 11, 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: Time for our Friday feature right now. We call it "Gimme A Minute" where the need to know meets the need for speed. Back with us from D.C., Democratic strategist Donna Brazile.
Good morning, Donna.
DONNA BRAZILE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Good morning.
HEMMER: Jonah Goldberg, editor of the National Review online. How are you?
JONAH GOLDBERG, NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE: I'm good. How are you?
HEMMER: I'm doing just fine, thanks.
Here in New York, Andy Borowitz from "The New Yorker," also the author of "Where's My Soap."
How are you, Drew?
ANDY BOROWITZ, "THE NEW YORKER": Good morning, Bill, I'm great.
HEMMER: Listen, it's been a couple weeks since we've done this. So it's great to have you guys back. Let's talk about WMD first, Jonah. The words are coming fast and furious out of London, D.C., and in Africa.
Democrats, are they smelling blood at this point on this?
GOLDBERG: It certainly seems so. And to be honest, this is a perfectly legitimate story and a perfectly legitimate thing to focus on, but as the summer's coming up, I fear this is going to get into classic Washington summer silly season before it all gets cleared up.
HEMMER: Donna, what do you think? Can the White House beat this charge right now?
BRAZILE: I think it took the White House six months to confess, and at the rate they're going, it may take another year for them to fully tell us the truth. I think it's appropriate that both sides of the political aisle question what the administration knew.
HEMMER: Andy, how much uranium are you buying these days?
BOROWITZ: I was very concerned to learn that the president didn't get his intelligence information from Tony Blair, but from Jayson Blair. I thought that was dumb. HEMMER: That's not a real good start, don't you think?
BOROWITZ: No, no.
HEMMER: We heard John Kerry yesterday talk about really criticism for the White House right now in how its handling Iraq. What do you think, Donna? Is this appropriate right now to be criticizing the president and men and women being shot at every day on the streets of Baghdad?
BRAZILE: I think it's always appropriate to question exactly what's happening in terms of our foreign policy. Look, John Kerry's a decorated veteran, and he knows what it's like to wear the uniform. And I think he is speaking on behalf of the troops who are stationed over there in Iraq.
HEMMER: He's also a man that wants the White House, too. He's running for president, right, Jonah?
GOLDBERG: Yes, I think that's the more important point. John Kerry has left himself almost no rhetorical room to criticize the president any more than he already has. If things go really wrong, he's just going to have to repeat himself because he's pretty much used the kitchen sink already, and that's the point with the whole Democratic party right now. The presidential race is a game of where's Waldo, and the only way these guys get noticed is when they defame the president, and they go overboard.
HEMMER: Almost out of time. Andy, have you found Saddam?
BOROWITZ: I haven't gotten a chance to review the tape of John Kerry, but it seems to offer proof that he's alive.
HEMMER: I think we can confirm that. You got it just under the bell, too.
Hey, did you see the deal in Milwaukee this past week? Randall Simon, Pittsburgh Pirates, hitting the lady sausage. Was Charles Barkley on to something, Jonah, when he said athletes do not make the best of role models?
GOLDBERG: I think he was. But come on, let's all be clear that, you know, this country will never be free until giant sausage persecution is put to an end.
HEMMER: No kidding, Ballpark franks, too. They plump when you cook them still -- Donna.
BRAZILE: What a wiener to hit the sausage lady. I think athletes today need to take a little test in humility and probably, you know, step up to the plate and be better role models.
HEMMER: And you used the "w" word, too, on our air. A weenie.
Hey, Andy? BOROWITZ: I think there's a double standard at work here. Why is itsy a bad thing when fans run out on the field, but it's OK for sausages to do it?
HEMMER: Good question. You know, inquiring minds really want to know, too.
Under the radar, how about you, Donna, first up now?
BRAZILE: Well, President Bush gave a great speech in Africa this week. He was the first Republican president since Lincoln to acknowledge that slavery was a sin. I think that's a good beginning for the Republican party.
HEMMER: Jonah, what about it?
GOLDBERG: I got a little self-promoting one here. Jerry Springer released an infomercial yesterday to launch his Senate campaign, and the linchpin of his entire thing is running against me. He says that I represent the elitist inside the beltway attitude in Washington, and that his campaign is going to run against everything I stand for. I'm not making this up.
HEMMER: And do you?
GOLDBERG: I wish. I'd get paid a hell of a lot more.
HEMMER: A heck of a lot more, he said.
Andy?
GOLDBERG: Spike lee this week was slapped with a trademark infringement suit by Sara Lee. The company said that while nobody doesn't like Sara Lee, a lot of people don't like Spike Lee.
HEMMER: End the madness now, right?
Thanks. Have a great weekend. Donna, Jonah, Andy, we'll talk to you again next Friday, all right? Wonderful to see you again this week.
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 July 11, 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: Time for our Friday feature right now. We call it "Gimme A Minute" where the need to know meets the need for speed. Back with us from D.C., Democratic strategist Donna Brazile.
Good morning, Donna.
DONNA BRAZILE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Good morning.
HEMMER: Jonah Goldberg, editor of the National Review online. How are you?
JONAH GOLDBERG, NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE: I'm good. How are you?
HEMMER: I'm doing just fine, thanks.
Here in New York, Andy Borowitz from "The New Yorker," also the author of "Where's My Soap."
How are you, Drew?
ANDY BOROWITZ, "THE NEW YORKER": Good morning, Bill, I'm great.
HEMMER: Listen, it's been a couple weeks since we've done this. So it's great to have you guys back. Let's talk about WMD first, Jonah. The words are coming fast and furious out of London, D.C., and in Africa.
Democrats, are they smelling blood at this point on this?
GOLDBERG: It certainly seems so. And to be honest, this is a perfectly legitimate story and a perfectly legitimate thing to focus on, but as the summer's coming up, I fear this is going to get into classic Washington summer silly season before it all gets cleared up.
HEMMER: Donna, what do you think? Can the White House beat this charge right now?
BRAZILE: I think it took the White House six months to confess, and at the rate they're going, it may take another year for them to fully tell us the truth. I think it's appropriate that both sides of the political aisle question what the administration knew.
HEMMER: Andy, how much uranium are you buying these days?
BOROWITZ: I was very concerned to learn that the president didn't get his intelligence information from Tony Blair, but from Jayson Blair. I thought that was dumb. HEMMER: That's not a real good start, don't you think?
BOROWITZ: No, no.
HEMMER: We heard John Kerry yesterday talk about really criticism for the White House right now in how its handling Iraq. What do you think, Donna? Is this appropriate right now to be criticizing the president and men and women being shot at every day on the streets of Baghdad?
BRAZILE: I think it's always appropriate to question exactly what's happening in terms of our foreign policy. Look, John Kerry's a decorated veteran, and he knows what it's like to wear the uniform. And I think he is speaking on behalf of the troops who are stationed over there in Iraq.
HEMMER: He's also a man that wants the White House, too. He's running for president, right, Jonah?
GOLDBERG: Yes, I think that's the more important point. John Kerry has left himself almost no rhetorical room to criticize the president any more than he already has. If things go really wrong, he's just going to have to repeat himself because he's pretty much used the kitchen sink already, and that's the point with the whole Democratic party right now. The presidential race is a game of where's Waldo, and the only way these guys get noticed is when they defame the president, and they go overboard.
HEMMER: Almost out of time. Andy, have you found Saddam?
BOROWITZ: I haven't gotten a chance to review the tape of John Kerry, but it seems to offer proof that he's alive.
HEMMER: I think we can confirm that. You got it just under the bell, too.
Hey, did you see the deal in Milwaukee this past week? Randall Simon, Pittsburgh Pirates, hitting the lady sausage. Was Charles Barkley on to something, Jonah, when he said athletes do not make the best of role models?
GOLDBERG: I think he was. But come on, let's all be clear that, you know, this country will never be free until giant sausage persecution is put to an end.
HEMMER: No kidding, Ballpark franks, too. They plump when you cook them still -- Donna.
BRAZILE: What a wiener to hit the sausage lady. I think athletes today need to take a little test in humility and probably, you know, step up to the plate and be better role models.
HEMMER: And you used the "w" word, too, on our air. A weenie.
Hey, Andy? BOROWITZ: I think there's a double standard at work here. Why is itsy a bad thing when fans run out on the field, but it's OK for sausages to do it?
HEMMER: Good question. You know, inquiring minds really want to know, too.
Under the radar, how about you, Donna, first up now?
BRAZILE: Well, President Bush gave a great speech in Africa this week. He was the first Republican president since Lincoln to acknowledge that slavery was a sin. I think that's a good beginning for the Republican party.
HEMMER: Jonah, what about it?
GOLDBERG: I got a little self-promoting one here. Jerry Springer released an infomercial yesterday to launch his Senate campaign, and the linchpin of his entire thing is running against me. He says that I represent the elitist inside the beltway attitude in Washington, and that his campaign is going to run against everything I stand for. I'm not making this up.
HEMMER: And do you?
GOLDBERG: I wish. I'd get paid a hell of a lot more.
HEMMER: A heck of a lot more, he said.
Andy?
GOLDBERG: Spike lee this week was slapped with a trademark infringement suit by Sara Lee. The company said that while nobody doesn't like Sara Lee, a lot of people don't like Spike Lee.
HEMMER: End the madness now, right?
Thanks. Have a great weekend. Donna, Jonah, Andy, we'll talk to you again next Friday, all right? Wonderful to see you again this week.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
