MTP Transcript for Oct. 15

MR. RUSSERT: You can respond to that.

MS. KLOBUCHAR: Thank you. I really appreciate that. I will say that the people of Minnesota don’t really care if it’s 92 percent or 97 percent. What they care about is the effect that these policies have had on them and the effect that this kind of negative attacks and this kind of gamemanship have had on the people of Minnesota. Congressman Kennedy just started to talk about Social Security benefits for illegal immigrants. I suggest your readers go onto the Star Tribune Web site from yesterday and they can see that the newspaper in Minneapolis and St. Paul came out and said that his claims were completely false, and in fact the bill that he’s talking about, which was supported by a Republican senator, Senator Coleman, did not contain that provision.

This is the kind of political gamemanship we have been hearing from the beginning. And the reason...

MR. RUSSERT: So you oppose Social Security for illegal immigrants?

MS. KLOBUCHAR: Yes, I do. And the reason, you know, that he has gone off on his attacks again is that he really didn’t want to answer your question. He spent the last few campaigns bragging about how close he was with President Bush, and now he’s spending this campaign bragging about how independent he is from President Bush.

You know what the people of Minnesota care about? They care about that their gas prices went up to 3 bucks a gallon this summer, and that is—when they got a long way to work, it’s hard to do; that their health care premiums went up 60 percent since he’s been in office.

MR. RUSSERT: But, but, but you also—let me just ask you—you, you said a couple things about President Bush to the Pulse of the Twin Cities publication I want to ask you about.

MS. KLOBUCHAR: Mm-hmm.

MR. RUSSERT: “QUESTION: Would you vote to support the Russ Feingold resolution to censure President Bush? AMY KLOBUCHAR: No, not now. QUESTION:

Do you favor the impeachment of President Bush? AMY KLOBUCHAR: No, not now,” suggesting that you’re open to both censure and impeachment.

MS. KLOBUCHAR: I don’t think you should ever rule anything out, but I’m telling you, my focus is not impeachment, it’s not censure. My focus is to go to Congress and get something done. The questions were “Would you support these?” And I said, no, I did not.

MR. RUSSERT: “Not now.” Hillary Clinton is coming to Minneapolis this week to raise money for you. Do you think she’d make a good president?

MS. KLOBUCHAR: You know, I think there are a number of good Democratic presidential candidates. I’m not weighing in on that. I’ve got enough to do in Minnesota.

MR. RUSSERT: But you’d be proud to support Hillary Clinton if she was the nominee?

MS. KLOBUCHAR: I believe that any of these Democratic candidates would be better than our current president.

MR. RUSSERT: As you know, Mr. Kennedy, there’s a lot of concern amongst Republicans about the war in Iraq, about the Mark Foley page scandal, and there is an article—sorry, comments from the Minnesota Public Radio, an interview with Norm Coleman. And it says here, “Documents filed at [Minnesota television stations] KARE-11, KSTP-TV and WCCO-TV show that the National Republican Senatorial Committee has not bought or scheduled any ad time on behalf of [Mark] Kennedy.

“Republican Senator Norm Coleman,” a Republican senator from Minnesota, “acknowledges that Kennedy faces an uphill battle. Coleman said he’s encouraging the campaign officials to invest in Minnesota but says they may be more concerned about other contests.”

Are the national Republicans pulling out of your race?

REP. KENNEDY: They, they are not. We’re getting a lot of good cooperation from the National Republican Senatorial Committee. We just had six senators in last week. I won my first race one-on-one, and I’m happy to win any race that way.

But if I may respond to some of the charges that Miss Klobuchar made, saying in the Star Tribune—a liberal reporter in a liberal paper—got it wrong. If you look at it, she voted for a bill, she said she would support a bill, the Senate immigration bill, that would give 12 million people that didn’t have benefits benefits. The paper says, $5 billion cost to Social Security. That’s—if, if you included Medicare and Medicaid, that’d be 50 billion. If there’s 50 billion more costs, how do you have more costs if you’re not supporting something? I would have not supported the bill because of that.

MR. RUSSERT: This is the McCain bill?

REP. KENNEDY: The, the bill...

MR. RUSSERT: The same McCain that you’re praising on the torture...

REP. KENNEDY: The, the...

MR. RUSSERT: ...you’re criticizing him on immigration.

REP. KENNEDY: I’m not criticizing him on torture, and I am saying that I would have voted against that bill.

MR. RUSSERT: You’re praising him on the torture bill. The McCain...

REP. KENNEDY: I, I am criticizing...

MR. RUSSERT: ...bill, which is also supported by President Bush.

REP. KENNEDY: I, I also do not agree with Senator McCain on immigration in that case. But let’s go back to what—she supported a bill that had—giving Social Security to illegal immigrants. And when you talk about Bush, people aren’t going to be focused on Bush, they’re going to be focused on issues. And I can tell you, Tim, I’ve been all over the state of Minnesota. People are finding a lot of support for my policies of keeping spending under control so we can keep taxes low, and making sure that health care’s controlled by doctors and patients, not lawyers and big government. And making sure that we bring our troops home as soon as we can, after we’re sure the terrorists can’t win.

I don’t see the kind of support out there for Ms. Klobuchar’s, you know, proposals to have a trillion and a half increase in taxes. The long list of taxes she’s covered isn’t going to cover a trillion and a half. It just tells you, when a liberal says they’re going to soak the rich, the middle class gets drenched. They don’t see a lot of support out there for giving Social Security to illegal immigrants, for rationing prescription drugs, and for bringing the same policies that has made, and the same bad judgment that’s made Minneapolis having twice the murder rate of New York City under her tenure—talk about accountability—to the U.S. Senate.

MR. RUSSERT: I’ll consider that a closing statement. I started with you.

I’ll give you 30 seconds, and we’re out of time.

MS. KLOBUCHAR: OK. I believe that I will be a good senator for the state of Minnesota if they give me that honor. I’m the granddaughter of a miner, I’m the daughter of a newspaper man and a teacher. I’m a mother, I’m a wife, I’m a prosecutor, and I’m an advocate. And I have the determination to make change in Washington. And if the people of Minnesota give me that opportunity, I will get things done for them.

MR. RUSSERT: Amy Klobuchar, Mark Kennedy, big differences on big issues. We thank you for sharing them with our viewers.

Our Senate Debate series continues in two weeks. Another closely watched Senate race, Maryland. Democratic Representative Ben Cardin vs. Republican Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele. Right here in two weeks.

And we’ll be right back.

(Announcements)

MR. RUSSERT: That’s all for today. We’ll be back next week with an exclusive Sunday morning interview with Democratic Illinois Senator Barack Obama. That’s next week, right here on MEET THE PRESS. If it’s Sunday, it’s MEET THE PRESS.

Hang in there, Buffalo, help’s coming.

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