MTP Transcript for Nov. 12

MR. RUSSERT: But you are in a position now to exert a lot of influence. Here’s The Wall Street Journal from Friday. “Scandals Have Touched Some Key Democrats. Senator Harry Reid, who is expected to be elected to majority leader in the Senate, has come under attack for his relationship with Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, a profitable land deal, and whether he inappropriately used campaign funds to give Christmas bonuses to employees at his condo complex.” Why not use, as a condition for your vote for majority leader for Mr. Reid, that he support the office of public integrity, and lobbying reform now? Would you consider that?

SEN. LIEBERMAN: Well, I, I’ve already given my commitment, and I said to my constituents during the campaign that I would organize with the Democrats for the reason I said. I want to continue the battle—bring the Democratic Party back to its historic role as a, as a progressive party at home, and a strong party abroad. And because I’m able to maintain my seniority, which will help me do more for my people in Connecticut.

So—but I’m going to push real hard on this lame duck session for that Office of Public Integrity and at least for the lobbying reform bill that passed the Senate that got stopped in the House. If, if the House Republicans want to show that they got the message of the election last Tuesday, they’ll, they’ll let that bill go, bring it to Conference Committee, and we’ll get it to the president before, before the lame duck session is over.

And incidentally, Tim, I’m going to fight with McCain and others for Office of Public Integrity. That office ought to investigate any—independently investigate any charges or corrup—of corruption or ethical wrongdoing by any member of Congress of either party...

MR. RUSSERT: But if you said to the Democratic leadership, “I will stay in caucus with you as long as you support this,” you’re in the driver’s seat.

SEN. LIEBERMAN: Well, I’m, I’m not going to start by threatening. I’m going to start by making clear what my priorities are, and I’m going to seek the support of, of my leadership and of members of both political parties.

MR. RUSSERT: The comment that caused a lot of difficulty for you in the Democratic primary was this: “It’s time for Democrats who distrust President Bush to acknowledge that he will be commander in chief for three more critical years, and that in matters of war we undermine presidential credibility at our nation’s peril.” Many Democrats interpreting that as your—an attempt by you to muzzle their criticism of the president.

SEN. LIEBERMAN: Yeah.

MR. RUSSERT: In hindsight, wasn’t the criticism of the president and the war in Iraq one of the primary reasons Democrats won on Tuesday and why Donald Rumsfeld is no longer secretary of defense? That, in fact, it was those very words that you tried to silence that brought about change in this country?

SEN. LIEBERMAN: Yeah. Of all the millions of words that I’ve said during my public service career, that sentence was probably more unfairly taken out of context than anything I’ve said before, and my opponents know it. It was part of a speech I gave when I came back from Iraq last December. The whole speech was about the necessity of, of dialogue, discussion, debate about what’s happening in Iraq. I wouldn’t have criticized those who were criticizing the president on Iraq because I’ve criticized the administration on its execution of the war after Saddam Hussein was overthrown.

But the, the whole speech was aimed at saying, “Colleagues, fellow Americans, we are at war. We have 140,000 Americans over there in uniform. Stop the partisanship.” And, and I had a sentence before the one you read warning Republicans, pleading with them, “Involve Democrats more.” That was a sentence to say to Democrats, “If you take a shot at the president rhetorically about the war, make sure it’s based on substance and not on an attempt to gain partisan advantage. Because every time you do that, you do weaken the president as commander in chief.”

Let me just say this, Tim: I think we’ve got a window of opportunity here. Yes, the, the voters were saying to us they’re not happy with the way things are going in Iraq. How could they be? I’m not. I don’t know anybody who is. But we’re not going to fix this and succeed in Iraq without working across party lines.

Incidentally, I’m intending, when the, when the new session convenes, to introduce a joint resolution to establish a bipartisan working group in Iraq composed of the chairs and, and senior Republicans, and the relevant security committees to, to monitor and work with the administration on a bipartisan basis to bring Iraq to a success. The voters spoke on Tuesday that they’re unhappy with the status quo. I don’t believe that they, they want us to pick up and leave Iraq, because they know that that would have disastrous consequences on Iraq, the Middle East, and on our security against terrorism.

MR. RUSSERT: But, senator, you evolved on the issue. In ‘04, about Rumsfeld, you said, “Donald Rumsfeld’s removal would delight foreign and domestic opponents of America’s presence in Iraq.” A few days before the primary, you said Rumsfeld should go. But less than a year ago, you said we were making progress in Iraq.

SEN. LIEBERMAN: We were.

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