Transcript for Sept. 17

MR. RUSSERT: Please.

MR. WEBB: I mean, start off with—I think this, this campaign, the Allen campaign, is like the a lot of the Karl Rove campaigns. They, they focus on personal invective, you can see it in the ads that they’ve already run against me. I may have been in Hollywood, what—or in L.A. doing fund-raising.  I’m—you know, Senator Allen’s going to have an awful lot of money. Senator Allen’s raised a lot more money in Hollywood than I have.

But let’s talk about this incident. He not only bullied an, an individual in my campaign—and I know how hard it is, I’ve had a camera three foot from my face for eight months now in any public place—he not only bullied an individual, whether he was of Indian descent or not, but before he, he did that, he made comments that were deliberately misrepresentative of my own experiences in southwest Virginia. Ironically, he was standing in a place where 40 miles on one side my great-grandfather had been born, 40 miles on the other side my grandfather had been born. And I’ve spent a great deal of my adult life in southwest Virginia personally, not politically, in connection with relatives I have down there. In fact, Sidarth, the night before you insulted him, was spending the night at the home of one of my relatives in Gate City, Virginia. And I believe that, that the insinuation out of this, that, that person was separate, insulted a lot of the people down there, because that’s not their culture. That’s a very inclusive culture down there.

Now, with respect to affirmative action, my view on affirmative action has been that—and, and remains that it’s a 13^th Amendment program. If you go back to the Johnson administration’s executive order on affirmative action, it was based on the 13^th Amendment and the Civil Rights Act of 1866, designed to remove the badges of slavery. African-Americans are the only ethnic group in this country that have suffered from deliberate discrimination and, and exclusion by the government over generations. When this program expanded to the present day diversity programs, where essentially every ethnic group other than Caucasians are included, then that becomes state-sponsored racism. And we should either move this program back to its original intent, which I support, or we should open up diversity programs to the point where poor white cultures—and they are cultures, as in southwest Virginia—have some opportunity.

MR. RUSSERT: We are out of time. Before we go, Senator Allen, you have said, “The Senate is too slow for me.” Would you pledge to serve a full six-year term if re-elected to the Senate?

SEN. ALLEN: The Senate does move too slowly. Having been governor I like action and I wish the Senate would move faster. But my focus is to keep fighting in the Senate for these ideas.

MR. RUSSERT: For six—will you serve a six-year term?

SEN. ALLEN: I’m the only candidate running on ideas on education...

MR. RUSSERT: OK.

SEN. ALLEN: ...and on energy independence. And I am focused...

MR. RUSSERT: I, I, I’ve read the—I’ve read the brochure. I’ve read the brochure.

SEN. ALLEN: ...and I want—I will...

MR. RUSSERT: But will you serve...

SEN. ALLEN: Sure, and you can put it in as a...(unintelligible)...of my family.

MR. RUSSERT: ...will you pledge to serve a full six-year term?

SEN. ALLEN: I pledge that I’m going to fight as hard as I can for our shared values and vision for Virginia for the next six years in Washington.

MR. RUSSERT: The one thing you both have in common is you both chew tobacco.

Is that the right image for young people? It’s a serious question.

SEN. ALLEN: I don’t—I, I don’t advise young people. That’s another one of the...

MR. RUSSERT: What about you? What about you?

SEN. ALLEN: By the way—by the way, I picked that up from the Chicago Bears training camp.

MR. WEBB: We all have—we all have our vices, Tim. And I’ve been chewing tobacco since I was 14 and it’s...

MR. RUSSERT: But is it a good example for young people?

SEN. ALLEN: No.

MR. WEBB: Probably, probably not, but it’s something that I’ve done for a long time outdoors. I don’t chew indoors, I don’t chew at ceremonies, I don’t chew when I’m in any official function, but there are times when I chew tobacco.

MR. RUSSERT: You’re both going to...(unintelligible).

SEN. ALLEN: Fine, fine, fine. Yes, I do dip. But let me, let me finish with Mark Twain’s quote: “Nothing needs more reforming than somebody’s else’s habit.”

MR. RUSSERT: To be continued. Jim Webb the Democrat, George Allen the Republican. A lot more to talk about. I wish we had three hours.

We’ll be right back. Our Senate Debate series will continue. Two weeks another closely watched Senate race: Ohio Republican Mike DeWine debates his Democratic opponent Sherrod Brown. Two weeks right here on MEET THE PRESS.

(Announcements)

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Congratulations to the BC Eagles and Tom O’Brien, the winningest coach in history. Go Bill, squish the fish. Redskins/Cowboys at 7 tonight on NBC. If it’s Sunday, it’s MEET THE PRESS.

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