‘Meet the Press’ transcript for Sept. 9, 2007

MR. RUSSERT:  Many Democrats who will vote in the primary, Senator, will say “The only way to stop this war, Senator Biden, is to cut off funding. Everything else is small talk, and unless you’re willing to do that, you will not be the Democratic nominee.”

SEN. BIDEN:  First of all, let’s speak truth to power here.  You need 67 votes to cut that off.  All 51 votes will do is delay building these vehicles. And, look, Tim, if you tell me I’ve got to take away this protection for these kids in order to win the election, some things aren’t worth it.  Some things are worth losing over.  That would be worth losing over.  Hundreds of lives are being saved and will be saved by us sending these vehicles over which we are funding with this supplemental legislation.  And I want to ask any of my other colleagues, would they, in fact, vote to cut off the money for those troops to protect them?  That’s the right question.  This isn’t cutting off the war.  This is cutting off support that will save the lives of thousands of American troops.

MR. RUSSERT:  Josh Bolten, the White House chief of staff, told USA Today there will be a sizeable presence of US troops in Iraq when George Bush leaves his—leaves office.  His new book, Robert Draper has said that, in “Dead Certain,” that the president told him he was playing for October/November so that there’d be enough people in the Republican Party and in the Democratic Party who would say, “Well, you know, maybe the surge is working.  We ought to stay there with a sizeable force.”

SEN. BIDEN:  Tim, I think it was on your program about a year ago I said, when you asked me about Rumsfeld and Cheney, I said they’re smart.  You said, how can they think things are working, and I said, “They’re smart guys.  I’ll tell you what their plan is.  Their plan is to keep this stitched together for the next 20 months in order to hand this problem off to the next president because they don’t know what to do.  They’re unwilling to make the kind of changes necessary in strategy to be able to bring our troops home without leaving chaos behind.” I would argue Draper’s reference there.  Reinforce is the point I’ve been making.  This president has no plan how to win and/or how to leave.  All he’s doing is putting American forces in the middle of a civil war to maintain the status quo.  That is unconscionable, and he’s wrong.

MR. RUSSERT:  If the Democrats vote to continue to fund it, however, are they not compliant?

SEN. BIDEN:  No, they’re not.  Look, the funding of the war isn’t the—the, the president has enough funds available to him if we cut off another $90 million he may want—a billion dollars to continue to keep this going.  Look, everybody says, Tim, how we cut off the funds in the war in Vietnam.  I was there.  I was a 29-year-old kid.  It wasn’t until 1975 we cut off funds, and that was only after we brought the majority of the troops home.  This is the president’s war.  Unless we get 67 votes to override his veto, there’s nothing we can do to stop this war.  But we must, we must, we must protect these troops.  They’re dying, Tim.  We’re up to 3,760, 26,000 wounded.  And these are the bravest—and I know this sounds corny, but these kids are brave. Every day they get in these vehicles and ride down these roads, and some of them have already been blown up a couple of times.  We owe it to them, man. It’s simple.

MR. RUSSERT:  Senator Joe Biden, we thank you for your views.  SEN. BIDEN:  Thanks.

MR. RUSSERT:  Coming next, will the Fred Thompson presidential rocket soar or fizzle?  Will Larry Craig really retire?  And what impact will Oprah’s support for Obama have on this presidential race?  Our roundtable is next right here on MEET THE PRESS.

(Announcements)

MR. RUSSERT:  And we’re back.

David Brody, John Harwood, welcome back.

Fred Thompson.

MR. JOHN HARWOOD:  Yeah.

MR. RUSSERT:  “Jay Leno.” He said, “I’m running for president of the United States.” Earlier that night, all the Republicans were in New Hampshire debating, and this was the way they welcomed Fred Thompson to the race.  Let’s watch.

(Videotape)

MR. MIKE HUCKABEE:  I was scheduled to be on “Jay Leno” tonight, but I gave up my slot for somebody else because I’d rather be in New Hampshire with these fine people.

MR. ROMNEY:  You know, the only, the only question I have for Senator Thompson is why the hurry?  Why not take some more time off?

MR. RUDY GIULIANI:  I like Fred a lot.  I, I think Fred is a really, really good man.  I think he’s done a pretty good job of playing my part on “Law & Order.”

I think this is a, this is a nomination you have to earn, though.  Nobody’s going to give it to you, nobody’s going to grant it to, nobody’s going to crown you.

(End videotape)

MR. RUSSERT:  A lot of attempts at humor there, but one comment from the chairman of the Republican Party in New Hampshire, I think, certainly resonated with me when I read it, and here it is:  “There is a genuine interest in Senator” Fred “Thompson here, a real curiosity about him.  But that curiosity is giving way to skepticism and maybe even cynicism about him in part because of how he’s handling his grand entrance.  For him to then go on Jay Leno the same night and be trading jokes while other candidates are having a substantive discussion on issues is not going to be missed by New Hampshire voters.” John Harwood:

MR. HARWOOD:  Well, look, I think that reflects a little bit of the parochial New Hampshire interest in “Don’t dis our state; we’re the first primary state.” I think Fred Thompson did quite well that night by being on “Leno,” getting a very nice ride, in a publicity sense, having all the other candidates talk about him in the debate, which the substance of the debate didn’t get all that much attention, much less than, than about Fred Thompson.

But look, Thompson does not have a lot of time.  He’s got to get out of the gates pretty quickly.  At his opening event in Des Moines, that David and I both attended, it was a little flat, the crowd wasn’t all that big.  He had some better events in the western part of the state afterwards, but it just underscored the fact that, you know, Fred Thompson said spring training is over, now it’s time to start the game.  The other candidates are in the stretch run of the pennant race, and Fred Thompson hasn’t been through spring training yet.  He’s got to get up to speed very quickly.

MR. DAVID BRODY:  Yeah, and I, and I would also say that substance is very important here.  Right out of the gate, I mean, you have Mitt Romney and you have Rudy Giuliani, who’ve already come out with specific policy proposals. Fred Thompson technically behind in the game here.  He’s got to come to the table strong.  Already on the stump, and we saw, John, he’s asking—he’s being asked specific questions about policies, and he’s going back to generalities. So he needs to come strong fast.

MR. RUSSERT:  You traveled on his bus, David Brody, and sat down and asked him how he was going to distinguish himself from the other candidates.  Let’s watch a little bit of that tape.

(Videotape)

MR. BRODY:  You talked about in your speech about how you’ve been a conservative in ‘94, you’re a conservative today...

FMR. SEN. THOMPSON:  Mm-hmm.

MR. BRODY:  ...well, your whole life.  A lot of people took that, as you probably saw in some of the articles, to mean that was a swipe at Mitt Romney, to a certain extent maybe Rudy Giuliani.  I know you don’t want to browbeat the guy, you said that out there...

FMR. SEN. THOMPSON:  Yeah.

MR. BRODY:  ...but, at the same time, is there a difference between those candidates and yourself?  At some point there needs to be a differentiation.

FMR. SEN. THOMPSON:  Oh, sure.  Oh, sure.  There’s no question.  I mean, just the fact that we’re different people with different histories and backgrounds means that we have different perspectives on some things, and we have different records on some things.  And we’ll have a chance to discuss that.

And I will not be hesitant to draw distinctions between my record and some of these other people.

(End videotape)

MR. RUSSERT:  All in good time.

MR. BRODY:  Yeah, I mean, it’s all about the timing.  And believe me, those distinctions will come.  Already on the campaign trail we have seen that. He’s saying he’s a conservative in ‘94, and he’s a conservative today. Clearly that’s a, that’s a dig at Romney to a certain extent.  But listen, I mean, he can hurt Giuliani and Romney in two different ways.  I mean, with Giuliani, Fred Thompson comes across as this “Law & Order”-type district attorney, tough guy, serious, gruff, prosecutor, former prosecutor.  I mean, that could take into Giuliani a little bit.  And on Romney, of course, with social conservatives, the Southern, folksy charm.  I mean, he’s, he’s got issues there.  So both—there are—there’s an opportunity real quick here for Thompson to affect them both.

MR. HARWOOD:  But we saw in that debate in New Hampshire on Wednesday night, how Giuliani’s going to come back as the national front-runner.  He’s going to say it’s too risky in a dangerous world to take a chance on someone with no executive experience.  That’s something that—an argument that Giuliani and Romney can both make against Thompson.  What’s he ever run?  Giuliani’s been making that about Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.  They’ve never run anything of substance, either a business or a government.  Fred Thompson hasn’t either.

MR. RUSSERT:  Let’s talk about the Democrats.  Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, this is the scene in New Hampshire last Sunday, campaigning.  There they are, the Clintons.  The former president, two terms, now trying to help his wife win her first term.  And this was the scene last night in Los Angeles. There—California.  There’s Oprah Winfrey, Michelle and Barack Obama.  And kind of a formal picture.  Less formal there.  Oprah saying to the world, “This is my guy.” David Brody, what’s your sense?

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