'Meet the Press' transcript for Feb. 3, 2008

MS. MATALIN:  Some are saying that.  But what John has to do--and look, we've been through primaries.  In '76, churches split up.  In 1980, the Reagan people kicked down the door of the campaign manager when he picked Bush.  In 2000, McCain famously attacked the agents of intolerance.  We do come back together.  But to come back together, he has to shore up in each of those legs where he is very weak to get Republicans.  And if he does, they will vote for him.

MR. RUSSERT:  Shore up what legs?  What does he...

MS. MATALIN:  On--he's good on security, on Iraq; he's no good the day after on intelligence, Gitmo and other things.  He's good on spending, he's no good on taxes.  He's good on life, he's no good on campaign...

MR. RUSSERT:  But you want to say that...

MS. MATALIN:  ...finance reform.

MR. RUSSERT:  ...Guantanamo should stay open and we should have torture?

MS. MATALIN:  I want to...

MR. RUSSERT:  You want the...

MS. MATALIN:  We--what conserve--it's not me.  What conservatives want to hear is something akin to what he did on immigration:  "I was wrong," OK?

MR. MURPHY:  Right.

MS. MATALIN:  "I've now seen the light."

MR. RUSSERT:  And if he starts flip-flopping, what happens?

MR. SHRUM:  He'd be Romney.

MS. MATALIN:  Is that he would...

MR. MURPHY:  No, what Americans want is a president who's not pushed around by any special interests.  I'm a conservative, but there's a--I mean, McCain is the maverick, and it's a year of that kind of thing, and I want to win. And I'm very happy with the conservative, if he's our nominee, who doesn't necessarily march in lockstep to everything the talk radio guys dictate.

MS. MATALIN:  This is not lockstep.  He is on--it is also the lingo of the left attacking this anti-business stuff, attacking big pharma, it's manage for profit.  We're happy to be for profit...

MR. CARVILLE:  Global warming.  We can all agree with John McCain on global warming.

MS. MATALIN:  OK.

MR. SHRUM:  I agree with him on global warming.

MR. CARVILLE:  I do, too.

MS. MATALIN:  All I'm saying is this:  He's not, in the end, going to get the crossovers, because they're going to go back to Obama.  He has to be...

MR. MURPHY:  I disagree.

MS. MATALIN:  Well, he could get some of them.  He's not going to get the majority of them.  he has to get the base back.  That...

MR. MURPHY:  Yeah.

MS. MATALIN:  Being a maverick is different from eschewing and having these guys, these crossovers, in lieu of conservatives.  In all these primaries, the times we have won was not '76 or '96, it was the times when we chose that made the clear conservative choice.  He doesn't have to bend over, but he has to someplace come back, make some compromises.

MR. MURPHY:  Well, I think that in this year...

MR. SHRUM:  (Unintelligible)...

MR. MURPHY:  ...the pure base strategy loses.

MS. MATALIN:  I'm not saying pure base.

MR. SHRUM:  I think if he, I think if he wins this nomination, secures it and then goes out and tries to satisfy all of the right wing litmus tests...

MR. MURPHY:  Right.

MR. SHRUM:  ...he--I agree with James, he will do himself great damage.  I hope he takes Mary's advice.  I think Mitt Romney took this kind of advice when he remade himself, and this is not John McCain, from a pro-choice, pro-gay rights, pro-environmental person into someone who didn't want to do anything about global warming, was opposed to gay rights and wanted to outlaw abortion.  I don't think John McCain, for example, can stand up and say, "Gee, I was wrong on campaign finance reform, and I hope all of you people here at the Conservative Political Action Committee will forgive me."

MS. MATALIN:  You can say...

MR. SHRUM:  I think he'll destroy himself.

MS. MATALIN:  ...it didn't play out the way he had intended.  He is going to CPAC next weekend.

Voice:  Thursday.

MS. MATALIN:  And you know, last year Rudy went there, not a natural for CPAC, and they loved him.  There's an opportunity here for him to say, "This country"...

MR. SHRUM:  It really did Rudy a lot of good.

MS. MATALIN:  "This country was built on core principles."

MR. SHRUM:  Yeah.

MS. MATALIN:  "These are my core principles.  We can build on those." There's a unity message available to him without defining conservatism as you demonizers have.

MR. SHRUM:  It's nothing...

MS. MATALIN:  And he should take it pretty quickly.

MR. SHRUM:  I'm just saying the guy can't flip-flop and become something he isn't.

MS. MATALIN:  It's not flip-flopping.

MR. RUSSERT:  Take it.

MR. CARVILLE:  In 2004, we were sure there were three powerful pillars of the Republican Party:  the right wing preachers, the nutty supply siders and talk radio, OK?  It--McCain has vanquished all three.  All of them had no influence in this election.  McCain has said that he definitely was not on the right wing preachers, he's definitely not a supply sider and right wing talk radio can't stand John McCain.  And now they have to deal with him.  That's the, that's the reality.

MR. SHRUM:  He's become a supply sider suddenly.

MR. CARVILLE:  Ah, he says he's for the tax cuts.  He doesn't claim that they, they generate revenue.

MR. SHRUM:  They will all come together in the general.  He will not be gratuitous about it, but McCain will always be a little bit independent, and talk radio's going to have to live with that.

MR. RUSSERT:  Will he be the nominee?

MR. MURPHY:  I want to wait till the votes are counted, but the numbers are--no, and I want to be fair to Romney.

MR. RUSSERT:  Mary, will he be the nominee?

MR. MURPHY:  Yes.  McCain has the advantage.

MS. MATALIN:  I--you know, all we know about this cycle is that the unexpected always happens.

MR. RUSSERT:  All right.  All right.  We can't agree on politics.  How about football?  Super Bowl.  Patriots, Giants.

MR. SHRUM:  Patriots.

MR. MURPHY:  Giants.

MR. CARVILLE:  Points.  Take the points.

MR. RUSSERT:  Come on.

MR. CARVILLE:  Geeps.

MS. MATALIN:  Giants.

MR. RUSSERT:  Now, I'm told that on the famous James Carville, Luke Russert "60/20" sports show on XM Radio, Mr. Carville, you promised your wife the most expensive jewelry in the world if she could name the two teams who were playing.

And, Mary, you said?

MS. MATALIN:  The Giants and the Patriots.  He thinks that--he should never treat women like idiots.  That's what you get--that's how you got Hillary back on the board.  All those men treating her like an idiot.

MR. RUSSERT:  Get the old--get the old credit card out.

MR. CARVILLE:  My friend, my friend Coleman Adler....

MS. MATALIN:  Coleman Adler.  It's in--Adler's in New Orleans, it's a pearl bracelet.  Send it up.  Send it up.

MR. RUSSERT:  All right.  Fourth quarter of the Super Bowl today, you're going to see this picture for a fizzly soft drink.  Let's roll this real fast. There's--that bald head on the left, Mary Matalin, you recognize it, looking at the sunset at the Washington monument.

MS. MATALIN:  I like the head on the right better.

MR. RUSSERT:  James Carville and Bill Frist.

MR. CARVILLE:  Yeah, you know what?

MR. RUSSERT:  If you can come together over soft drinks, the country can unite on politics?

MR. CARVILLE:  That's it.  All we, all we, all we did is drink a Coke.

MR. RUSSERT:  All right.  Matalin, Carville, Murphy and Shrum, thanks very much for your insights.  Super Tuesday--we'll be right back--40 hours away.

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MR. RUSSERT:  That's all for today.  Watch MSNBC all day Tuesday, all night Tuesday.  It's Super Tuesday.  And then an hour network special on NBC at 10 PM Eastern.

We'll be back next week.  If it is Sunday, it is MEET THE PRESS.

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