Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Interview with Sen. John McCain
Aired December 11, 2003 - 08:04 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: Senator John McCain takes a hard line on soft money and the Arizona Republican has invested a lot of political capital in the restricting of the flow of money into campaign coffers. A Supreme Court ruling yesterday upheld key portions of a campaign finance law that McCain helped to write.
And Senator McCain, who is just back from Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, joins us this morning from Capitol Hill.
Senator, good morning.
Nice to see you.
Thanks for joining us.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: Good morning, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: This...
MCCAIN: Good morning.
O'BRIEN: The campaign finance reform was really the centerpiece of your 2000 presidential run and you've also been working on this for a decade easily. All along people, I think it's fair to say, sometimes laughed at your enthusiasm for this bill, scoffed at your belief that it would eventually succeed and be upheld by the Supreme Court.
How do you feel now? Do you feel completely vindicated?
MCCAIN: Certainly I feel good, but I think it's a victory for the people of America and democracy to dramatically reduce the influence of special interests and I'm grateful for Russ Feingold, Chris Shays and Marty Meehan, who were my partners in this effort.
O'BRIEN: How do you think this ruling is going to specifically affect the presidential election in 2004?
MCCAIN: I don't think it'll have a lot of affect on the presidential election because that's a little bit different financing system, while that needs to be changed itself. But, Soledad, what it's going to change is that no longer can a member of Congress or the House or Senate pick up the phone, call up a union leader or a trial lawyer or the head of a corporation and say write me a check for a million dollars. And, by the way, legislation affecting you is pending before the Congress. The United States Supreme Court said that this system creates the appearance of or actual corruption and the reason why they were able to say that so definitely is because former senators submitted depositions that told how big money influences the legislative agenda and votes around here. And so --
O'BRIEN: But, Senator...
MCCAIN: ... that's what I think this is all about.
O'BRIEN: But, Senator, at the same time, clearly there are already groups that are mobilizing to work around these rules. And I want to read you a little bit of what Senator McClellan said. He said, "This law will not remove one dime from politics" that "soft money is not gone, it's just changed its address." And essentially as long as you have groups that are not really working in concert with the law makers, you're fine. You can get around the law.
MCCAIN: Yes, well, actually, Soledad, coming from the prime opponent of the legislation, I think you should consider that. Look, what this will do is 30 days before a primary, 60 days before a general election, none of these groups can run a broadcast ad that says -- that supports or opposes any candidate. That is huge. Look, I can't keep people from investing their money in the political process, nor do I want to. That's what free speech is all about.
But what the Supreme Court said, money is not free speech. Money is property. So therefore it can be limited in its use in a political campaign.
So, 60 days before the election, you will not see these ads that are attacking and savaging candidates or supporting them unless they raise their money the same way that everybody else does, so-called hard money in limited donations.
O'BRIEN: Well, congratulations on your victory.
I want to turn now and talk a little bit about your visit to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba briefly.
You said going in that you had concerns about what the U.S. military was doing in Guantanamo Bay.
Now that you're back, what's your take on what's there?
MCCAIN: My concern was and remains the process. We've had people there who have been there for as long as two years. We have not disposed of their cases over that period of time. I think the process of deciding whether they'd be put on trial or whether they be sent back to the countries they were found is what needs to be taken care of. It's so cumbersome and so bureaucratic that it's unclear when these individuals will be either brought to trial and charged in a tribunal or commission, depending on what you call it, and also their status needs to be clarified as to exactly what they are.
O'BRIEN: Obviously, as many people know, you have an interesting perspective on this issue, of course, serving nearly six years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. How do you think that perspective affects your take on what you've seen down in Guantanamo?
MCCAIN: Look, I hold no brief for many of these people. I am convinced that they are terrorists who are bent on the destruction of the United States of America. They were not fighting for any government or any declared war or anything like that. But I do believe that every human being deserves a right to have their case decided, either to put them on trial for their crimes or to release them. And this process has become so cumbersome and so bogged down with bureaucracy, everybody being afraid up to and including the deputy secretary of defense, Mr. Wolfowitz, that everything is in limbo.
We need to move forward with this process. There are many of them that need to be put on trial. In my opinion, from what I've seen, and there are many of them that need to be released.
O'BRIEN: Senator John McCain joining us this morning on a.m.
Nice to see you, sir.
Thanks for joining us.
MCCAIN: Thank you, Soledad.
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 December 11, 2003 - 08:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Senator John McCain takes a hard line on soft money and the Arizona Republican has invested a lot of political capital in the restricting of the flow of money into campaign coffers. A Supreme Court ruling yesterday upheld key portions of a campaign finance law that McCain helped to write.
And Senator McCain, who is just back from Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, joins us this morning from Capitol Hill.
Senator, good morning.
Nice to see you.
Thanks for joining us.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: Good morning, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: This...
MCCAIN: Good morning.
O'BRIEN: The campaign finance reform was really the centerpiece of your 2000 presidential run and you've also been working on this for a decade easily. All along people, I think it's fair to say, sometimes laughed at your enthusiasm for this bill, scoffed at your belief that it would eventually succeed and be upheld by the Supreme Court.
How do you feel now? Do you feel completely vindicated?
MCCAIN: Certainly I feel good, but I think it's a victory for the people of America and democracy to dramatically reduce the influence of special interests and I'm grateful for Russ Feingold, Chris Shays and Marty Meehan, who were my partners in this effort.
O'BRIEN: How do you think this ruling is going to specifically affect the presidential election in 2004?
MCCAIN: I don't think it'll have a lot of affect on the presidential election because that's a little bit different financing system, while that needs to be changed itself. But, Soledad, what it's going to change is that no longer can a member of Congress or the House or Senate pick up the phone, call up a union leader or a trial lawyer or the head of a corporation and say write me a check for a million dollars. And, by the way, legislation affecting you is pending before the Congress. The United States Supreme Court said that this system creates the appearance of or actual corruption and the reason why they were able to say that so definitely is because former senators submitted depositions that told how big money influences the legislative agenda and votes around here. And so --
O'BRIEN: But, Senator...
MCCAIN: ... that's what I think this is all about.
O'BRIEN: But, Senator, at the same time, clearly there are already groups that are mobilizing to work around these rules. And I want to read you a little bit of what Senator McClellan said. He said, "This law will not remove one dime from politics" that "soft money is not gone, it's just changed its address." And essentially as long as you have groups that are not really working in concert with the law makers, you're fine. You can get around the law.
MCCAIN: Yes, well, actually, Soledad, coming from the prime opponent of the legislation, I think you should consider that. Look, what this will do is 30 days before a primary, 60 days before a general election, none of these groups can run a broadcast ad that says -- that supports or opposes any candidate. That is huge. Look, I can't keep people from investing their money in the political process, nor do I want to. That's what free speech is all about.
But what the Supreme Court said, money is not free speech. Money is property. So therefore it can be limited in its use in a political campaign.
So, 60 days before the election, you will not see these ads that are attacking and savaging candidates or supporting them unless they raise their money the same way that everybody else does, so-called hard money in limited donations.
O'BRIEN: Well, congratulations on your victory.
I want to turn now and talk a little bit about your visit to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba briefly.
You said going in that you had concerns about what the U.S. military was doing in Guantanamo Bay.
Now that you're back, what's your take on what's there?
MCCAIN: My concern was and remains the process. We've had people there who have been there for as long as two years. We have not disposed of their cases over that period of time. I think the process of deciding whether they'd be put on trial or whether they be sent back to the countries they were found is what needs to be taken care of. It's so cumbersome and so bureaucratic that it's unclear when these individuals will be either brought to trial and charged in a tribunal or commission, depending on what you call it, and also their status needs to be clarified as to exactly what they are.
O'BRIEN: Obviously, as many people know, you have an interesting perspective on this issue, of course, serving nearly six years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. How do you think that perspective affects your take on what you've seen down in Guantanamo?
MCCAIN: Look, I hold no brief for many of these people. I am convinced that they are terrorists who are bent on the destruction of the United States of America. They were not fighting for any government or any declared war or anything like that. But I do believe that every human being deserves a right to have their case decided, either to put them on trial for their crimes or to release them. And this process has become so cumbersome and so bogged down with bureaucracy, everybody being afraid up to and including the deputy secretary of defense, Mr. Wolfowitz, that everything is in limbo.
We need to move forward with this process. There are many of them that need to be put on trial. In my opinion, from what I've seen, and there are many of them that need to be released.
O'BRIEN: Senator John McCain joining us this morning on a.m.
Nice to see you, sir.
Thanks for joining us.
MCCAIN: Thank you, Soledad.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
