'Meet the Press' transcript for May 25, 2008

MR. RUSSERT:  John McCain, Barack Obama had an exchange about GI bills. Obama has embraced Jim Webb's bill, who was here last week talking about it. Senator McCain opposes it because he thinks it would hurt the retention of people in the military.  Let's watch that exchange.  It's pretty good insight into where the campaign is.

(Videotape)

SEN. OBAMA:  I can't understand why he would line up behind the president in his opposition to this GI bill.  I can't believe why he believes it is too generous to our veterans.

(End videotape)

MR. RUSSERT:  "I take a backseat to no one in my affection, respect and devotion to veterans.  I will not accept from Senator Obama, who did not feel it was his responsibility to serve out--serve our country in uniform, any lectures on my regard for those who did."

Doris.

MS. KEARNS GOODWIN:  Well to be sure, military experience adds breadth to a person, the willingness to withstand adversity.  But on the other hand, you can take two of, arguably, our best commanders in chief, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt.  Franklin Roosevelt never served in the military.  Abraham Lincoln said that the only blood he ever served in his three months--he ever saw in his three-month term of service in the Black Hawk War was, was fighting mosquitos.  So you cannot argue.  In fact, I'm surprised that McCain has done that.  Because, previously, hasn't he said that military experience should not matter.

MR. RUSSERT:  It was a strong statement.  Some described it as harsh.  And it was in contrast to, on Thursday, when he was joking about the youth and inexperience of Barack Obama, ala Ronald Reagan and Walter Mondale.  Here's John McCain.

(Videotape)

SEN. McCAIN:  For a young man with very little experience he's done very well.  So I appreciate, with his--with his very, very great lack of experience and knowledge of the issues, he's been very successful.

(End videotape)

MR. RUSSERT:  Maureen Dowd, is it two John McCains on display?

MS. DOWD:  I think we learn something very interesting from this exchange. For one thing, McCain really doesn't like Obama.  And, you know, he thinks he's the punk who hasn't bled, as McCain people like to say, and doesn't deserve to be in this arena.  And we also learn that Obama is not as intimidated by John McCain as he was by Hillary Clinton.  He is much freer when he goes on the attack, much more confident.  And McCain has another problem.  He doesn't sound as fun and genial as he does when he's--as Reagan did when he said those lines.  And also he tends to take any policy criticism as an attack on his integrity, and then attack back on the other person's integrity, and it sounds nasty.

MR. BRODY:  Well, it's interesting, because, you know he was joking in that clip, "lack of experience," as in, you know, "Ha ha." That's exactly what they're going to do.  That's--you know, it's going to go to the judgment issue.  This is what the McCain camp will lay on Obama.  They'll say, "the judgment," "rogue leaders," "What are you, crazy?" That's what they'll say. Jeremiah Wright, that'll come up.  Rezko, I mean, you just go down the line. They're going to, they're going to make that case.  They'll talk about guns and taxes and all of that.

MS. IFILL:  Well, on the flip side, in which you heard not only what Barack Obama said about the GI bill, but also what he said about Cuba this week.  And they said he's always going to try to do what, what John says won't work, which is link John McCain to George Bush, third term of George Bush.  Every pushback this week included that McCain/Bush link.  And, you know, at least they're being very clear to us about what they're going to do so we know we have, we have the puzzle laid out for us and we know what to follow.

MR. RUSSERT:  But...

MR. BRODY:  Well, this is--it's also a problem, though, for McCain, because now he has to do that tap dance.  You know, how close does he get to George Bush and how far...

MS. IFILL:  That's always going to be a problem.

MR. BRODY:  Right.  And, and so he's got problems there.

MR. RUSSERT:  But we're going to have a campaign, it looks like, big differences on big issues--the war in Iraq, Iran, Social Security, taxes--which is going to be interesting to cover, and I think it could...

MS. MARCUS:  There's issues?

MR. RUSSERT:  Oh yeah.  Oh yeah.  Oh yeah.

MS. MARCUS:  I hadn't remembered.

MR. RUSSERT:  Oh yeah.  Stay tuned.

Before we go, Ted Kennedy.  Terrible news this week.  Diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor.  But it has been remarkable watching this country respond to that news.  Liberals, conservatives, Democrats, Republicans all talking about him with such fondness and respect.  The Boston Herald, a paper that doesn't often agree with him in, in Boston, wrote this editorial. "Kennedy becomes profile in courage.  There are few political figures who in the course of their careers and their lifetimes attain the status of beloved. Ted Kennedy's one of those rare individuals, and the very thought of a world without him in it is a painful one.

"Kennedy's appeal and the affection in which he is held, is held transcends party and ideology.  This liberal lion has always been able to reach across the aisle because his word is his bond--and because it's no secret that he just wants to get things done.  ...

"This editorial page has differed with him on issues about as often as it has agreed.  But we could count on one thing:  Unlike most political figures Ted Kennedy didn't shift his positions with the prevailing winds.  ...  Some would call it noble and courageous.  And in a world where courage is a sometime thing, Kennedy has it in abundance.

"We have seen him marshal strength and courage than men half his age to battle injustice and to fight for what he believes in.  May that strength and that courage never leave him in the days ahead."

Doris.

MS. KEARNS GOODWIN:  Well, it's a remarkable editorial, because it is true that the Herald has fought him for so many years.  But I think, in a certain sense, what the outpouring of emotion has showed in this last week is that even though he, of course, would have liked to have been president, going back to the Senate, where he belonged, in many ways showed what an incredible impact you can have in the Senate.  He will go down as one of the great senators, and people will remember what he did in terms of ordinary people getting a better life--minority rights, civil rights--more than they're going to remember some presidents.  Who could tell us what Millard Fillmore did? Maybe Jon.  Who could tell us what Benjamin Harrison did?  You know, who could tell us what Franklin Pierce did?  People will know, over the years, what he did in the Senate.  And it shows if you work in an institution on teamwork, you really--and that's what we want in this country.  We want people to come together to do something across party lines.  And, boy, how lucky that he's been able to hear this.  Hopefully he'll live for 10 more years.  But he's heard these wonderful remarks before he died, which is great.

MR. RUSSERT:  If there is one--there is one blessing in that.

MS. KEARNS GOODWIN:  That's the silver lining.

MR. RUSSERT:  John and Bobby never had a chance to know what people--how people felt about them...

MS. KEARNS GOODWIN:  That's right.

MR. RUSSERT:  ...and to hear it, and certainly said, Ted Kennedy has that opportunity.  Jon, anyone want to offer something?

MS. MARCUS:  Well, I think that...

MR. RUSSERT:  Ruth.

MS. MARCUS:  ...Doris touches on something very important, not just--and there's relevance to this--the really critical role that you can play as a senator, but the yearning in this country that you also see played out with Senator McCain and Senator Obama for people who can transcend these poisonous differences that we have.  And Senator Kennedy has managed, as the Herald said, to stay true to his beliefs even as he also reaches out.  And we could use more of that in political life.

MR. RUSSERT:  Maureen.

MS. DOWD:  Also, I think, in families like ours, working-class Irish families, we had the Kennedys' pictures mixed in with our family pictures.  We grew up feeling that they were almost part of our family.  And my brothers were Capitol Hill pages for JFK, Prescott Bush and Richard Nixon.  And Teddy Kennedy would ask my brother Martin to play touch football with him, and he was always scared because he thought it would be like that scene in the "Wedding Crashers," part touch football, part pro-wrestling.  But, I mean, they just seem like part of our family.  And as Bob Schieffer said, it's like--he's like a Washington monument, you can't imagine the town without him.

MR. RUSSERT:  Amen.  Senator Ted, hang in there.  We're thinking about you.

We'll be right back.  Coming next, we'll remember Hamilton Jordan and look back at his first MEET THE PRESS appearance as chief of staff for President Jimmy Carter in 1979.

(Announcements)

MR. RUSSERT:  And we are back.  In 1972, a 28-year-old political aide, Hamilton Jordan, wrote a memo to his boss, the then governor of Georgia Jimmy Carter, outlining how Carter could capture the presidency in 1976.  With Jordan's help, Carter did just that.  Two years into his presidency, Jimmy Carter appointed Hamilton Jordan his White House chief of staff.  A few days later, Jordan appeared on MEET THE PRESS and talked about loyalty to the president.

(Videotape, July 22, 1979)

MR. HAMILTON JORDAN:  The question of loyalty that you raise, I have heard in the past few days loyalty described as a bad thing.  Loyalty and competence are both required to be successful in government.  I think loyalty is an admirable trait--loyalty to one's friends, to one's family, to one's country. Loyalty in itself is not a bad thing.  In government, to be loyal, that means that you fight hard for those policies that you believe in.  But it also means that, once the president has made a decision, you then have to embrace that decision as if it were your own.  There is no way for a president of the United States to deal with the great issues that face our country today if he does not have a team of men and women around him who are competent and loyal.

(End videotape)

MR. RUSSERT:  In 1992, Jordan, for a brief time, managed Ross Perot's presidential campaign.  But Jordan, who battled prostate cancer, melanoma and lymphoma, spent most of the past 25 years devoting his time to Camp Sunshine, a summer camp he and his wife founded for kids with cancer.  Hamilton Jordan, a loyal and competent man.  He's in our thoughts and prayers.

And we'll be right back.

(Announcements)

MR. RUSSERT:  That's all for today.  We'll be back next week.  If it's Sunday, it's MEET THE PRESS.

Before we leave, tomorrow, Memorial Day, wherever you are, pause at 3 PM in an act of remembrance for America's fallen heroes.  The National Moment of Remembrance created by Congress in 2000 is an act of national unity to honor the more than one million Americans who've given their lives for our country. Happy Memorial Day.

MORE FROM MEET THE PRESS

Meet the Press Section Front

Nov. 8: Casey, Barbour, Rendell, roundtable, Brokaw Nov. 1: Tim Geithner, David Plouffe, roundtable Oct. 25: Cornyn, Schumer, Burnett, Sorkin, roundtable Oct. 18: Jarrett, Dodd, Kyl, Shriver, Podesta Oct. 11: Levin, Graham, McCaffrey, Myers, roundtable Oct. 4: Ambassador Susan Rice, roundtable Sept. 27: Bill Clinton, Paterson, Kyl, Webb Sept. 20: President Obama, Sen. Graham, Rep. Boehner, roundtable Sept. 13: Durbin, Cornyn, Dean, Gingrich, roundtable Sept. 6: Axelrod, roundtable Meet the Press Section Front   Add Meet the Press headlines to your news reader: