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American Morning

Iraq Reorganization

Aired October 07, 2003 - 08:31   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.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The polls are going to open in California, and voters must decide whether to keep Governor Gray Davis or elect somebody new. The race has essentially come down to Davis and Arnold Schwarzenegger. In the last week, it's become a little bit of a mud-slinging fest.
Joining us from Washington D.C. to look at the last-minute back and forth former RNC communications director Cliff May.

And also Democratic consultant Victor Kamber.

When we talk about a mud-slinging fest, there are no two guys that I want to talk to more than Kamber and May.

Good morning to you, guys. Nice to see you.

All right. It's election day now. We've got these groping allegations that have surfaced over the last several days. The Arnold Schwarzenegger campaign says, boy, the timing is very suspicious. You've got at the same time, "The L.A. Times" saying, we reported the story and released it when it was done, and the Davis campaign saying, heck, we wish it would have been released a month before the election, not just a few days before.

I guess let's start with you, Victor -- what do you think? Any alleged impact from these allegations at the end of the day?

VICTOR KAMBER, DEMOCRATIC CONSULTANT: From all the tracking numbers, there is an impact. It may not be enough. I think the Davis campaign's correct. You know, it's easy to attack "The L.A. Times" and easy to blame it on politics and mud-slinging. For the Democrats, and for Gray Davis, it would have been better if this information -- if it's true -- had come out a month ago.

And frankly, the one thing I think people have overlooked here, as much as I object to the whole recall process and disagree with the whole recall process, if in fact Arnold Schwarzenegger is guilty of these charges, this is what recall is all about, for criminal activity. And if one of these women ultimately charge him and go after him, we may see another recall very shortly.

O'BRIEN: Well, Cliff, let's talk a little bit about that. In fact, when Arnold Schwarzenegger was talking to Tom Brokaw, Schwarzenegger said this will be fully investigated when I'm not distracted really by the campaign, after I'm elected if everything goes his well. Some people say, well, that's a little too late. Is that a fair complaint? CLIFF MAY, FMR. RNC COMM. DIR.: Well, it's hard because these are last minute and it does have a look of the campaign of personal destruction and a slime campaign. I mean, Arnold Schwarzenegger is a very top movie star, and he's apologized if he was too rowdy. I think there are going to be some voters, mainly conservative voters, who are going to be put off by these charges, wondering if they're true. Others voters will say, you always get this kind of thing at the last minute.

What's particularly interesting is this organization moveon.org. Moveon.org, people may not remember, was created when there were charges against President Clinton for sexually assaulting women. They said, let's not dwell on this, let's move on. But now they're take a commercial out saying, let's not move on, let's pause and talk about this.

KAMBER: Wait one second. Bill Clinton was investigated, was studied. There was no charges ever proven about sexual assault.

For Cliff here to sit here suggest he's a moviestar and rowdy behavior. We're talking about criminal activity potentially...

O'BRIEN: Alleged criminal activity...

KAMBER: Alleged, potentially, here...

O'BRIEN: OK, I hear you.

Let's turn and talk here about what's going on in Washington D.C. We've got this new Iraq stabilization group, which will be headed by Condoleezza Rice.

Cliff, is this an admission by the White House that they cannot manage the reconstruction process, and that heretofore, they have not managed the violence against soldiers in Iraq well at all?

MAY: I think Vic may portray it that way, but if so, the point is being missed. The point is, what they're trying to do something historic. Nation building is something everybody talks about but nobody knows how to do. It's not enough to say let's let the Pentagon do it by itself. That's like saying let's let the house-wreckers build the next house. What we need to figure out something that nobody's done before, how to give Democratic institutions to a new country like Iraq.

And I think it's good they're saying let's put this under the National Security Council, under Condi Rice, figure out what kind of tools we need, and let's get this done right. If we can build what will be the first democracy in the Islamic Middle East, that is of historic importance, and I'm glad they're experimenting and trying to figure out how best to do it.

O'BRIEN: Victor, can this experiment be accomplished in the time before the election for President Bush, as he gears up his campaign? And do you think if it's unsuccessful or if enough progress has not been made, that's going to be a tremendous problem for the president? KAMBER: Well, I think it's another experiment by the president. As we said on this show before many times, I don't believe he has a plan. He didn't expect the problem to be what it is. Cliff's right, nation building is an extremely long and difficult process. Creating a democracy out of a regime that had no idea of democracy is very difficult.

Right now, the administration is looking, I think, for a blame game. And the hero of three months ago, Donald Rumsfeld, what was he, the sexiest man in the cabinet, is now maybe the biggest scapegoat in the cabinet. Condoleezza rice is a fair-haired person who is looked at as very bright and talented, and I think the president is hoping she has some solutions. And he's trying to bring some semblance of understanding to this process. He has no plan. That's the problem.

O'BRIEN: That is our final word this morning. Gentlemen, nice to see you. Thanks so much.

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 October 7, 2003 - 08:31   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The polls are going to open in California, and voters must decide whether to keep Governor Gray Davis or elect somebody new. The race has essentially come down to Davis and Arnold Schwarzenegger. In the last week, it's become a little bit of a mud-slinging fest.
Joining us from Washington D.C. to look at the last-minute back and forth former RNC communications director Cliff May.

And also Democratic consultant Victor Kamber.

When we talk about a mud-slinging fest, there are no two guys that I want to talk to more than Kamber and May.

Good morning to you, guys. Nice to see you.

All right. It's election day now. We've got these groping allegations that have surfaced over the last several days. The Arnold Schwarzenegger campaign says, boy, the timing is very suspicious. You've got at the same time, "The L.A. Times" saying, we reported the story and released it when it was done, and the Davis campaign saying, heck, we wish it would have been released a month before the election, not just a few days before.

I guess let's start with you, Victor -- what do you think? Any alleged impact from these allegations at the end of the day?

VICTOR KAMBER, DEMOCRATIC CONSULTANT: From all the tracking numbers, there is an impact. It may not be enough. I think the Davis campaign's correct. You know, it's easy to attack "The L.A. Times" and easy to blame it on politics and mud-slinging. For the Democrats, and for Gray Davis, it would have been better if this information -- if it's true -- had come out a month ago.

And frankly, the one thing I think people have overlooked here, as much as I object to the whole recall process and disagree with the whole recall process, if in fact Arnold Schwarzenegger is guilty of these charges, this is what recall is all about, for criminal activity. And if one of these women ultimately charge him and go after him, we may see another recall very shortly.

O'BRIEN: Well, Cliff, let's talk a little bit about that. In fact, when Arnold Schwarzenegger was talking to Tom Brokaw, Schwarzenegger said this will be fully investigated when I'm not distracted really by the campaign, after I'm elected if everything goes his well. Some people say, well, that's a little too late. Is that a fair complaint? CLIFF MAY, FMR. RNC COMM. DIR.: Well, it's hard because these are last minute and it does have a look of the campaign of personal destruction and a slime campaign. I mean, Arnold Schwarzenegger is a very top movie star, and he's apologized if he was too rowdy. I think there are going to be some voters, mainly conservative voters, who are going to be put off by these charges, wondering if they're true. Others voters will say, you always get this kind of thing at the last minute.

What's particularly interesting is this organization moveon.org. Moveon.org, people may not remember, was created when there were charges against President Clinton for sexually assaulting women. They said, let's not dwell on this, let's move on. But now they're take a commercial out saying, let's not move on, let's pause and talk about this.

KAMBER: Wait one second. Bill Clinton was investigated, was studied. There was no charges ever proven about sexual assault.

For Cliff here to sit here suggest he's a moviestar and rowdy behavior. We're talking about criminal activity potentially...

O'BRIEN: Alleged criminal activity...

KAMBER: Alleged, potentially, here...

O'BRIEN: OK, I hear you.

Let's turn and talk here about what's going on in Washington D.C. We've got this new Iraq stabilization group, which will be headed by Condoleezza Rice.

Cliff, is this an admission by the White House that they cannot manage the reconstruction process, and that heretofore, they have not managed the violence against soldiers in Iraq well at all?

MAY: I think Vic may portray it that way, but if so, the point is being missed. The point is, what they're trying to do something historic. Nation building is something everybody talks about but nobody knows how to do. It's not enough to say let's let the Pentagon do it by itself. That's like saying let's let the house-wreckers build the next house. What we need to figure out something that nobody's done before, how to give Democratic institutions to a new country like Iraq.

And I think it's good they're saying let's put this under the National Security Council, under Condi Rice, figure out what kind of tools we need, and let's get this done right. If we can build what will be the first democracy in the Islamic Middle East, that is of historic importance, and I'm glad they're experimenting and trying to figure out how best to do it.

O'BRIEN: Victor, can this experiment be accomplished in the time before the election for President Bush, as he gears up his campaign? And do you think if it's unsuccessful or if enough progress has not been made, that's going to be a tremendous problem for the president? KAMBER: Well, I think it's another experiment by the president. As we said on this show before many times, I don't believe he has a plan. He didn't expect the problem to be what it is. Cliff's right, nation building is an extremely long and difficult process. Creating a democracy out of a regime that had no idea of democracy is very difficult.

Right now, the administration is looking, I think, for a blame game. And the hero of three months ago, Donald Rumsfeld, what was he, the sexiest man in the cabinet, is now maybe the biggest scapegoat in the cabinet. Condoleezza rice is a fair-haired person who is looked at as very bright and talented, and I think the president is hoping she has some solutions. And he's trying to bring some semblance of understanding to this process. He has no plan. That's the problem.

O'BRIEN: That is our final word this morning. Gentlemen, nice to see you. Thanks so much.

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