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American Morning
Democrats Debate in. L.A.
Aired October 10, 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: Some say there were two targets last night in Phoenix. One was Wesley Clark and the other is the man who has the job that they all want.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. DICK GEPHARDT (D-MO), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The president is feeling, in his responsibility, to get us the help that we need. It is four months since he landed on the aircraft carrier in his flight suit and said the war was over.
GEN. WESLEY CLARK (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The Congress made a mistake in giving George Bush an open-ended resolution that enabled him to go to war without coming back to the Congress.
REP. DENNIS KUCINICH (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Unfortunately, in the case of Iraq, our involvement in Iraq was based on lies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: CNN's senior political analyst Bill Schneider up early today in L.A.
Nice to see you, Bill.
Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.
You were watching this thing last night. I was watching the post-game with you and Larry King here. The headlines today say that Wesley Clark had the bull's eye last night.
Do you see it the same way?
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, he did. He came into this debate with a very high stature. In fact, he leaped to the top of the polls the minute he declared himself as a candidate and I think in this debate he was kind of brought down to the level of the other candidates. His luster faded a little bit under attack, particularly by Joe Lieberman.
Lieberman himself has been criticized as not having the views of most liberal Democrats, so he decided to turn that to his advantage and he said to General Clark, General Clark, welcome to the Democratic presidential campaign, you weren't with the Democrats as recently as a couple of years ago.
HEMMER: He also hit him hard, Senator Lieberman did, on the position on Iraq, indicating a flip-flop at a certain time.
Listen to part of that argument from last night, Bill.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (D-CT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I must say that I've been very disappointed since Wes Clark came into this race about the various positions he has taken on the war against Saddam Hussein.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Bill, how did Wesley Clark do, in his own defense?
SCHNEIDER: Well, he was defensive. He did a reasonable job defending his views, but the fact is he said those things a couple of years ago. He praised people like Donald Rumsfeld. He praised the president of the United States on military policy. He seemed to encourage people to vote for the Iraq war resolution. And he had to do a lot of explaining, which raised a lot of questions about him.
I thought the candidate that stood out in that debate was Dick Gephardt, an old-timer who's been in Congress a long time. He turned that to his advantage, I thought, very effectively, because he hit on an issue that the other Democrats don't seem to get, mainly that the Democrats have a terrific argument, just we will -- if you elect a Democrat, we'll take you back to the Clinton years, the best economy in 50 years. And Gephardt says, I was in Washington, I was a part of that, we Democrats know what to do.
In fact, one of his good lines was he said if you want to live like a Republican, vote for the Democrats.
HEMMER: Did you tell Larry last night that you think Gephardt is the best debater across the board? Did I hear that right?
SCHNEIDER: Oh, well, that was Dave Gergen. But I wouldn't disagree with that. Remember, he has run for president before, way back in 1988. and in Washington, the conventional wisdom is Gephardt is yesterday's man, because he's been around for so long. But I thought he showed a lot of fire and a lot of life in this debate and he is, of course, a very serious top contender in Iowa. Iowa is really a contest between Howard Dean, who's the new sensation in the Democratic Party, and Dick Gephardt.
HEMMER: A final thought here. It's October 10. Two days ago, these were the poll numbers as they stood on the Democratic side. Wesley Clark was first, 21 percent.
Do those numbers change now or over the weekend?
SCHNEIDER: I wouldn't be surprised if Wesley Clark more or less merged with Dean and Kerry and Lieberman and Gephardt moved up a little bit. I think it's going to get murky. Those five names you see on the left -- Clark, Dean, Kerry, Lieberman, Gephardt -- I think they're all more or less, in a mix, all more or less tied. I think Iowa remains a contest between Dean and Gephardt; New Hampshire between Kerry and Dean. So it's going to -- it's actually harder to sort this race out after this debate...
HEMMER: Wow.
SCHNEIDER: ... because I don't think there was a clear front runner.
HEMMER: Well, that's your job.
SCHNEIDER: Though I will say that the best line was John Kerry, who said if you want to lower your prescription drug costs, there's only two things you can do. You can vote for me or you can hire Rush Limbaugh's housekeeper. How's that?
HEMMER: He got a round of applause and laughter when he delivered that. And hats off to Judy, too, for trying to maintain some level of civility.
SCHNEIDER: Oh, yes.
HEMMER: Nine mouths and 18 sharp elbows trying to get air time last night.
Thanks, Bill.
SCHNEIDER: Sure.
HEMMER: Bill Schneider in Los Angeles.
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 10, 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: Some say there were two targets last night in Phoenix. One was Wesley Clark and the other is the man who has the job that they all want.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. DICK GEPHARDT (D-MO), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The president is feeling, in his responsibility, to get us the help that we need. It is four months since he landed on the aircraft carrier in his flight suit and said the war was over.
GEN. WESLEY CLARK (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The Congress made a mistake in giving George Bush an open-ended resolution that enabled him to go to war without coming back to the Congress.
REP. DENNIS KUCINICH (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Unfortunately, in the case of Iraq, our involvement in Iraq was based on lies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: CNN's senior political analyst Bill Schneider up early today in L.A.
Nice to see you, Bill.
Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.
You were watching this thing last night. I was watching the post-game with you and Larry King here. The headlines today say that Wesley Clark had the bull's eye last night.
Do you see it the same way?
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, he did. He came into this debate with a very high stature. In fact, he leaped to the top of the polls the minute he declared himself as a candidate and I think in this debate he was kind of brought down to the level of the other candidates. His luster faded a little bit under attack, particularly by Joe Lieberman.
Lieberman himself has been criticized as not having the views of most liberal Democrats, so he decided to turn that to his advantage and he said to General Clark, General Clark, welcome to the Democratic presidential campaign, you weren't with the Democrats as recently as a couple of years ago.
HEMMER: He also hit him hard, Senator Lieberman did, on the position on Iraq, indicating a flip-flop at a certain time.
Listen to part of that argument from last night, Bill.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (D-CT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I must say that I've been very disappointed since Wes Clark came into this race about the various positions he has taken on the war against Saddam Hussein.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Bill, how did Wesley Clark do, in his own defense?
SCHNEIDER: Well, he was defensive. He did a reasonable job defending his views, but the fact is he said those things a couple of years ago. He praised people like Donald Rumsfeld. He praised the president of the United States on military policy. He seemed to encourage people to vote for the Iraq war resolution. And he had to do a lot of explaining, which raised a lot of questions about him.
I thought the candidate that stood out in that debate was Dick Gephardt, an old-timer who's been in Congress a long time. He turned that to his advantage, I thought, very effectively, because he hit on an issue that the other Democrats don't seem to get, mainly that the Democrats have a terrific argument, just we will -- if you elect a Democrat, we'll take you back to the Clinton years, the best economy in 50 years. And Gephardt says, I was in Washington, I was a part of that, we Democrats know what to do.
In fact, one of his good lines was he said if you want to live like a Republican, vote for the Democrats.
HEMMER: Did you tell Larry last night that you think Gephardt is the best debater across the board? Did I hear that right?
SCHNEIDER: Oh, well, that was Dave Gergen. But I wouldn't disagree with that. Remember, he has run for president before, way back in 1988. and in Washington, the conventional wisdom is Gephardt is yesterday's man, because he's been around for so long. But I thought he showed a lot of fire and a lot of life in this debate and he is, of course, a very serious top contender in Iowa. Iowa is really a contest between Howard Dean, who's the new sensation in the Democratic Party, and Dick Gephardt.
HEMMER: A final thought here. It's October 10. Two days ago, these were the poll numbers as they stood on the Democratic side. Wesley Clark was first, 21 percent.
Do those numbers change now or over the weekend?
SCHNEIDER: I wouldn't be surprised if Wesley Clark more or less merged with Dean and Kerry and Lieberman and Gephardt moved up a little bit. I think it's going to get murky. Those five names you see on the left -- Clark, Dean, Kerry, Lieberman, Gephardt -- I think they're all more or less, in a mix, all more or less tied. I think Iowa remains a contest between Dean and Gephardt; New Hampshire between Kerry and Dean. So it's going to -- it's actually harder to sort this race out after this debate...
HEMMER: Wow.
SCHNEIDER: ... because I don't think there was a clear front runner.
HEMMER: Well, that's your job.
SCHNEIDER: Though I will say that the best line was John Kerry, who said if you want to lower your prescription drug costs, there's only two things you can do. You can vote for me or you can hire Rush Limbaugh's housekeeper. How's that?
HEMMER: He got a round of applause and laughter when he delivered that. And hats off to Judy, too, for trying to maintain some level of civility.
SCHNEIDER: Oh, yes.
HEMMER: Nine mouths and 18 sharp elbows trying to get air time last night.
Thanks, Bill.
SCHNEIDER: Sure.
HEMMER: Bill Schneider in Los Angeles.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
