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American Morning

Interview with Congressman Porter Goss

Aired January 21, 2004 - 09:06   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: So, what did fellow Republicans think of President Bush's speech?
Florida Congressman Porter Goss chairs the Select Committee on Intelligence; also sits on the Select Committee on Homeland Security. He joins us this morning.

Nice to see you, sir. Thanks for being with us.

REP. PORTER GOSS (R), FLORIDA: Soledad, thank you.

O'BRIEN: Seventy-six percent, when polled as they do, as they're, you know, finished listening to the speech, gave it a positive or a very positive reading. Some of the analysts the next day said they thought it was timid, in some cases they thought it was a little bit boring. What do you think?

I think it was a good speech. I think it was very strong. It was very sincere, well-thought out, obviously well-delivered. I think there were a lot of people poised to find the gaffe. They didn't find it. He took a lot of time about this. It was thoughtful.

I think the most important thing is the conviction he has about the United States of America and Americans. It's a wonderful, refreshing feeling. And after some of the sort of foolish points of debate we've been seeing lately in the presidentials, it was refreshing to come in and hear what our country is about and the good things we are doing. And I think he laid it out very well of where we're going.

O'BRIEN: The president talked about weapons of mass destruction programs in Iraq, but did not make any actual mention of actual weapons of mass destruction. So, first, I want to play a little clip of what he had to say last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Had we failed to act, the dictator's weapons of mass destruction programs would continue to this day. Had we failed to act, Security Council resolutions on Iraq would have been revealed as empty threats, weakening the United Nations and encouraging defiance by dictators around the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Weapons of mass destruction programs -- no mention of any intelligence issues or intelligence failures. Do you think he went far enough in that part of the speech?

GOSS: Yes, I do. I think that there is unfinished business, to be sure. Every day is a new day for the intelligence people. We go out there and get the best information we can, analyze it as well as we can, make good decisions on it.

I would say that we are probably a couple of years away from getting through all of the material and talking to all of the people we need to talk to about exactly what was going on, not only with the Saddam Hussein regime, but with some of the Taliban and some of the things that have been going on in North Korea, Libya, Iran and other places.

This is a daily chore for our national security people. Weapons of mass destruction proliferation is a serious threat for our country, for Americans at home and abroad, and we have to deal with it.

O'BRIEN: The bulk of the speech was spent on national security. Part of it was spent on the economy. Only 1,000 jobs were created last month. The president went through a litany of positive signs in the economy. But at the end of the day, some analysts say it's about the jobs, how many jobs created. Do you think that's going to be a big problem, a big issue to overcome?

GOSS: I think that jobs are always an issue, certainly at election time. It's one of the things we worry about when we go home and make sure that people have the opportunity. I think that creating a strong economy is the right way to resolve the problem rather than trying to create artificial programs that create temporary jobs.

And I think that strength in the economy is where the president is aimed. That's what his tax programs called for. That's what his reduction on business regulations is calling for. Putting some of the nonsense the trial lawyers are throwing at us aside. Those are the kinds of refreshing new points that he is going to ask Congress to do. He challenged us on that, and we'll see whether Congress can get it together and get something over the touchdown zone for that.

O'BRIEN: Some of the criticism -- and granted, the criticism is coming from Democrats, I'll give you -- is that no vision, they said, in the speech. It didn't look forward enough. It looked back (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

GOSS: Yes, I would take huge exception with that. And I'll tell you why. I've been to a lot of State of the Union speeches. Usually, it's something for everybody. This was not a something-for-everybody speech. This is, I'm the president of the United States, this my agenda, this is a great country, these are the problems, this is where we're going, and this is where we're going to have to solve all of these issues. And I thought it came out very well. I understood the package, I understand what my job is, and I'm ready to go to work. And I hope Democrats feel that way, too.

O'BRIEN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Mars and the moon, which were big issues a week and half ago, not make it into any speech at all? GOSS: I think that it's very clear that we are keeping our commitment to R&D and technology and the whole question of space. Space is very important to us. As you know, a lot of our communications and all of the national security apparatus that we are involved with in space, we needed...

O'BRIEN: Right, and tons of time spent on it in the last two weeks, and then suddenly nothing.

GOSS: I don't know why that wasn't in the speech particularly highlighted, but I think that we've set some goals there, and I think that's good.

O'BRIEN: Porter Goss joining us this morning. Nice to see you, Congressman. Thanks for being with us. We appreciate it.

GOSS: Thanks, Soledad. My pleasure.

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 21, 2004 - 09:06   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: So, what did fellow Republicans think of President Bush's speech?
Florida Congressman Porter Goss chairs the Select Committee on Intelligence; also sits on the Select Committee on Homeland Security. He joins us this morning.

Nice to see you, sir. Thanks for being with us.

REP. PORTER GOSS (R), FLORIDA: Soledad, thank you.

O'BRIEN: Seventy-six percent, when polled as they do, as they're, you know, finished listening to the speech, gave it a positive or a very positive reading. Some of the analysts the next day said they thought it was timid, in some cases they thought it was a little bit boring. What do you think?

I think it was a good speech. I think it was very strong. It was very sincere, well-thought out, obviously well-delivered. I think there were a lot of people poised to find the gaffe. They didn't find it. He took a lot of time about this. It was thoughtful.

I think the most important thing is the conviction he has about the United States of America and Americans. It's a wonderful, refreshing feeling. And after some of the sort of foolish points of debate we've been seeing lately in the presidentials, it was refreshing to come in and hear what our country is about and the good things we are doing. And I think he laid it out very well of where we're going.

O'BRIEN: The president talked about weapons of mass destruction programs in Iraq, but did not make any actual mention of actual weapons of mass destruction. So, first, I want to play a little clip of what he had to say last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Had we failed to act, the dictator's weapons of mass destruction programs would continue to this day. Had we failed to act, Security Council resolutions on Iraq would have been revealed as empty threats, weakening the United Nations and encouraging defiance by dictators around the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Weapons of mass destruction programs -- no mention of any intelligence issues or intelligence failures. Do you think he went far enough in that part of the speech?

GOSS: Yes, I do. I think that there is unfinished business, to be sure. Every day is a new day for the intelligence people. We go out there and get the best information we can, analyze it as well as we can, make good decisions on it.

I would say that we are probably a couple of years away from getting through all of the material and talking to all of the people we need to talk to about exactly what was going on, not only with the Saddam Hussein regime, but with some of the Taliban and some of the things that have been going on in North Korea, Libya, Iran and other places.

This is a daily chore for our national security people. Weapons of mass destruction proliferation is a serious threat for our country, for Americans at home and abroad, and we have to deal with it.

O'BRIEN: The bulk of the speech was spent on national security. Part of it was spent on the economy. Only 1,000 jobs were created last month. The president went through a litany of positive signs in the economy. But at the end of the day, some analysts say it's about the jobs, how many jobs created. Do you think that's going to be a big problem, a big issue to overcome?

GOSS: I think that jobs are always an issue, certainly at election time. It's one of the things we worry about when we go home and make sure that people have the opportunity. I think that creating a strong economy is the right way to resolve the problem rather than trying to create artificial programs that create temporary jobs.

And I think that strength in the economy is where the president is aimed. That's what his tax programs called for. That's what his reduction on business regulations is calling for. Putting some of the nonsense the trial lawyers are throwing at us aside. Those are the kinds of refreshing new points that he is going to ask Congress to do. He challenged us on that, and we'll see whether Congress can get it together and get something over the touchdown zone for that.

O'BRIEN: Some of the criticism -- and granted, the criticism is coming from Democrats, I'll give you -- is that no vision, they said, in the speech. It didn't look forward enough. It looked back (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

GOSS: Yes, I would take huge exception with that. And I'll tell you why. I've been to a lot of State of the Union speeches. Usually, it's something for everybody. This was not a something-for-everybody speech. This is, I'm the president of the United States, this my agenda, this is a great country, these are the problems, this is where we're going, and this is where we're going to have to solve all of these issues. And I thought it came out very well. I understood the package, I understand what my job is, and I'm ready to go to work. And I hope Democrats feel that way, too.

O'BRIEN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Mars and the moon, which were big issues a week and half ago, not make it into any speech at all? GOSS: I think that it's very clear that we are keeping our commitment to R&D and technology and the whole question of space. Space is very important to us. As you know, a lot of our communications and all of the national security apparatus that we are involved with in space, we needed...

O'BRIEN: Right, and tons of time spent on it in the last two weeks, and then suddenly nothing.

GOSS: I don't know why that wasn't in the speech particularly highlighted, but I think that we've set some goals there, and I think that's good.

O'BRIEN: Porter Goss joining us this morning. Nice to see you, Congressman. Thanks for being with us. We appreciate it.

GOSS: Thanks, Soledad. My pleasure.

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