‘Meet the Press’ transcript for Oct. 7, 2007

MS. CARLSON: Harden him up.

MR. BRODY: You know, when—in “Toy Story,” real quick, there’s that theme song, “You’ve Got a Friend in Me.” And if someone wants to know what the Thompson campaign is all about, I mean, I think that’s what they’ll say, that he’s going to say, “Listen, you’ve had a friend of me in the ‘90s, you’ve had a friend in me now in 2007, and that it’s all about my first principles. And you can’t necessarily trust the other guys.” He’s going to go after Romney in the next couple months especially, because he needs to reach the medal round with Giuliani, and of course the Romney campaign wants to reach the medal round with Rudy as well.

MS. CARLSON: But if it’s toughness, Senator Thompson’s going to have to show a lot of grit against Giuliani, because that’s what’s helping Giuliani get over the political and social issues that conservatives don’t agree with him on.

MR. RUSSERT: Big debate on...

MS. CARLSON: That he can fight.

MR. RUSSERT: Big debate on Tuesday. Before we go, Ted Koppel, tonight at 9 p.m. on Discovery Channel, “Breaking Point.” An in-depth look at the overcrowding, understaffing of the California prison system. And one startling statistic. How much does it cost to go to Harvard University for a year?

MR. KOPPEL: It’s, it’s like $43,200.

MR. RUSSERT: And how much does it cost to house a prisoner in the California penal system?

MR. KOPPEL: Forty-three thousand. However, when the, when they let you out on parole, they hand you $200 bucks. So I think it’s, I think it’s a dead wash.

MR. RUSSERT: What’s the most important thing you found in this report?

MR. KOPPEL: The most important? I don’t know if it’s the most important. I guess the most important is that it’s so overcrowded. The, the prison system was built to house no more than 100,000 in California. It’s got 173,000. They’re controlling it by a form of institutionalized segregation in the prisons. Rather than breaking the gangs up, they’re putting the gangs together so that they can maintain some kind of order on the floor. It’s a disaster.

MR. RUSSERT: And our crime rate had gone up the last two years.

MR. KOPPEL: In California, I think the crime rate since three strikes and you’re out has actually gone down a little bit, but the fact of the matter is that it’s, it’s a problem that is just growing. We have more people in prison in this country than any other nation in the world.

MR. RUSSERT: Also, last week, Ted Koppel, and here we are in New York City, the Lifetime Achievement Award, being given that statue by a great lady, the sainted Grace.

MR. KOPPEL: Her sainted Grace.

MR. RUSSERT: The better half of the Koppel marriage, and paying his dues, this is how Mr. Koppel saluted the sainted one.

MR. KOPPEL: Oh, you rat fink.

(Videotape of News and Documentary Emmy Awards, September 24, 2007)

MR. KOPPEL: (Singing) You always knew we’d stay together. I thought that time would tell Well, anyplace you’re not so placed, I wouldn’t want to be. Guess I was wrong, so here’s your song, and please hold on to me.

(End videotape)

MR. RUSSERT: I’m glad you can write.

MR. KOPPEL: Well, the sainted Grace is going to be on your side, even if I’m not.

MR. RUSSERT: Ted Koppel, David Broder, David Brody, Margaret Carlson, thank you all.

Coming next, 50 years ago, the then-Soviet Union launched Sputnik, a huge catalyst for the American space program. Jay Barbree of NBC News was there then and there for the last 50 years. He’s next right here on MEET THE PRESS.

(Announcements)

MR. RUSSERT: And we are back. October 4, 1957, 50 years ago, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik into space, and the space war was launched. One man has covered every manned American space launch. His name is Jay Barbree, and I am honored that he works for NBC News.

Jay, good morning.

MR. JAY BARBREE: Good morning, Tim.

MR. RUSSERT: And you capture it all in your new book, “Live from Cape Canaveral: Covering the Space Race From Sputnik To Today.” After Sputnik went up, you understood better than anyone what this meant, that the United States would have to be engaged in space. You went down to Florida, and on May 5, 1961, the first manned space flight by an American, Alan Shepard. Tell us about that day.

MR. BARBREE: Well, that was a day that you’ll never forget. We saw that rocket climb above the tree lines, everybody everywhere stopped. They stopped their cars, they fell on their knees, they fell in prayer watching this go. Everybody was pulling for Alan Shepard, and that was the very first for this country.

MR. RUSSERT: February 20, 1962, John Glenn orbited the Earth. You said that—in your book, that was the most exciting day for you to cover.

MR. BARBREE: That is absolutely the truth. That man went into orbit, he closed the gap between the Russians’ orbital space flight and us, and he took the first step, really, on the road to the moon. That was John Glenn in 1962, February the 20^th, and I’ll never forget it.

MR. RUSSERT: Let me take you through September 12, 1962. John Kennedy, president of the United States, addressed the nation and the world and uttered these words.

President JOHN F. KENNEDY: (From file footage) We choose to go to the moon in this decade.

MR. NEIL ARMSTRONG: (From file footage) That’s one small step for man...

MR. BARBREE: They not only went to the moon once in the decade of the ‘60s, Tim, they went twice, and it was all for a man that they wanted to do it for, John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

MR. RUSSERT: The Challenger, January 28, 1986; the Columbia, February 1, 2003. Two unspeakable tragedies witnessed by Americans and, and people worldwide. Tell us about those two days.

MR. BARBREE: It had gotten down to 27 degrees, which was unheard for on the launch pad, the night before. Lot of engineers warned about launching, because they said these O-rings, these seals in these giant booster rockets, Tim, would not seal properly, they would not be malleable at this, this temperature. They were warned, but they went ahead and launched anyway. And that proved to be true, and we lost those seven people. Then 83 flights passed and everything went pretty good. And again we got arrogant, they got complacent, and when a huge section of foam came off of the external fuel tank and hit the leading wing of Columbia, it knocked a hole the size of a bowling ball in that front wing. Now, they didn’t look. They could have used our national spy satellites assets and they could have looked. Had they looked, they could have saved those seven lives. We went on the air constantly criticizing them because Atlantis was already stacked and in the barn, it could have been rolled to the pad, they could have gone up there and they could have flown inverted, cargo to cargo bay, they could have used a lanyard and they could have transferred those people back.

The bottom line comes down to this. This is an 8,000-mile diameter spacecraft we’re on. We’re all astronauts. We’re all living in a life support system that is only 10,000 feet in thickness, that’s keeping us alive on this planet. The day will come, if it’s not a genetic virus, if it’s not global warming, whatever, the day will come that we can no longer live on this planet. The only solution is to step off it to colonization of the moon and onto other planets. There are 150 or so planets that we could live on that in the coming years we’ll be able to reach.

MR. RUSSERT: What about Mars?

MR. BARBREE: Well, Mars, I’m afraid that’ll be in the 2030s.

MR. RUSSERT: And Jay Barbree will be there covering it?

MR. BARBREE: I hope so, buddy. If you’ll still have me, I’ll be right here for you, Tim.

MR. RUSSERT: Jay Barbree, you’re an extraordinary man. We are blessed to have you covering the space program for a half century for NBC News. Take good care.

MR. BARBREE: Thank you, Tim.

MR. RUSSERT: And we’ll continue our discussion with NBC’s Jay Barbree. And catch this, find out why he thinks there is life beyond Earth. Watch our MEET THE PRESS take two Web extra this afternoon. Our Web site, mtp.msnbc.com.

And we’ll be right back.

(Announcements)

MR. RUSSERT: This Tuesday, the nine Republican presidential candidates, for the first time including Fred Thompson, debate in Michigan. Watch it live, 4 p.m. Eastern on CNBC, and then again at 9 p.m. on MSNBC. That’s this Tuesday, 4 p.m., CNBC; 9 p.m., MSNBC. And you can now watch the re-broadcast of MEET THE PRESS Sunday evenings at two new times, 6 p.m. Eastern, 2 a.m. Eastern on MSNBC.

That’s all for today. We’ll be back next week. If it’s Sunday, it’s MEET THE PRESS.

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Oct. 12: Gov. Jon Corzine, D-N.J., Rob Portman, economic roundtable Oct. 5: Paul Begala, Mike Murphy, Chuck Todd, David Gregory, Gwen Ifill, Peggy Noonan and David Yepsen Sept. 28: Fmr. President Bill Clinton, Steve Schmidt, David Axelrod, Rep. Mark Udall (D), Fmr. Rep. Bob Schaffer (R) Sept. 21: Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, N.Y.C. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Steve Pearlstein, Steve Liesman, Erin Burnett Sept. 14: Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R), Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Bob Woodward, Chuck Todd Sept. 7: Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE), Tom Friedman Aug. 31: Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN), political roundtable Aug. 24: Caroline Kennedy, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), political roundtable Aug. 17: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Gov. Tim Kaine (D-VA), Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA), political roundtable Remembering Tim Russert Meet the Press Section Front   Add Meet the Press headlines to your news reader: