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American Morning
White House Beginning to Ramp Up Political Activities
Aired February 10, 2004 - 07:36 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: As the Democrats go head to head, the White House is beginning to ramp up its own political activities. The president today expected to trumpet his domestic agenda, including tax cuts, when he meets with a group of economic leaders.
To the White House and Dana Bash for more on this this morning -- good morning, there.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.
And the president is definitely kicking up his reelection campaign a notch this week. He is starting to hit back against Democrats who have been attacking him, especially on economic policies, over the past few months.
Now, Democratic front runner John Kerry wants to repeal some of the $2 trillion in tax cuts that Mr. Bush has enacted in order to pay for health care, among other things. The president, visiting the very important State of Missouri, said what Democrats really want to do is raise taxes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They're going to raise the taxes and increase the size of the federal government, which would be bad for the United States economy. People got to understand, and listen to the rhetoric carefully, when they say we're going to repeal Bush's tax cuts, that means they're going to raise your taxes and that's wrong. And that's bad economics.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now, although there are lots of issues out there, the president's political advisers say when they look back through recent history, incumbent presidents have either made it or really not made it because of the economy. That is why the president is focusing on that all week this week and tomorrow in -- excuse me, Thursday in the State of Pennsylvania, another very important state -- Bill.
HEMMER: Dana, on the reelection front, you know, the White House has an awful lot of cash stored up. At what point when John Kerry, if he continues to do the way he's doing and winning these primaries and caucuses, at what point does the White House go into those cash reserves and start using it against him?
BASH: Well, the short answer is likely very soon. He's got about $100 million, even more, in the bank, and the president's political advisers have said that it really wasn't worth it to spend that on ads until there was a clear front runner, until the Democrats really stopped fighting each other. Now they are definitely fighting the president. John Kerry is out there. So they expect to perhaps get some ads out there in the next several weeks, even by at the end of February, perhaps early March -- Bill.
HEMMER: Dana Bash, thanks, from the front lawn this morning.
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 - 07:36 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: As the Democrats go head to head, the White House is beginning to ramp up its own political activities. The president today expected to trumpet his domestic agenda, including tax cuts, when he meets with a group of economic leaders.
To the White House and Dana Bash for more on this this morning -- good morning, there.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.
And the president is definitely kicking up his reelection campaign a notch this week. He is starting to hit back against Democrats who have been attacking him, especially on economic policies, over the past few months.
Now, Democratic front runner John Kerry wants to repeal some of the $2 trillion in tax cuts that Mr. Bush has enacted in order to pay for health care, among other things. The president, visiting the very important State of Missouri, said what Democrats really want to do is raise taxes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They're going to raise the taxes and increase the size of the federal government, which would be bad for the United States economy. People got to understand, and listen to the rhetoric carefully, when they say we're going to repeal Bush's tax cuts, that means they're going to raise your taxes and that's wrong. And that's bad economics.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now, although there are lots of issues out there, the president's political advisers say when they look back through recent history, incumbent presidents have either made it or really not made it because of the economy. That is why the president is focusing on that all week this week and tomorrow in -- excuse me, Thursday in the State of Pennsylvania, another very important state -- Bill.
HEMMER: Dana, on the reelection front, you know, the White House has an awful lot of cash stored up. At what point when John Kerry, if he continues to do the way he's doing and winning these primaries and caucuses, at what point does the White House go into those cash reserves and start using it against him?
BASH: Well, the short answer is likely very soon. He's got about $100 million, even more, in the bank, and the president's political advisers have said that it really wasn't worth it to spend that on ads until there was a clear front runner, until the Democrats really stopped fighting each other. Now they are definitely fighting the president. John Kerry is out there. So they expect to perhaps get some ads out there in the next several weeks, even by at the end of February, perhaps early March -- Bill.
HEMMER: Dana Bash, thanks, from the front lawn this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
