‘Meet the Press’ transcript for Sept. 16, 2007

MR. RUSSERT:  To both?

SEN. KERRY:  We should have an enduring relationship, hopefully with an Iraq that is able to stand up and define itself in the way that I said.  The question is how do you get there, Tim?  And what treasure do you expend in getting there?  I believe we will, obviously, providing that there hasn’t been a complete implosion and we’re not asked to leave.

MR. RUSSERT:  Will this be...

SEN. KERRY:  Seventy percent of the...

MR. RUSSERT:  Will this be the central issue of the 2008 presidential campaign?

SEN. KERRY:  If the—if it is where it is today, yes.

MR. RUSSERT:  Do you agree with that?

SEN. McCAIN:  Probably, but it won’t be where it is today.  You will see continued success.  And if we—if the—Senator Kerry succeeds in implementing what he wants, then you will see catastrophe, and you will see a lot more loss of American blood and treasure.

MR. RUSSERT:  I gave him the first, but I’ll give you the last word.

SEN. KERRY:  Well, Tim, John keeps avoiding the—and the administration keeps avoiding the need to have the second component here, which is real diplomacy. Nothing that we’ve proposed is proposed in a vacuum.  We’re not saying just change the mission; we’re saying use American leverage, work with our allies, work with the neighbors with a real diplomatic surge that brings the United Nations back and, in effect, creates a structure where it’s not just American treasure and American lives that are on the line.  President the other day talked about 36 allies.  I’ll lay odds John McCain can’t name 36 allies.  I can’t.  That’s an insult to American intelligence.  How much are they contributing to the budget?  I believe you need diplomacy, real diplomacy. It’s been absent.  We deserve a president who’s going to lead us and provide that.  And together, with the change in the dynamics on the ground, we can save American lives.  I think John and I agree 100 percent in, in the quality of the service of our troops, the unbelievable sacrifice they’re making.  We all support them, we’re proud of them, and we want them to get home safely.

MR. RUSSERT:  John Kerry, John McCain, two sailors, two men of the Navy, two U.S. senators, we thank you very much for sharing your views.

SEN. McCAIN:  Thanks very much.

MR. RUSSERT:  John McCain, John Kerry.

SEN. KERRY:  Great to be with you.

MR. RUSSERT:  Coming next, Hillary Clinton, Rudy Giuliani, clashing over this newspaper ad. And Senator Clinton’s fund-raiser Norman Hsu is arraigned.  And how has Fred Thompson’s late entry affected the presidential race?  Our political roundtable—Chuck Todd, Chris Cillizza—next, right here on MEET THE PRESS.

(Announcements)

MR. RUSSERT:  Hillary Clinton, Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson and more—our political roundtable next on MEET THE PRESS.

(Announcements)

MR. RUSSERT:  And we’re back with the political dynamic duo.

Welcome.  Let’s go right to it.  A big debate in politics about this newspaper ad taken out by MoveOn.org.  There it is, “General Petraeus or General Betray Us:  Cooking the Books for the White House.” All the Democratic candidates were asked about it.  Joe Biden, on this program last week, said that he doesn’t buy it.  He thought that General Petraeus was a man of honor.  We had John Kerry, said it was over the top and inappropriate.  Hillary Clinton was asked about it by Charlie Rose, and she said, “I think we should focus on what the problem is here,” not responding directly to the ad.  This is what Hillary Clinton did say in her hearing with General Petraeus.  Let’s watch.

(Videotape, Tuesday)

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY):  I think that the reports that you provide to us really require the willing suspension of disbelief.

(End videotape)

MR. RUSSERT:  Now, Republicans seized on that and continued asking the candidates and others what they thought about General Petraeus and the ad. Elizabeth Edwards, whose own father was a military man, wife of John Edwards, says, “Someone who’s spent their life in the military doesn’t deserve ‘General Betray Us.’”

So then Rudy Giuliani decided that he was going to jump in the fray.  He took out a newspaper ad which said this, “Who should America listen to, a decorated soldier’s commitment to defending America or Hillary Clinton’s commitment to defending MoveOn.org?  These times call for statesmanship, not politicians spewing political venom.” Then Rudy upped the ante and took a webcast ad which says this:

(Videotape of webcast ad)

TEXT:

In 2002, Hillary Clinton voted to authorize military action in Iraq...

...because she believed it was the right thing to do.

SEN. CLINTON:  (2002) If left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons.

AD ANNOUNCER:  Now that she’s running for president, Hillary Clinton has changed her position, even joining with the radical group MoveOn.org in attacking American General Petraeus.  Clinton stood silently by when MoveOn.org ran this venomous ad in The New York Times.

Senator Clinton, do the right thing.  Apologize for your comments and condemn the MoveOn.org ad.

(End videotape)

MR. RUSSERT:  The Clinton campaign responded this way.  “Rudy Giuliani is dropping in the polls and is unable to defend his own support for George Bush’s failed war.”

And now word from MoveOn.org.  They’re going after Rudy Giuliani, and this script will be put in form of a television ad.  “When Giuliani had” a “chance to actually do something about the war, he went AWOL”—absent without leave. “After skipping important meetings of the Iraq Study Group, he quit.  And gave speeches.  For money.  Republican voters should ask:  ‘Giuliani, where were you when it counted?’ Rudy Giuliani.  A betrayal of trust.”

Chuck Todd...

MR. CHUCK TODD:  Whew!

MR. RUSSERT:  What does it all mean?

MR. TODD:  Well, this is Rudy Giuliani trying to establish himself as the Republican standard-bearer against Hillary Clinton.  I mean, it was—what was amazing about this whole week, Betray Us, Petraeus week, you knew it was going to be about Petraeus and about Iraq.  Politically, on the campaign trail, as far as the Republican nomination was concerned, I thought this was going to be a week where John McCain was going to be in the spotlight, showing him sort of in command of this issue.  And instead, Giuliani politically stole the week from McCain, and I think just by doing these little things, creating a, you know, creating a straw man in MoveOn a little bit, taking more an advantage of it than any of the Republican—other Republican candidates shows—I mean, we were just talking, you were saying, you know, Mitt Romney was like, “Wow, good move by Rudy Giuliani to do something like this in New York Times.” I mean, it was a very effective week for, for Rudy politically.  Whether it did anything positive or negative on Clinton, I don’t think we know yet.  But as far as Rudy Giuliani’s concerned, it was tactically very smooth.

MR. CHRIS CILLIZZA:  I was just going to say, I talked to a Republican insider who said, “Look, this is the unholy trinity.” It’s MoveOn.org, The New York Times and Hillary Clinton.  You know, Rudy Giuliani would have been crazy to pass up the opportunity to take those three boogeymen of the Republican conservative movement without taking them on, that this was a ripe opportunity, he stepped into it.  And like Chuck said, Giuliani’s strongest argument, I think, is “I’m the electable one.  I’m the candidate who can beat Hillary Clinton.” And I think the more it’s Rudy vs. Hillary, the better it winds up for him, both in the Republican nomination and moving forward.

MR. RUSSERT:  But Joe Biden, John Kerry, Elizabeth Edwards distanced themselves from the MoveOn.org advertised.  Should Hillary Clinton have said some things critical about that ad?

MR. CILLIZZA:  I, I think she had an opportunity to.  I think what she did was, was somewhat savvy, in that she didn’t make the mistake that I believe MoveOn made, which was taking their eye off of turning this war into President Bush—a referendum on President Bush, by making it a referendum on General Petraeus.  I did a quick look, if you look at General Petraeus’ favorability/unfavorability ratings, it’s a lot better than President Bush’s. I think Hillary Clinton was wary of letting it descend into is this a referendum on General Petraeus or is this a referendum on President Bush and his war?  So I think that’s why you saw that.  She had an opportunity to do so.  But, don’t forget, not doing so doesn’t hurt her in the liberal left, that base of the party that she’s still trying to heal relationships with after her 2002 vote for the use of force resolution.

MR. TODD:  I think it’s interesting.  MoveOn is sort of like this old friend of the Democratic Party.  It’s as if it’s, you know, your, your teen—your—a friend of yours from high school, and you don’t mind hanging out with them back in high school, and then they keep showing up at your parties, and they get a little drunk and obnoxious, but you’ll still—you’re afraid to criticize them because they know too much about you or something.  Clinton’s afraid to, to criticize MoveOn because I think the anti-war left is just ready to pop. They’re mad, they’re angry, they don’t understand why Congress won’t do more things.  You asked Senator Kerry, “Are you going to defund this thing?  Are you going to vote to defund this thing?” And, you know, he won’t do it.  That just is making the anti-war left just boil over.  And I think that that’s why Clinton’s afraid to do this.

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