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American Morning
Interview With Carol Moseley-Braun
Aired September 22, 2003 - 08:16 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: It is a challenge facing each of the 10 Democrats vying for the party's presidential nomination -- how do you stand out from the rest of the pack? The leader of the Democratic crowd, according to the most recent "Newsweek" poll, is the newest candidate, General Wesley Clark.
Former Senator Carol Moseley-Braun of Illinois trails in that field, but she's hoping today's announcement, a formal announcement of her candidacy, may give her a bump in the polls.
Carol Moseley-Braun with us now from Howard University in Washington, where she will make that announcement later today.
Good morning to you.
Thanks for your time this morning.
CAROL MOSELEY BRAUN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Good morning.
Thank you for being with -- for inviting me.
HEMMER: All right, take you back to November 4, 1998. You're running for the Senate, you lose your bid to Peter Fitzgerald, asked by the "Chicago Tribune" if you're going to run again you say, "Read my lips, not, never, nein, nyet."
Why the reversal?
MOSELEY BRAUN: And you know that old song, I'll never say never again, again? A lot of things changed. Obviously, September 11 changed our country, changed the direction in which we were headed. And I just believe and my supporters believe that it's time for me to step forward to offer my experience and my capacity and my ability to heal and renew America and to get our country back on track, to make certain that we have peace and prosperity and progress in this country again.
And so that's why I'm running.
HEMMER: I mentioned the "Newsweek" poll. You track about two percent right now, trailing well behind the others. General Clark checks in five days ago. He's at 14 percent.
Do you believe the attention for General Clark is warranted right now?
MOSELEY BRAUN: Oh, sure. Listen, we are a year away from the convention, almost, and so the polls will be up and down and they'll change. But I do hope that my endorsements by the -- or endorsements of my candidacy by the National Women's Political Caucus and the National Organization for Women and this announcement of my candidacy today, the official launch of it, will make a difference and will help us begin to put together the operation we need to win.
HEMMER: Now, you call -- on the topic of Iraq, if I could, just to move our conversation forward, you say that it's misadventure, your word recently in an interview.
MOSELEY BRAUN: Right.
HEMMER: I believe you've also said that the White House has used 9/11 for a dangerous and divisive agenda.
MOSELEY BRAUN: Right.
HEMMER: The White House contends all it's trying to do is keep Americans safe.
What is dangerous about trying to keep Americans safe?
MOSELEY BRAUN: Well, there's nothing, obviously, dangerous about keeping Americans safe. But going into Iraq was not -- had nothing to do with that. I mean you will recall that the Congress ducked its responsibility under Article 1, Section 8 of the constitution by giving the president a blank check. And instead of going after the criminals who violated our country on September 11, they went off on this tangent in Iraq that, as we clearly see, as we've not found bin Laden, we've not broken up al Qaeda, we've not made Americans more secure and, in the process, have frittered away the international good will that we enjoyed after September 11.
Now that we're there, the question is how can we bring our troops home with honor. Americans don't cut and run. We have a responsibility and we will live up to that responsibility. But getting us extricated from that quagmire, getting the support of the world community that this administration thumbed its nose at to begin with, will be a real challenge in the months and weeks to come.
HEMMER: I only have about 30 seconds left here. I know one of your major focuses has been on universal health care for Americans across the country.
MOSELEY BRAUN: Yes.
HEMMER: What do you believe is more important right now to voters, is it health care or is it security and the war on terrorism?
MOSELEY BRAUN: Well, I'll tell you something, I've always just told people what I believe, what I stand for and did what I said I was going to do, kept my promises and then hold myself accountable for my service. I don't just kind of put my finger in the air and see which way the polls are blowing. I think people care about this country. Americans care -- want to make certain that this country stays the greatest country on earth and the only way we can do that is if we come together, not allow the pandering to fear to take away our liberties, to take away our opportunities, get this economy working for everybody, lift up the American people. And that's what my campaign seeks to do.
HEMMER: Carol Moseley-Braun, thanks.
We'll look to the announcement later today.
You make it 10.
Good luck to you and thanks for your time this morning.
MOSELEY BRAUN: Thank you.
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 September 22, 2003 - 08:16 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: It is a challenge facing each of the 10 Democrats vying for the party's presidential nomination -- how do you stand out from the rest of the pack? The leader of the Democratic crowd, according to the most recent "Newsweek" poll, is the newest candidate, General Wesley Clark.
Former Senator Carol Moseley-Braun of Illinois trails in that field, but she's hoping today's announcement, a formal announcement of her candidacy, may give her a bump in the polls.
Carol Moseley-Braun with us now from Howard University in Washington, where she will make that announcement later today.
Good morning to you.
Thanks for your time this morning.
CAROL MOSELEY BRAUN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Good morning.
Thank you for being with -- for inviting me.
HEMMER: All right, take you back to November 4, 1998. You're running for the Senate, you lose your bid to Peter Fitzgerald, asked by the "Chicago Tribune" if you're going to run again you say, "Read my lips, not, never, nein, nyet."
Why the reversal?
MOSELEY BRAUN: And you know that old song, I'll never say never again, again? A lot of things changed. Obviously, September 11 changed our country, changed the direction in which we were headed. And I just believe and my supporters believe that it's time for me to step forward to offer my experience and my capacity and my ability to heal and renew America and to get our country back on track, to make certain that we have peace and prosperity and progress in this country again.
And so that's why I'm running.
HEMMER: I mentioned the "Newsweek" poll. You track about two percent right now, trailing well behind the others. General Clark checks in five days ago. He's at 14 percent.
Do you believe the attention for General Clark is warranted right now?
MOSELEY BRAUN: Oh, sure. Listen, we are a year away from the convention, almost, and so the polls will be up and down and they'll change. But I do hope that my endorsements by the -- or endorsements of my candidacy by the National Women's Political Caucus and the National Organization for Women and this announcement of my candidacy today, the official launch of it, will make a difference and will help us begin to put together the operation we need to win.
HEMMER: Now, you call -- on the topic of Iraq, if I could, just to move our conversation forward, you say that it's misadventure, your word recently in an interview.
MOSELEY BRAUN: Right.
HEMMER: I believe you've also said that the White House has used 9/11 for a dangerous and divisive agenda.
MOSELEY BRAUN: Right.
HEMMER: The White House contends all it's trying to do is keep Americans safe.
What is dangerous about trying to keep Americans safe?
MOSELEY BRAUN: Well, there's nothing, obviously, dangerous about keeping Americans safe. But going into Iraq was not -- had nothing to do with that. I mean you will recall that the Congress ducked its responsibility under Article 1, Section 8 of the constitution by giving the president a blank check. And instead of going after the criminals who violated our country on September 11, they went off on this tangent in Iraq that, as we clearly see, as we've not found bin Laden, we've not broken up al Qaeda, we've not made Americans more secure and, in the process, have frittered away the international good will that we enjoyed after September 11.
Now that we're there, the question is how can we bring our troops home with honor. Americans don't cut and run. We have a responsibility and we will live up to that responsibility. But getting us extricated from that quagmire, getting the support of the world community that this administration thumbed its nose at to begin with, will be a real challenge in the months and weeks to come.
HEMMER: I only have about 30 seconds left here. I know one of your major focuses has been on universal health care for Americans across the country.
MOSELEY BRAUN: Yes.
HEMMER: What do you believe is more important right now to voters, is it health care or is it security and the war on terrorism?
MOSELEY BRAUN: Well, I'll tell you something, I've always just told people what I believe, what I stand for and did what I said I was going to do, kept my promises and then hold myself accountable for my service. I don't just kind of put my finger in the air and see which way the polls are blowing. I think people care about this country. Americans care -- want to make certain that this country stays the greatest country on earth and the only way we can do that is if we come together, not allow the pandering to fear to take away our liberties, to take away our opportunities, get this economy working for everybody, lift up the American people. And that's what my campaign seeks to do.
HEMMER: Carol Moseley-Braun, thanks.
We'll look to the announcement later today.
You make it 10.
Good luck to you and thanks for your time this morning.
MOSELEY BRAUN: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
