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American Morning

'Gimme a Minute'

Aired November 07, 2003 - 08:34   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: Let's get going this morning.
Jonah, we're going to start with you. Howard Dean talks about being the candidate for the guys who have Confederate flags on their pickup trucks. He refuses to apologize to a young African-American at the debate. And then he finally says, OK, I'll apologize, it was the wrong thing to do. Do you think this mini brouhaha is just over?

JONAH GOLDBERG, THE NATIONAL REVIEW: The brouhaha itself is over. But what remains is the fact that it shows that Dean has a lot of weaknesses as a candidate. He, in fact, ended up because of his pigheadedness taking a more racist position than any Republican defender of the Confederate flag. Republicans don't say the Confederate flag stands for racism, they it stands for southern heritage and all that sort of stuff, and there's an argument there. Dean said it stands for racism, and he wants those guys anyway.

O'BRIEN: Donna, at the same time, Howard Dean goes ahead and then picks up two major endorsements. Is that a sign that this is over, this has no legs?

DONNA BRAZILE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I agree. I think his opponents should go ahead and wave another flag, that's the white flag of surrender, and move on, and talk about jobs and the economy, and rebuilding Iraq. Look, Howard Dean is still in the driver's seat, and they didn't dent his car.

O'BRIEN: Andy, let's go to you. In some, ways it's almost difficult to alienate both African-Americans and Southerners with sort of just one line. I think Jonah was kind of referring to that. What's your take on that?

ANDY BOROWITZ, "THE NEW YORKER": You know, I think in Dean's defense, that remark was taken out of context, and he only made it 94 times.

O'BRIEN: All right. Let's go to our next topic. Donna, Linda Tripp laughing all the way to the bank now, $600,000 settlement from the DoD. Do you think that's just the price for leaking private information?

BRAZILE: Look, I'm glad she got a settlement, and I think she could give a cut to the Clintons, a finders fee, for helping her land that story.

O'BRIEN: Jonah, what's your mom say about all this? Of course, everyone knows Lucianne Goldberg was the one who encouraged Linda Tripp to go ahead and record those calls. Has she said?

GOLDBERG: Actually, I haven't even asked her. My guess is she probably says good for Linda. She's been through a pretty grueling, you know, five years or more, and you know, the government was in the wrong. Monica Lewinsky made millions upon millions of dollars from all of this. And if this was the Patriot Act, well, you know, everyone would be up in arms about the government violating Linda's privacy. She was on the right side of this one.

O'BRIEN: Andy, what does your mom say about it?

BOROWITZ: My mom, I haven't talked to her yet. Sorry, mom. But I think the Pentagon got off cheap, because Linda Tripp's first request was for $87 billion.

O'BRIEN: OK, Jonah, take this next one, Sunday night we've got the dueling docudramas. Which one am I going to watch? We've got Elizabeth Smart. I think that one's on CBS, and then NBC has the saving Jessica Lynch story. Which one are you going to watch?

GOLDBERG: Well, I'm not sure I'm going to watch either. But I got to say that the Jessica Lynch one is interesting for the politics, because it turns out that maybe it's not all true. The Smart one actually has the benefit of being probably true, and also I think a more interesting story. So it's whether I'm going to be a pundit or a TV watcher.

O'BRIEN: Donna, how about you? These young women, who are the actresses portraying the actual young women are pretty dead-on ringers.

BRAZILE: Well, I don't intend to watch any of them. But I'm waiting for the networks to run a story on Army Specialist Shoshana Johnson, and I'll watch all three.

O'BRIEN: And, Andy, what are you going to watch?

BOROWITZ: I am on a boycott here. I only watch entertainment programs starring Donna Brazile.

BRAZILE: Oh, thank you, Andy.

O'BRIEN: All of us from now on. That's where we draw the line.

OK, we've only got time to get to some of our undercovered stories of the week now. Donna, why don't you start for me. What do you think was undercovered?

BRAZILE: Well, I think the TV reporter that Republicans swept two gubernatorial seats, but they forgot to report that in many cities in other states across the country, Democrats held their own.

O'BRIEN: Jonah?

GOLDBERG: It's been reported, but I don't think it's got enough coverage, this intelligence committee leaked memo really shows the Democrats have abandoned their once mantra within the Clinton years about having partisanship end at the water's edge. They're trying to politicize the war on terrorism, and it's outrageous.

O'BRIEN: And, Andy?

BOROWITZ: To silence its critics, CBS announced a new show called "Everybody Loves Reagan."

O'BRIEN: Well, Jonah, and Donna and Andy, thanks you guys this morning. Nice to see you. Jonah, I'm loving your new hair haircut. Very handsome. All right, you guys. We'll check in with you next week. Thanks.

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 November 7, 2003 - 08:34   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get going this morning.
Jonah, we're going to start with you. Howard Dean talks about being the candidate for the guys who have Confederate flags on their pickup trucks. He refuses to apologize to a young African-American at the debate. And then he finally says, OK, I'll apologize, it was the wrong thing to do. Do you think this mini brouhaha is just over?

JONAH GOLDBERG, THE NATIONAL REVIEW: The brouhaha itself is over. But what remains is the fact that it shows that Dean has a lot of weaknesses as a candidate. He, in fact, ended up because of his pigheadedness taking a more racist position than any Republican defender of the Confederate flag. Republicans don't say the Confederate flag stands for racism, they it stands for southern heritage and all that sort of stuff, and there's an argument there. Dean said it stands for racism, and he wants those guys anyway.

O'BRIEN: Donna, at the same time, Howard Dean goes ahead and then picks up two major endorsements. Is that a sign that this is over, this has no legs?

DONNA BRAZILE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I agree. I think his opponents should go ahead and wave another flag, that's the white flag of surrender, and move on, and talk about jobs and the economy, and rebuilding Iraq. Look, Howard Dean is still in the driver's seat, and they didn't dent his car.

O'BRIEN: Andy, let's go to you. In some, ways it's almost difficult to alienate both African-Americans and Southerners with sort of just one line. I think Jonah was kind of referring to that. What's your take on that?

ANDY BOROWITZ, "THE NEW YORKER": You know, I think in Dean's defense, that remark was taken out of context, and he only made it 94 times.

O'BRIEN: All right. Let's go to our next topic. Donna, Linda Tripp laughing all the way to the bank now, $600,000 settlement from the DoD. Do you think that's just the price for leaking private information?

BRAZILE: Look, I'm glad she got a settlement, and I think she could give a cut to the Clintons, a finders fee, for helping her land that story.

O'BRIEN: Jonah, what's your mom say about all this? Of course, everyone knows Lucianne Goldberg was the one who encouraged Linda Tripp to go ahead and record those calls. Has she said?

GOLDBERG: Actually, I haven't even asked her. My guess is she probably says good for Linda. She's been through a pretty grueling, you know, five years or more, and you know, the government was in the wrong. Monica Lewinsky made millions upon millions of dollars from all of this. And if this was the Patriot Act, well, you know, everyone would be up in arms about the government violating Linda's privacy. She was on the right side of this one.

O'BRIEN: Andy, what does your mom say about it?

BOROWITZ: My mom, I haven't talked to her yet. Sorry, mom. But I think the Pentagon got off cheap, because Linda Tripp's first request was for $87 billion.

O'BRIEN: OK, Jonah, take this next one, Sunday night we've got the dueling docudramas. Which one am I going to watch? We've got Elizabeth Smart. I think that one's on CBS, and then NBC has the saving Jessica Lynch story. Which one are you going to watch?

GOLDBERG: Well, I'm not sure I'm going to watch either. But I got to say that the Jessica Lynch one is interesting for the politics, because it turns out that maybe it's not all true. The Smart one actually has the benefit of being probably true, and also I think a more interesting story. So it's whether I'm going to be a pundit or a TV watcher.

O'BRIEN: Donna, how about you? These young women, who are the actresses portraying the actual young women are pretty dead-on ringers.

BRAZILE: Well, I don't intend to watch any of them. But I'm waiting for the networks to run a story on Army Specialist Shoshana Johnson, and I'll watch all three.

O'BRIEN: And, Andy, what are you going to watch?

BOROWITZ: I am on a boycott here. I only watch entertainment programs starring Donna Brazile.

BRAZILE: Oh, thank you, Andy.

O'BRIEN: All of us from now on. That's where we draw the line.

OK, we've only got time to get to some of our undercovered stories of the week now. Donna, why don't you start for me. What do you think was undercovered?

BRAZILE: Well, I think the TV reporter that Republicans swept two gubernatorial seats, but they forgot to report that in many cities in other states across the country, Democrats held their own.

O'BRIEN: Jonah?

GOLDBERG: It's been reported, but I don't think it's got enough coverage, this intelligence committee leaked memo really shows the Democrats have abandoned their once mantra within the Clinton years about having partisanship end at the water's edge. They're trying to politicize the war on terrorism, and it's outrageous.

O'BRIEN: And, Andy?

BOROWITZ: To silence its critics, CBS announced a new show called "Everybody Loves Reagan."

O'BRIEN: Well, Jonah, and Donna and Andy, thanks you guys this morning. Nice to see you. Jonah, I'm loving your new hair haircut. Very handsome. All right, you guys. We'll check in with you next week. Thanks.

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