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American Morning
'Gimme a Minute'
Aired December 19, 2003 - 08:38 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: If it's Friday, it's 'Gimme a Minute' time. So let's round up our usual suspects, as we always do. From Washington this morning, Jonah Goldberg. He is the editor of "The National Review Online."
Good morning to you, Jonah.
JONAH GOLDBERG, "NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE": Good morning, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Democratic strategist Donna Brazile joins us this morning as well.
Hey, Donna. Good morning.
DONNA BRAZILE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Good morning, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: In New York, Andy Borowitz of "The New Yorker" is with us, as well.
Hey, Andy, good morning.
ANDY BOROWITZ, "THE NEW YORKER": Good morning, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: All right, let's get going. We're going to start with Donna today. Donna, David Kay, the man who is leading the hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Word is now that he's on the verge of resignation. Also, the president said in an interview when he was asked whether -- he said what's the difference when he was asked whether there was a difference between Saddam Hussein having weapons of mass destruction, or just the intent to have weapons of mass destruction. He said, what's the difference. My question to you this morning, is there a difference?
BRAZILE: Absolutely. Look, we just cannot sweep these claims under the rug. The president, and the entire administration should be held accountable on the claim that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and they posed a risk to the United States.
O'BRIEN: Jonah, Saddam Hussein is caught. Does it really matter now?
GOLDBERG: I think it does matter. And I do think that there's no question it's a political liability for Bush. The question is, how much of one, if they never find WMD. It certainly qualifies as a huge intelligence failure, regardless. But let's keep in mind that if they don't find WMD, that actually makes this even more of a moral act. Saddam was a much worse guy than, say, Milosevic. O'BRIEN: There goes the Bill. But, Andy, weigh in anyway. What do you think?
BOROWITZ: Well, I'm not so gloomy about the hunt for deadly weapons, because we already found several cans of spam, so we're getting warm.
O'BRIEN: So close then, obviously.
Let's move on to our next topic, John Hinckley, the man who tried to assassinate President Reagan back in 1981, is now going to have unsupervised visits to visit his parents.
Reaction to that, Jonah.
GOLDBERG: To be honest, I really can't get worked up about this. It's not as if they don't do this, that other insane would-be assassins will be deterred? I mean, the whole point of being insane is that you're not going to be deterred.
This is the system that we have. I guess I probably wouldn't let him out, but I don't think it's a big deal.
O'BRIEN: Donna, mental health experts say he's ready to go.
BRAZILE: Well, there are a lot of crazy people and other people walking around D.C., and I hope the mental health people are out there with the police and firefighters to try to stop him from crossing the street, especially on my block.
O'BRIEN: Firefighters?
Andy, weigh in on this for me.
BOROWITZ: Here's an idea, I think they should allow John Hinckley to visit Saddam. That would be a good idea.
O'BRIEN: Interesting thought there.
Let's talk a little pop culture, shall we, this morning. Numbers do not lie. Party girl Paris Hilton did so much better in the demographics than the president and Diane Sawyer sitting down together. I'm not going to tell you which one I watched, but I want to hear from Donna what she thinks this says about our great nation.
O'BRIEN: Well, more people voted for Ruben and Clay than participated -- more young people voted for Ruben and Clay than participated in the 2000 presidential election. I don't think it says a lot. I did watch Paris Hilton, by the way.
O'BRIEN: She's revealing. Jonah, did you?
GOLDBERG: I didn't watch it. I was actually out of the country. But I got to say, I don't think this is a big deal. I do think that it underscores that a huge chunk of America and a huge chunk of young people don't care about politics and don't care to be informed about current events. We should keep that in mind the next time we all cry about low voter turnout among young people.
O'BRIEN: They want to be entertained at the end of the day -- Andy, you think that's it?
BOROWITZ: You know, I don't like making fun of the rich and privileged, so I didn't watch either show.
O'BRIEN: All right, Jonah, you're going to start us off with the undercovered story of the week. What do you think it was?
GOLDBERG: On December 14th, "The London Telegraph" ran a story about discovering a memo from Saddam's former chief of intelligence to Saddam about how Muhammad Atta had received training under Abu Nidal in Baghdad to destroy the targets that they had in mind. Two months later, the World Trade Centers came down.
O'BRIEN: Interesting.
Donna, what do you think it is?
BRAZILE: Well, I'm going to remain focused on those Americans this year who are still out of work. Their unemployment benefits will expire this weekend. I hope Congress and the administration care a little and put something in their stocking before the end of the year.
O'BRIEN: Here, here. I vote with that, too.
Andy, what do you think?
BOROWITZ: This is big news. The FDA approved a new morning- after pill that makes men stay for breakfast and call when they say they will.
O'BRIEN: Finally, finally. We're glad to hear that.
BOROWITZ: Medical science breakthrough.
O'BRIEN: Finally coming through for all of us.
You guys as always, thanks so much. Happy holidays to you, as well. Nice to see you.
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 19, 2003 - 08:38 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: If it's Friday, it's 'Gimme a Minute' time. So let's round up our usual suspects, as we always do. From Washington this morning, Jonah Goldberg. He is the editor of "The National Review Online."
Good morning to you, Jonah.
JONAH GOLDBERG, "NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE": Good morning, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Democratic strategist Donna Brazile joins us this morning as well.
Hey, Donna. Good morning.
DONNA BRAZILE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Good morning, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: In New York, Andy Borowitz of "The New Yorker" is with us, as well.
Hey, Andy, good morning.
ANDY BOROWITZ, "THE NEW YORKER": Good morning, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: All right, let's get going. We're going to start with Donna today. Donna, David Kay, the man who is leading the hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Word is now that he's on the verge of resignation. Also, the president said in an interview when he was asked whether -- he said what's the difference when he was asked whether there was a difference between Saddam Hussein having weapons of mass destruction, or just the intent to have weapons of mass destruction. He said, what's the difference. My question to you this morning, is there a difference?
BRAZILE: Absolutely. Look, we just cannot sweep these claims under the rug. The president, and the entire administration should be held accountable on the claim that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and they posed a risk to the United States.
O'BRIEN: Jonah, Saddam Hussein is caught. Does it really matter now?
GOLDBERG: I think it does matter. And I do think that there's no question it's a political liability for Bush. The question is, how much of one, if they never find WMD. It certainly qualifies as a huge intelligence failure, regardless. But let's keep in mind that if they don't find WMD, that actually makes this even more of a moral act. Saddam was a much worse guy than, say, Milosevic. O'BRIEN: There goes the Bill. But, Andy, weigh in anyway. What do you think?
BOROWITZ: Well, I'm not so gloomy about the hunt for deadly weapons, because we already found several cans of spam, so we're getting warm.
O'BRIEN: So close then, obviously.
Let's move on to our next topic, John Hinckley, the man who tried to assassinate President Reagan back in 1981, is now going to have unsupervised visits to visit his parents.
Reaction to that, Jonah.
GOLDBERG: To be honest, I really can't get worked up about this. It's not as if they don't do this, that other insane would-be assassins will be deterred? I mean, the whole point of being insane is that you're not going to be deterred.
This is the system that we have. I guess I probably wouldn't let him out, but I don't think it's a big deal.
O'BRIEN: Donna, mental health experts say he's ready to go.
BRAZILE: Well, there are a lot of crazy people and other people walking around D.C., and I hope the mental health people are out there with the police and firefighters to try to stop him from crossing the street, especially on my block.
O'BRIEN: Firefighters?
Andy, weigh in on this for me.
BOROWITZ: Here's an idea, I think they should allow John Hinckley to visit Saddam. That would be a good idea.
O'BRIEN: Interesting thought there.
Let's talk a little pop culture, shall we, this morning. Numbers do not lie. Party girl Paris Hilton did so much better in the demographics than the president and Diane Sawyer sitting down together. I'm not going to tell you which one I watched, but I want to hear from Donna what she thinks this says about our great nation.
O'BRIEN: Well, more people voted for Ruben and Clay than participated -- more young people voted for Ruben and Clay than participated in the 2000 presidential election. I don't think it says a lot. I did watch Paris Hilton, by the way.
O'BRIEN: She's revealing. Jonah, did you?
GOLDBERG: I didn't watch it. I was actually out of the country. But I got to say, I don't think this is a big deal. I do think that it underscores that a huge chunk of America and a huge chunk of young people don't care about politics and don't care to be informed about current events. We should keep that in mind the next time we all cry about low voter turnout among young people.
O'BRIEN: They want to be entertained at the end of the day -- Andy, you think that's it?
BOROWITZ: You know, I don't like making fun of the rich and privileged, so I didn't watch either show.
O'BRIEN: All right, Jonah, you're going to start us off with the undercovered story of the week. What do you think it was?
GOLDBERG: On December 14th, "The London Telegraph" ran a story about discovering a memo from Saddam's former chief of intelligence to Saddam about how Muhammad Atta had received training under Abu Nidal in Baghdad to destroy the targets that they had in mind. Two months later, the World Trade Centers came down.
O'BRIEN: Interesting.
Donna, what do you think it is?
BRAZILE: Well, I'm going to remain focused on those Americans this year who are still out of work. Their unemployment benefits will expire this weekend. I hope Congress and the administration care a little and put something in their stocking before the end of the year.
O'BRIEN: Here, here. I vote with that, too.
Andy, what do you think?
BOROWITZ: This is big news. The FDA approved a new morning- after pill that makes men stay for breakfast and call when they say they will.
O'BRIEN: Finally, finally. We're glad to hear that.
BOROWITZ: Medical science breakthrough.
O'BRIEN: Finally coming through for all of us.
You guys as always, thanks so much. Happy holidays to you, as well. Nice to see you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
