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CNN Live Sunday

Interview With Richard Gephardt

Aired December 14, 2003 - 15:31   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.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: As Carol and the Reverend Sharpton pointed out among Democrats support for the war or not has been a campaign litmus test, certainly a lighting rod. If things go better in that country, to what extent must the Democrats move on to another issue?
Representative Richard Gephardt of Missouri live from Charleston, South Carolina now. Representative Gephardt good to have you with us.

REP. RICHARD GEPHARDT, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Good afternoon, Miles.

O'BRIEN: Thanks for your patience waiting for us as the breaking news transpired here. To what extent does the administration get some credit here and are you willing to give them any credit on this moment?

GEPHARDT: Well of course, they do, but now the rest of the hard job really begins. We've got to try to reconcile the people within Iraq. We've got to try to get a government put together in Iraq. And we need to get the help of all the countries of the world.

This is not just an American problem. This is an international problem and we're going to need help of all the countries of the world, France, Germany, Russia, NATO, the United Nations, in putting this country back together.

This is a good development today, there's no question about that, and our military has acted in an heroic way. But we've got to now move quickly to put together the coalition, to get the rest of the things done that will leave Iraq a democracy with good governance and the freedom.

O'BRIEN: It can be viewed sort of as good news, bad news for a candidate such as yourself. In the sense that Howard Dean has been attacking you, and John Kerry and Joe Lieberman for your support of the war initially. This to some degree perhaps takes the edge off of his attack, does it not?

GEPHARDT: Well, I don't know about the politics of this. I, from the beginning, decided that we just need to do what's right on these issues. We had 3,000 people slaughtered in New York when those buildings came down and we needed to put politics aside and try to do what's right to keep our people safe. We must prevent further attacks of terrorism in the United States and around the world if we can, and that's what I've tried to do and that's what I'll always try to do. My highest responsibility is to keep our people safe and not drag that this into politics.

O'BRIEN: But nevertheless it's an issue that's front and center on the campaign trail. Suppose for a moment that the situation in Iraq goes well here on out. In other words, another words this is a significant turning point. To what extent are Democrats deprived of a good issue to run against the president on this with the economy doing well as well?

GEPHARDT: Well, the future will take care of itself. This president has had been leading us in all the wrong directions, the economy is still not fixed. This is a recovery so far without jobs. I hope the recovery continues, but I don't see the policies in place that will really create the jobs that our people need. People are still losing their jobs; people are losing their healthcare every day. There's a crisis, I'm in South Carolina right now. I was just in a county this morning where unemployment is 14 percent, and jobs are still being lost in other countries around the world.

We have a trade policy that doesn't make any good sense. We haven't gotten standards up in these other countries. We need to go to the World Trade Organization and ask for an international minimum wage. So there's plenty to talk about, and on foreign policy, the president has isolated us in the world at the very time that we should be leading a world alliance against this very dangerous foe that we face which is terrorism. And we need to attack not just the, you know, the symptoms of it. We need to get to the root causes of it, that's what's not begun to happen.

O'BRIEN: To what extent though, Mr. Gephardt, do you suppose that talking about this would underscore perhaps a Bush success and would you be reluctant to mention it more in the future?

GEPHARDT: Well, look, everybody is elated for America, and for the Iraqi people especially, that Saddam Hussein has been found. There's still, in effect, a political fight going on in Iraq. Hopefully this will bring that to an end. Hopefully the Saddam loyalists will give up, the violence will stop, our young people won't be in the face of danger every day, and we can put this country back together. That's nothing but a good development.

O'BRIEN: Representative Richard Gephardt, Democrat of Missouri Presidential Candidate, thanks very much for joining us.

GEPHARDT: Thank 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 14, 2003 - 15:31   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: As Carol and the Reverend Sharpton pointed out among Democrats support for the war or not has been a campaign litmus test, certainly a lighting rod. If things go better in that country, to what extent must the Democrats move on to another issue?
Representative Richard Gephardt of Missouri live from Charleston, South Carolina now. Representative Gephardt good to have you with us.

REP. RICHARD GEPHARDT, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Good afternoon, Miles.

O'BRIEN: Thanks for your patience waiting for us as the breaking news transpired here. To what extent does the administration get some credit here and are you willing to give them any credit on this moment?

GEPHARDT: Well of course, they do, but now the rest of the hard job really begins. We've got to try to reconcile the people within Iraq. We've got to try to get a government put together in Iraq. And we need to get the help of all the countries of the world.

This is not just an American problem. This is an international problem and we're going to need help of all the countries of the world, France, Germany, Russia, NATO, the United Nations, in putting this country back together.

This is a good development today, there's no question about that, and our military has acted in an heroic way. But we've got to now move quickly to put together the coalition, to get the rest of the things done that will leave Iraq a democracy with good governance and the freedom.

O'BRIEN: It can be viewed sort of as good news, bad news for a candidate such as yourself. In the sense that Howard Dean has been attacking you, and John Kerry and Joe Lieberman for your support of the war initially. This to some degree perhaps takes the edge off of his attack, does it not?

GEPHARDT: Well, I don't know about the politics of this. I, from the beginning, decided that we just need to do what's right on these issues. We had 3,000 people slaughtered in New York when those buildings came down and we needed to put politics aside and try to do what's right to keep our people safe. We must prevent further attacks of terrorism in the United States and around the world if we can, and that's what I've tried to do and that's what I'll always try to do. My highest responsibility is to keep our people safe and not drag that this into politics.

O'BRIEN: But nevertheless it's an issue that's front and center on the campaign trail. Suppose for a moment that the situation in Iraq goes well here on out. In other words, another words this is a significant turning point. To what extent are Democrats deprived of a good issue to run against the president on this with the economy doing well as well?

GEPHARDT: Well, the future will take care of itself. This president has had been leading us in all the wrong directions, the economy is still not fixed. This is a recovery so far without jobs. I hope the recovery continues, but I don't see the policies in place that will really create the jobs that our people need. People are still losing their jobs; people are losing their healthcare every day. There's a crisis, I'm in South Carolina right now. I was just in a county this morning where unemployment is 14 percent, and jobs are still being lost in other countries around the world.

We have a trade policy that doesn't make any good sense. We haven't gotten standards up in these other countries. We need to go to the World Trade Organization and ask for an international minimum wage. So there's plenty to talk about, and on foreign policy, the president has isolated us in the world at the very time that we should be leading a world alliance against this very dangerous foe that we face which is terrorism. And we need to attack not just the, you know, the symptoms of it. We need to get to the root causes of it, that's what's not begun to happen.

O'BRIEN: To what extent though, Mr. Gephardt, do you suppose that talking about this would underscore perhaps a Bush success and would you be reluctant to mention it more in the future?

GEPHARDT: Well, look, everybody is elated for America, and for the Iraqi people especially, that Saddam Hussein has been found. There's still, in effect, a political fight going on in Iraq. Hopefully this will bring that to an end. Hopefully the Saddam loyalists will give up, the violence will stop, our young people won't be in the face of danger every day, and we can put this country back together. That's nothing but a good development.

O'BRIEN: Representative Richard Gephardt, Democrat of Missouri Presidential Candidate, thanks very much for joining us.

GEPHARDT: Thank 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