Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

'Gimme a Minute'

Aired January 02, 2004 - 08:37   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: Time now for "Gimme a Minute." It's Friday. Time to beat the clock also.
Democratic strategist Donna Brazile is with us in the New Year.

Nice to see you, Donna. Happy New Year.

DONNA BRAZILE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Happy New Year to you as well.

HEMMER: Jonah Goldberg, National Review Online. Nice to see you, Jonah.

And Andy Borowitz from "The New Yorker" also here. Hello, Drew. How are you?

ANDY BOROWITZ, "THE NEW YORKER": I'm good. How are you, Bill.

HEMMER: I'm doing just fine. Donna, let's kick it off. The Attorney General John Ashcroft pulls himself out and away from the CIA leak investigation. Charles Schumer, a bigtime critic, seemed satisfied. Are you?

BRAZILE: Well, I think we all should be satisfied. It took him three months to clear the deck, and hopefully this prosecutor will be able to go in the White House, and find out the culprit and bring him to jail.

HEMMER: This isn't quite Oklahoma-LSU, Jonah, but does Ashcroft win here?

JONAH GOLDBERG, NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE: I think it was clearly the smart move for Ashcroft, because otherwise, he wouldn't have done it. He didn't want to recuse himself from this. He didn't do it three months ago. And I think it shows that there actually has been progress on this investigation all along, which is not something that you'd ever hear from the Democrats.

HEMMER: Andy, what do you got?

BOROWITZ: Well, you know, the White House is now saying that the leak was an isolated case, and it may have come from Canada.

HEMMER: And next they're going to investigate Andy Borowitz's humor. The attorney general's on that right away.

HEMMER: Let's talk about security over the New Year's holiday. Representative Chris Shays, pretty strong comments, saying he would not go into Times Square, it wasn't safe. Well, we all know what happened, Jonah, nothing happened, it was safe in the end. Does he regret those comments now?

GOLDBERG: Oh, I don't know. Who can read his mind? Look, the problem here is that all of these cliches are true, including the ones that contradict each other. People should be careful, at the same time, people should live their lives. You know, Shays comes from sort of a fraidy-cat Connecticut, you know, suburb of New York, and it's not surprising he'd say something like that.

HEMMER: Donna, how tough is your neighborhood?

BRAZILE: Very tough. We partied in Washington D.C. Shame on Chris Shays and any elected official who would tell us to be fearful and not go out and do what we normally do on New Year's Eve.

HEMMER: Andy?

BOROWITZ: My question is, why didn't Chris Shays warn us to stay at home the weekend "The Cat in the Hat" was released?

HEMMER: Didn't we see Andy -- go ahead, you got more?

BOROWITZ: No, that's it. I'm just saying, that would have been helpful.

HEMMER: Seven seconds. Tick, tick, tick, tick.

Hey, listen, democratic politics right now, Donna, I want you to start us off. Howard Dean is essentially asking Terry MaCauliffe to get his rivals off his back, says they're picking on to much. Does he have a point.

BRAZILE: Well, some of the rivals have gone up to the line. But look, Dean knows how to throw a good punch. There's no real cure for this until the vote is decided. I would suggest Howard Dean punch back, slug it out, and pretty soon the voters will narrow the field for him.

HEMMER: Jonah, what do you think, is he getting too much heat?

GOLDBERG: No, I think he deserves all the heat he gets. I can't remember a candidate who has said more outlandish or just plain silly things, you know, without getting called on it enough. It's unbelievable. But what's going on here is that the Democrats are basically forming their firing squads in a circle, and Howard Dean is in the middle, and he should just weather it out.

HEMMER: He's wearing the target. The politics of thick skin, huh, Andy?

BOROWITZ: You know, I think instead of airing their disputes in public, the Democrats should do it at their debates, where no one's watching.

HEMMER: Except for this Sunday when you can see it live on CNN.

Under the radar, you get your choice today, Jonah, you can pick an undercover topic or you can pick what you'd like to see in the new year.

GOLDBERG: Oh, had I known that -- well, my undercovered topic is that it turns out that despite all the bleeding from various Democrats, "The New York Times" did an investigation of Halliburton and found out there was no profiteering, and also it turns out that Halliburton did not have a sweetheart deal to begin with; it's a longstanding contract.

What I'd like to see in the New Year, I'll have to think about.

HEMMER: OK, you do that.

Donna, how about yourself? What's under your radar?

BRAZILE: Well, fiscal restraint is finally paying dividends at the state level. Most state legislators will come back this year and won't have to plug those big budget polls.

Now for the New Year, I'm an LSU alumni, and, Heidi, I'm sorry, LSU is No. 1. Go Tigers.

HEMMER: Andy?

BOROWITZ: Well, I have no wishes for the New Year, but I have some good news from Libya, which is that Colonel Moammar Gadhafi has agreed to destroy his stockpile unconventional hats.

HEMMER: Are they going to throw the robes and the tent in there, too, Andy? I'm leaving that to you.

Have a great weekend, you three, OK, Jonah, Donna, Andy. We'll see you next Friday all right.

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 January 2, 2004 - 08:37   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Time now for "Gimme a Minute." It's Friday. Time to beat the clock also.
Democratic strategist Donna Brazile is with us in the New Year.

Nice to see you, Donna. Happy New Year.

DONNA BRAZILE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Happy New Year to you as well.

HEMMER: Jonah Goldberg, National Review Online. Nice to see you, Jonah.

And Andy Borowitz from "The New Yorker" also here. Hello, Drew. How are you?

ANDY BOROWITZ, "THE NEW YORKER": I'm good. How are you, Bill.

HEMMER: I'm doing just fine. Donna, let's kick it off. The Attorney General John Ashcroft pulls himself out and away from the CIA leak investigation. Charles Schumer, a bigtime critic, seemed satisfied. Are you?

BRAZILE: Well, I think we all should be satisfied. It took him three months to clear the deck, and hopefully this prosecutor will be able to go in the White House, and find out the culprit and bring him to jail.

HEMMER: This isn't quite Oklahoma-LSU, Jonah, but does Ashcroft win here?

JONAH GOLDBERG, NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE: I think it was clearly the smart move for Ashcroft, because otherwise, he wouldn't have done it. He didn't want to recuse himself from this. He didn't do it three months ago. And I think it shows that there actually has been progress on this investigation all along, which is not something that you'd ever hear from the Democrats.

HEMMER: Andy, what do you got?

BOROWITZ: Well, you know, the White House is now saying that the leak was an isolated case, and it may have come from Canada.

HEMMER: And next they're going to investigate Andy Borowitz's humor. The attorney general's on that right away.

HEMMER: Let's talk about security over the New Year's holiday. Representative Chris Shays, pretty strong comments, saying he would not go into Times Square, it wasn't safe. Well, we all know what happened, Jonah, nothing happened, it was safe in the end. Does he regret those comments now?

GOLDBERG: Oh, I don't know. Who can read his mind? Look, the problem here is that all of these cliches are true, including the ones that contradict each other. People should be careful, at the same time, people should live their lives. You know, Shays comes from sort of a fraidy-cat Connecticut, you know, suburb of New York, and it's not surprising he'd say something like that.

HEMMER: Donna, how tough is your neighborhood?

BRAZILE: Very tough. We partied in Washington D.C. Shame on Chris Shays and any elected official who would tell us to be fearful and not go out and do what we normally do on New Year's Eve.

HEMMER: Andy?

BOROWITZ: My question is, why didn't Chris Shays warn us to stay at home the weekend "The Cat in the Hat" was released?

HEMMER: Didn't we see Andy -- go ahead, you got more?

BOROWITZ: No, that's it. I'm just saying, that would have been helpful.

HEMMER: Seven seconds. Tick, tick, tick, tick.

Hey, listen, democratic politics right now, Donna, I want you to start us off. Howard Dean is essentially asking Terry MaCauliffe to get his rivals off his back, says they're picking on to much. Does he have a point.

BRAZILE: Well, some of the rivals have gone up to the line. But look, Dean knows how to throw a good punch. There's no real cure for this until the vote is decided. I would suggest Howard Dean punch back, slug it out, and pretty soon the voters will narrow the field for him.

HEMMER: Jonah, what do you think, is he getting too much heat?

GOLDBERG: No, I think he deserves all the heat he gets. I can't remember a candidate who has said more outlandish or just plain silly things, you know, without getting called on it enough. It's unbelievable. But what's going on here is that the Democrats are basically forming their firing squads in a circle, and Howard Dean is in the middle, and he should just weather it out.

HEMMER: He's wearing the target. The politics of thick skin, huh, Andy?

BOROWITZ: You know, I think instead of airing their disputes in public, the Democrats should do it at their debates, where no one's watching.

HEMMER: Except for this Sunday when you can see it live on CNN.

Under the radar, you get your choice today, Jonah, you can pick an undercover topic or you can pick what you'd like to see in the new year.

GOLDBERG: Oh, had I known that -- well, my undercovered topic is that it turns out that despite all the bleeding from various Democrats, "The New York Times" did an investigation of Halliburton and found out there was no profiteering, and also it turns out that Halliburton did not have a sweetheart deal to begin with; it's a longstanding contract.

What I'd like to see in the New Year, I'll have to think about.

HEMMER: OK, you do that.

Donna, how about yourself? What's under your radar?

BRAZILE: Well, fiscal restraint is finally paying dividends at the state level. Most state legislators will come back this year and won't have to plug those big budget polls.

Now for the New Year, I'm an LSU alumni, and, Heidi, I'm sorry, LSU is No. 1. Go Tigers.

HEMMER: Andy?

BOROWITZ: Well, I have no wishes for the New Year, but I have some good news from Libya, which is that Colonel Moammar Gadhafi has agreed to destroy his stockpile unconventional hats.

HEMMER: Are they going to throw the robes and the tent in there, too, Andy? I'm leaving that to you.

Have a great weekend, you three, OK, Jonah, Donna, Andy. We'll see you next Friday all right.

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