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American Morning

Interview with Terry Holt

Aired February 10, 2004 - 08:33   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: Back to presidential politics. The Democrats will get attention, two more primaries today. The White House will not be silent. President Bush is on the road touting the economy, and attacking Democratic rivals.
Terry Holt, a campaign spokesperson, is with us from D.C. To talk about this.

Good morning to you, sir. How are you today?

TERRY HOLT, BUSH CAMPAIGN SPOKESMAN: Good morning, Bill.

HEMMER: It's a pleasure to have you here. The White House insists you are not in campaign mode yet. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, what is it?

HOLT: Well, it's the president trying to do his job. Part of the president's job is to keep our focus on the nation's most important business, the national security of this country, homeland security and the economy. You know, we have gone through a very difficult period in the economy. It looks like it's starting to pick up and the president wants to keep our focus on those things.

HEMMER: I want to show you, Terry, if I could, some poll numbers here, likely voter's choice for president right now in our polling, CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup, one-point lead over John Kerry. Do these numbers concern you?

HOLT: Well, obviously, we have seen an awful lot of noise in the political environment over the last several months, a lot of angry, reckless speeches by Democratic candidates. They are all kind of Howard Dean now, even if they have a different face. This election is going to be very, very close, we have said that from the very beginning. We expect it to have quite a few lead changes, and we are prepared for a very vigorous debate over the next several months. We have got 265 days left in this election.

HEMMER: A couple more things I want to show to our viewers. The approval rating is back up a little bit. Keep in mind, these numbers are before the "Meet the Press" interview this past Sunday, 52 percent approved. Go to the next screen, registered Democrats choice for the nomination, John Kerry, well in front of all the other candidates. If John Kerry is the nominee, how do you stack up against him in the general election?

HOLT: Well, obviously, you know, John Kerry is a liberal Democratic senator from Massachusetts, but it's not so much liberalism as his it's his phonyism. It's a combination of contradictions of his hypocrisy in his record that really lead us believe that his principles may be in question, that he doesn't stand firmly on any ground, whether he was for the war and supported the president two years ago -- or last year, or whether now Howard Dean -- he has eclipsed Howard Dean in the primaries, he's against the war, whether he was an honorably serving member of the military in Vietnam or whether he's cut intelligence spending since Vietnam. There's a whole range of contradictions that we think are going to be troubling to most Americans.

HEMMER: Just to be clear, you are calling him a phony?

HOLT: Well, you know, he says he's going to show special interests the door, but he's taken millions and millions of dollars. He's the No. 1 serving senator to take special interest money over the last 15 years. It seems hypocritical and a bit contradictory.

HEMMER: Here's another poll number I want your share and get your reaction to. The question went like this, inability to find WMD, does it make you less likely to trust President Bush on other issues? 44 percent say yes, 51 percent say no. How is that affecting the re- election message from the White House?

HOLT: Well, obviously the war in Iraq, the global war on terror, is very much on the minds of most Americans. I think, though, that most Americans understood that a brutal dictatorship that the world had agreed, that the United Nations had agreed, was a danger to everyone, as the president said, a grave and gathering threat, that generally speaking, most Americans think that to play offense against terrorists, to go to their territory, rather than allow them to come to the United States, that we'd rather fight there than fight here, and ultimately, I think that's what it comes down to.

HEMMER: Terry Holt, thanks, down in D.C. We'll watch it later today on the Democratic side. Appreciate it.

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 February 10, 2004 - 08:33   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Back to presidential politics. The Democrats will get attention, two more primaries today. The White House will not be silent. President Bush is on the road touting the economy, and attacking Democratic rivals.
Terry Holt, a campaign spokesperson, is with us from D.C. To talk about this.

Good morning to you, sir. How are you today?

TERRY HOLT, BUSH CAMPAIGN SPOKESMAN: Good morning, Bill.

HEMMER: It's a pleasure to have you here. The White House insists you are not in campaign mode yet. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, what is it?

HOLT: Well, it's the president trying to do his job. Part of the president's job is to keep our focus on the nation's most important business, the national security of this country, homeland security and the economy. You know, we have gone through a very difficult period in the economy. It looks like it's starting to pick up and the president wants to keep our focus on those things.

HEMMER: I want to show you, Terry, if I could, some poll numbers here, likely voter's choice for president right now in our polling, CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup, one-point lead over John Kerry. Do these numbers concern you?

HOLT: Well, obviously, we have seen an awful lot of noise in the political environment over the last several months, a lot of angry, reckless speeches by Democratic candidates. They are all kind of Howard Dean now, even if they have a different face. This election is going to be very, very close, we have said that from the very beginning. We expect it to have quite a few lead changes, and we are prepared for a very vigorous debate over the next several months. We have got 265 days left in this election.

HEMMER: A couple more things I want to show to our viewers. The approval rating is back up a little bit. Keep in mind, these numbers are before the "Meet the Press" interview this past Sunday, 52 percent approved. Go to the next screen, registered Democrats choice for the nomination, John Kerry, well in front of all the other candidates. If John Kerry is the nominee, how do you stack up against him in the general election?

HOLT: Well, obviously, you know, John Kerry is a liberal Democratic senator from Massachusetts, but it's not so much liberalism as his it's his phonyism. It's a combination of contradictions of his hypocrisy in his record that really lead us believe that his principles may be in question, that he doesn't stand firmly on any ground, whether he was for the war and supported the president two years ago -- or last year, or whether now Howard Dean -- he has eclipsed Howard Dean in the primaries, he's against the war, whether he was an honorably serving member of the military in Vietnam or whether he's cut intelligence spending since Vietnam. There's a whole range of contradictions that we think are going to be troubling to most Americans.

HEMMER: Just to be clear, you are calling him a phony?

HOLT: Well, you know, he says he's going to show special interests the door, but he's taken millions and millions of dollars. He's the No. 1 serving senator to take special interest money over the last 15 years. It seems hypocritical and a bit contradictory.

HEMMER: Here's another poll number I want your share and get your reaction to. The question went like this, inability to find WMD, does it make you less likely to trust President Bush on other issues? 44 percent say yes, 51 percent say no. How is that affecting the re- election message from the White House?

HOLT: Well, obviously the war in Iraq, the global war on terror, is very much on the minds of most Americans. I think, though, that most Americans understood that a brutal dictatorship that the world had agreed, that the United Nations had agreed, was a danger to everyone, as the president said, a grave and gathering threat, that generally speaking, most Americans think that to play offense against terrorists, to go to their territory, rather than allow them to come to the United States, that we'd rather fight there than fight here, and ultimately, I think that's what it comes down to.

HEMMER: Terry Holt, thanks, down in D.C. We'll watch it later today on the Democratic side. Appreciate it.

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