Transcript for July 2

MS. MITCHELL: No.

SEN. SCHUMER: ...so to set guidelines, to set a general direction the way we did in the Reed-Levin amendment is correct.

MS. MITCHELL: But with all...

SEN. SCHUMER: I think what the American people are most upset about is the Republican...

MS. MITCHELL: ...but...

SEN. SCHUMER: ...Congress is not holding the president’s...

MS. MITCHELL: ...with all due respect...

SEN SCHUMER: ...feet to the fire at all.

MS. MITCHELL: But with all due respect, when we talk about the politics of this, Senator Chris Dodd, who has said he’s considering running for president, said that in fact the Kennedy—excuse me—the Kerry-Feingold amendment hurts rather than helps...

SEN. SCHUMER: Oh, I don’t buy that.

MS. MITCHELL: ...the Democratic Party. And this what Senator Feingold said to Tim last week about those, like yourself, who voted against it.

(Videotape, June 25, 2006):

SEN. RUSS FEINGOLD (D-WI): I can tell you, the one thing I’m sure of, Tim, is the American people have had it with this intervention. They do want a timetable for bringing home the troops, and the fact that the United States Senate doesn’t get it shouldn’t surprise you.

MR. TIM RUSSERT: So the majority of the Democratic Senate is out of touch with the American people.

SEN. FEINGOLD: Yes it is, at this point. Those who vote against bringing the troops home don’t get it. They’re not out there enough, they’re not listening to the people.

(End videotape)

MS. MITCHELL: How do you go to the, to the people in November...

SEN. SCHUMER: Very...

MS. MITCHELL: ...when Democrats don’t have an agreed upon policy in Iraq?

SEN. SCHUMER: But we do. The, the vast majority of Democrats supported the Levin-Reed resolution which called for a year of transition and said, “Tell the Iraqis it’s not open-ended.” But, I would say this. The ball—if you’re talking about the election in 2006--is in the president’s court. All of the debates in the Congress, this resolution, that resolution, when—is—are not going to—are going to pale in significance before how things are going in Iraq. And the American people—every poll shows—and it’s common sense—hold the president responsible.

MS. MITCHELL: Senator McConnell, let me ask you about something that you said during the first month of the war back in April of 2003. “American success in Iraq showed that ‘arm-chair generals and New York Times reporters’ were wrong in their assessments of how difficult the war would be. ... Rebuilding Iraq will be much easier than rebuilding Afghanistan, he said, because Iraq has a well-educated population and the oil to finance reconstruction. ‘Iraq has the potential to be a jewel in the Middle East.’” Was that a miscalculation on your part, reflecting what the administration’s miscalculation was?

SEN. McCONNELL: Well, certainly the, the taking of Iraq was what is expected. The aftermath has been much more difficult. And I think it’s gone—the fact that it’s gone on a while creates the kind of debates the Democrats are having among themselves over whether we get out by the end of the year or get out by next summer or begin to get out at some point. And people do become impatient.

But it’s important to remember, Andrea, the most important thing. We haven’t been attacked again here since 9/11. We’ve been on offense. We’ve invaded Afghanistan, invaded Iraq, there are democratic governments now in both places. Is it easy there? No, it isn’t. But these are the same kinds of people who attacked us here in the United States. They’ve not been able to do that again because the president made the fundamentally correct decision to get on offense, and we’ve gone after these people where they are, somewhere else, fighting them in places like Kabul and Baghdad so we don’t have to have them again in Washington and New York. I think that’s been a fundamentally sound decision and I think we’re succeeding.

MS. MITCHELL: Let me briefly turn to immigration. Gentlemen, there is now talk of a possible compromise which would have a two-step process where you would delay guest workers for two years perhaps, as long as that, but first do the border security.

Senator McConnell, you’ve been trying to support the White House, but is this something where you and the Senate Republicans could move toward the House position and come up with something before the end of the year?

SEN. McCONNELL: Well, I’d rather have a comprehensive bill than not, and I think it needs to tilt toward border security. We’re in the process of beefing up border security anyway through our appropriations process, whether or not we’re able to achieve a comprehensive immigration settlement. But we’re better to have this bill than not. And my, my preference is...

MS. MITCHELL: And Senator Schumer, I see you’re nodding in agreement.

SEN. SCHUMER: Yeah, I mean, the problem here, Mitch McConnell, Chuck Schumer, George Bush supported the bill that came out of the Senate.

MS. MITCHELL: But you, you’d rather have something than nothing.

SEN. SCHUMER: It’s a tough bill and it’s a fair bill. But here’s what’s happening. There’s a, you know, there’s a wing of the Republican Party that doesn’t want that bill. They tend to be more in the House than the Senate, and they’re trying to hold things up. They’re having these hearings. Well, we’ve had hearing, hearing, hearing.

MS. MITCHELL: But now it looks like we may short circuit that.

SEN. SCHUMER: The American people want a solution.

MS. MITCHELL: Senator Schumer, as you well know, in Connecticut your colleague and friend and former vice presidential candidate Joe Lieberman has a heated primary race on his hands against anti-war candidate Ned Lamont. Now let me show you a bit of a new ad that the Lamont campaign is airing, which morphs Joe Lieberman with pictures of President Bush.

(Videotape):

AD ANNOUNCER: Joe Lieberman on the Iraq war:

SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN: (With George W. Bush’s face) We are now at a point where the war in Iraq is a war of necessity.

AD ANNOUNCER: Joe Lieberman may say he represents us, but if it talks like George W. Bush and acts like George W. Bush, it’s certainly not a Connecticut Democrat.

(End videotape)

MS. MITCHELL: OK, as campaign chairman, will you now, today, commit to supporting whoever wins that Democratic primary in Connecticut where he is now facing that tough challenge?

SEN. SCHUMER: Well, let me say this, Andrea. Harry Reid, myself, the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, in this primary, are supporting Joe Lieberman. And we’re doing everything we can to help him. I’m not going to speculate on what happens after the primary, because we believe Joe Lieberman is going to win, and it—I’m not going to undermine my candidate by speculating about what might happen afterwards. We think he’s going to win and we’re supporting him in the primaries.

MS. MITCHELL: You’re supporting him even though his position on the war is completely contrary to most, most Democrats?

SEN. SCHUMER: Well, again, the Democratic Party is united in holding the president’s feet to the fire on oversight, but...

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