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American Morning

'Gimme a Minute'

Aired December 12, 2003 - 08:35   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: Three topics, three experts, three minutes. It's "Gimme a Minute" on this Friday. And back with us Ramesh Ponnuru, senior editor of "The National Review."
Haven't seen you in months. How are you? Nice to see you.

RAMESH PONNURU, SR. EDITOR, "NATIONAL REVIEW": Just great.

HEMMER: Democratic strategist Donna Brazile. Welcome back, Donna. You've had a busy week. And Andy Borowitz from "The New Yorker."

Drew, good morning. Happy Friday.

ANDY BOROWITZ, "THE NEW YORKER": Good morning, Bill.

HEMMER: I want to start with Al Gore endorsing Howard Dean. Ramesh, since you're back with us again, let's start with you this time. He endorses Howard Dean, and Joe Lieberman's contributions go up 13 times. Al's Gain or Gore's loss? What do you think, Ramesh?

PONNURU: I think that this is helpful for Joe Lieberman. But look, the best you can say about this week is people are feeling sorry for him, so they're giving him money. You can't build a presidential campaign on pity.

HEMMER: Interesting. Sympathy for the senator, Donna, what do you think?

DONNA BRAZILE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, Joe Lieberman is enjoying a short burst of energy. But I believe the entire Democratic field has gotten a lift from Al Gore's historic endorsements.

HEMMER: We'll see if they sink or swim together, right, Andy?

BOROWITZ: You know, I think it's a wash. A new poll shows that most voters who heard Gore's speech actually lost consciousness before he got to the endorsement.

HEMMER: Is that a fact?

BOROWITZ: That's true.

HEMMER: We'll see in the primaries in New Hampshire. Iraqi reconstruction, a big topic right now. The president says if you're not helping out, forget it, you can't have a part of the pie.

Donna, start us off, you got a problem with this?

BRAZILE: Oh, absolutely. As a taxpayer, I have a real problem with this. Look, this is about winning the war on terrorism, not scoring points or taking, you know, revenge on our allies. I think the president should reverse this policy immediately.

HEMMER: Ramesh, what do you think? Sound policy or not?

PONNURU: Well, I think that the argument for it is that you have to create an incentive for people to be with American policy. On the other hand, this contracting thing does seem to mean that there's no incentive for countries to relieve the Iraqi debt, which is another American goal. So, I think I'm going to lean with the critics on this one.

HEMMER: You know what they're saying, Andy, Samoa and Uganda win here.

BOROWITZ: I know. Well, you know, and I have to recuse myself, because my island nation of Borowitzland is eligible for a contract.

HEMMER: You're not going to take advantage of that?

BOROWITZ: Well, I'm doing the power grid.

HEMMER: And you have time.

Michael Jackson, turns out earlier in the week we found an investigation back in February says these child molestation charges are unfounded.

Ramesh, what do you think about that? Is there new life for Michael Jackson right now? is he moonwalking his way out of it, or not, do you see?

PONNURU: Well, I mean, we've had one week of a leak that helped the Jackson case, and then the next thing you look at there's a leak against it. I think you have to withhold judgment until you get more evidence.

HEMMER: Sounds a bit like some legal spin. What about, Donna? Can he beat it?

BRAZILE: I hope he can beat the rap and become the King of Pop again. But you know, Michael is a father of three small children. It's time that peter pan grows up.

HEMMER: Andy?

BOROWITZ: I think this whole thing with the boy and Michael Jackson is turning into a case of he said, she said.

HEMMER: And Billy Jean was never your love, was she?

BOROWITZ: No.

HEMMER: Never.

Under the radar -- Donna, what do you think? What are you looking at?

BRAZILE: "The Boston Globe" reported this week that another Texas company stands to prosper from the new Medicare bill. I thought this was a bill intended to help seniors, not Texas companies.

HEMMER: If you can figure it out and get through the thing; it's a compendium.

Ramesh, what's under your radar?

PONNURU: The antiterrorism rally that thousands of people in Baghdad went to this week.

HEMMER: Why no coverage there?

PONNURU: Well, it has been a news-filled week, but you'd think that was a significant development.

HEMMER: How many people turned out?

PONNURU: Several thousand.

HEMMER: Very good. You answered three questions in about 12 seconds.

HEMMER: Andy, how about you?

BOROWITZ: In a new interview in "Rolling Stone," John Kerry uses two four-letter words, and one of them is "Gore."

HEMMER: Love it. Have a great weekend and a good holiday. Donna, thanks. Ramesh, good to see you again. And, Andy, as always, enjoy the weekend.

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 12, 2003 - 08:35   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Three topics, three experts, three minutes. It's "Gimme a Minute" on this Friday. And back with us Ramesh Ponnuru, senior editor of "The National Review."
Haven't seen you in months. How are you? Nice to see you.

RAMESH PONNURU, SR. EDITOR, "NATIONAL REVIEW": Just great.

HEMMER: Democratic strategist Donna Brazile. Welcome back, Donna. You've had a busy week. And Andy Borowitz from "The New Yorker."

Drew, good morning. Happy Friday.

ANDY BOROWITZ, "THE NEW YORKER": Good morning, Bill.

HEMMER: I want to start with Al Gore endorsing Howard Dean. Ramesh, since you're back with us again, let's start with you this time. He endorses Howard Dean, and Joe Lieberman's contributions go up 13 times. Al's Gain or Gore's loss? What do you think, Ramesh?

PONNURU: I think that this is helpful for Joe Lieberman. But look, the best you can say about this week is people are feeling sorry for him, so they're giving him money. You can't build a presidential campaign on pity.

HEMMER: Interesting. Sympathy for the senator, Donna, what do you think?

DONNA BRAZILE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, Joe Lieberman is enjoying a short burst of energy. But I believe the entire Democratic field has gotten a lift from Al Gore's historic endorsements.

HEMMER: We'll see if they sink or swim together, right, Andy?

BOROWITZ: You know, I think it's a wash. A new poll shows that most voters who heard Gore's speech actually lost consciousness before he got to the endorsement.

HEMMER: Is that a fact?

BOROWITZ: That's true.

HEMMER: We'll see in the primaries in New Hampshire. Iraqi reconstruction, a big topic right now. The president says if you're not helping out, forget it, you can't have a part of the pie.

Donna, start us off, you got a problem with this?

BRAZILE: Oh, absolutely. As a taxpayer, I have a real problem with this. Look, this is about winning the war on terrorism, not scoring points or taking, you know, revenge on our allies. I think the president should reverse this policy immediately.

HEMMER: Ramesh, what do you think? Sound policy or not?

PONNURU: Well, I think that the argument for it is that you have to create an incentive for people to be with American policy. On the other hand, this contracting thing does seem to mean that there's no incentive for countries to relieve the Iraqi debt, which is another American goal. So, I think I'm going to lean with the critics on this one.

HEMMER: You know what they're saying, Andy, Samoa and Uganda win here.

BOROWITZ: I know. Well, you know, and I have to recuse myself, because my island nation of Borowitzland is eligible for a contract.

HEMMER: You're not going to take advantage of that?

BOROWITZ: Well, I'm doing the power grid.

HEMMER: And you have time.

Michael Jackson, turns out earlier in the week we found an investigation back in February says these child molestation charges are unfounded.

Ramesh, what do you think about that? Is there new life for Michael Jackson right now? is he moonwalking his way out of it, or not, do you see?

PONNURU: Well, I mean, we've had one week of a leak that helped the Jackson case, and then the next thing you look at there's a leak against it. I think you have to withhold judgment until you get more evidence.

HEMMER: Sounds a bit like some legal spin. What about, Donna? Can he beat it?

BRAZILE: I hope he can beat the rap and become the King of Pop again. But you know, Michael is a father of three small children. It's time that peter pan grows up.

HEMMER: Andy?

BOROWITZ: I think this whole thing with the boy and Michael Jackson is turning into a case of he said, she said.

HEMMER: And Billy Jean was never your love, was she?

BOROWITZ: No.

HEMMER: Never.

Under the radar -- Donna, what do you think? What are you looking at?

BRAZILE: "The Boston Globe" reported this week that another Texas company stands to prosper from the new Medicare bill. I thought this was a bill intended to help seniors, not Texas companies.

HEMMER: If you can figure it out and get through the thing; it's a compendium.

Ramesh, what's under your radar?

PONNURU: The antiterrorism rally that thousands of people in Baghdad went to this week.

HEMMER: Why no coverage there?

PONNURU: Well, it has been a news-filled week, but you'd think that was a significant development.

HEMMER: How many people turned out?

PONNURU: Several thousand.

HEMMER: Very good. You answered three questions in about 12 seconds.

HEMMER: Andy, how about you?

BOROWITZ: In a new interview in "Rolling Stone," John Kerry uses two four-letter words, and one of them is "Gore."

HEMMER: Love it. Have a great weekend and a good holiday. Donna, thanks. Ramesh, good to see you again. And, Andy, as always, enjoy the weekend.

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