'Meet the Press' transcript for August 10, 2008

MR. DIONNE:  Well, first of all, John McCain had no really coherent campaign until he started these attacks, so that I think at least there's a theme now to the, to the McCain campaign.  I, I think there's a cost here, which is that John McCain was a special kind of guy.  He wasn't your usual politician. These are so typical as political ads.  Secondly, there have been some real truth problems in these ads.  You know, "Obama will raise your taxes," when, in fact, Obama's got a bunch of middle class tax cuts.  So has McCain found a certain voice here and did he create a certain defensiveness on the side of the Obama people?  Yeah, he did that.  But I think the long term cost of this to McCain could be quite significant, and Obama's started to come back.

MR. GREGORY:  But let's remember, Paul Gigot, that McCain is picking up where Senator Clinton left off on this readiness question.  And whether people laugh off the use of Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, there is a fundamental question, which is the question mark over Barack Obama's head to a lot of voters, is he really ready?  Does he have enough experience to take on the issues?

MR. GIGOT:  I think ads are working because they're helping to define Obama before most of the country actually gets to hear him.  I mean, a lot of the Democrats have heard him, but there's still a lot of doubts out there--E.J., I think you'd agree with this--about who he is, whether he has the experience. And this is defining him.  But where I do agree--and that's, that's helping McCain.  But where I do agree with you is I think McCain, if he's going to win, particularly in this environment, he's got to offer a positive vision. He's got to say, "This is what I would do," because it's one thing to knock down Obama, and that'll work for a time.  But, in the end, they're not going to vote for McCain unless McCain says, "This is what I do."

MR. GREGORY:  And, you know, Dave, I, I, I was reading recently about what Reagan said in 1984, the notion that America is back and standing tall.  Has McCain really said where America is seven years after 9/11?  And should he?

MR. BRODER:  He said in a statement last week that we are worse off now than we were four years ago, which is a remarkable thing for the Republican nominee to be, be saying.

MR. GREGORY:  Right.

MR. BRODER:  But I think as time--as he moves toward his own convention, McCain increasingly will try to separate himself from the legacy of the Bush years.  That's, I think, his only way of having any kind of a shot at winning. But there is a point, I think, E.J., about where these events in the real world, in Georgia and Russia, leave Obama.  Obama's basic message on foreign policy is it's better to talk to our enemies than to get ready to fight them. And here's a case where, clearly, talking did not dissuade Russia from this act of violence.

MR. DIONNE:  Right, but I also think that the--first of all, under President Bush, the situation deteriorated.  But secondly, it's a rare time where I agreed with an excellent editorial in The Wall Street Journal yesterday.  If we are going to move forward to confront Russia and say, "You got to stop doing this," as Paul said, we're going to have to do this in concert with the Europeans.  So the core argument that Obama has been making for a long time, and other Democrats, that you need stronger alliances in a difficult and dangerous world, I think, is proven out by this terrible thing that's happened in Georgia.

MR. GREGORY:  Beyond the issues, we're dealing with the tone of the campaign. And, David Broder, you spoke this week with both candidates, and you write in a column this morning about how they feel about one another.  We'll put it on the screen.  "McCain and Obama ...  entered this campaign as relative strangers, and now - as the sniping builds to a steady staccato - each of them has acquired a strong sense of grievance about the other." What is it?

MR. BRODER:  Well, in McCain's case, he's angry because the--Obama's either implied or said that he was monitoring a--mounting a racist campaign.  What Obama is really angry about is this--that line that McCain used, that he would rather lose a war than jeopardize his chance of winning an election.  And there is a lot of bad blood.  McCain, in addition, has a real sense of disappointment that Obama would not come on to the platform and start debating with him this summer.  He believes--and I think with some basis--that if they were facing each other side by side they would be--have--conducting a much more civil campaign.

MR. GREGORY:  And yet, Erin, as was discussed here, the idea that McCain did need a narrative for his run, needed to find a way to define Barack Obama, does that risk it all, this maverick image, the guy who promised in the spring of this year that Americans don't want any of this negative campaigning in their election?

MS. BURNETT:  Well, it's fascinating, too, that, that it--when we talk about what is defining John McCain, and what's defining John McCain is pointing the finger at Barack Obama and talking about Barack Obama, that is that really seeding, in a sense, the dialogue?  Every time Barack Obama says something, it gets coverage.  For, for whatever that reason might be, he does sort of have that public imagination.  It has been much harder for John McCain to come out with an idea of his own or a specific proposal of his own that gets the same pickup as Barack Obama.  So maybe, in a sense, it's a little bit of desperation, of trying to, "Well, you got to get out there somehow."

MR. GREGORY:  Paul Gigot, one factor for Obama here is not just McCain, but it's former President Clinton, who this week seemed to be echoing John McCain when he, he wouldn't answer whether Obama's really prepared to be president. He certainly has been willing to say that, that other Democratic nominees, including his wife, were ready to be president.  How much work does Obama have to do to not just bring Republicans and Democrats together, but to bring the Clintons back into the fold?

MR. GIGOT:  I don't know that he can ever bring Bill Clinton back into the fold.  Bill Clinton's having a real hard psychological time getting his, getting his head around the fact that his wife lost.  But I think he has to get her--him--her supporters back.  And if I were him, I would not fight about whether you have a roll call at the convention.  I would go ahead and say, "Let's put her name in, let's have a vote, let's let them get up and scream and shout on her behalf." And that's a good way, I think, the, the former first lady used the word catharsis in, in one meeting to describe what it might be like.  Why not?  That's the best way to do it.  The Clintons--Bill Clinton, I think, still believes that Barack Obama's going to lose this campaign.

MR. GREGORY:  Mm-hmm.

MR. GIGOT:  And I think he--that's one of the reasons he's not totally on board here.  But he's got to get him on board.

MR. GREGORY:  E.J., how--what kind of impact is Bill Clinton having on Barack Obama?

MR. DIONNE:  I don't think right now a big impact, but I think that, with the Clinton case, I agree with Paul that with sort of--there are only--200 Clinton delegates is all it would take if they really wanted to be difficult, to make a mess at the convention.  So I think you're going to see a lot of conciliation with the Clinton people.  I think Bill Clinton does have to go out there eventually, because like it or not, Democrats want to look back at parts of the Clinton legacy and say, "Hey, the country was better off then." And I think that's really hard for Bill Clinton, partly because of the charge of racism.  And if there's anything that was important to Bill Clinton, it was his identity as a friend of--to African-Americans and a supporter of African-Americans.  Meanwhile, African-Americans say, "Wait a minute, we had your back"--as one talk show host said, "We had your back on--during the impeachment, and then look at what you said about Obama." So this is very personal and difficult, but it's got to be solved for the Democrats.

MR. GREGORY:  Let us turn to the Democratic politician who is making headlines but is no longer in the race, and that is John Edwards, who made public, finally admitted to the fact that he did have an extramarital affair back in 2006.  This, after a long string of denials as he was running for the presidency.  Watch.

(Videotape, October 11, 2007)

FMR. SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-SC):  The story's false.  It's completely untrue. It's ridiculous.  I've been in love with the same woman for 30-plus years, as anybody who's been around us knows.  She's an extraordinary human being--warm, loving, beautiful, sexy, and as good a person as I have ever known.  So the story's just false.

(End videotape)

(Videotape, July 23, 2008)

FMR. SEN. EDWARDS:  I, I don't talk about these tabloids and, you know, the--that are tabloid trash that's full of lies.

(End videotape)

(Videotape, Friday, ABC News/"Nightline")

FMR. SEN. EDWARDS:  In 2006, two years ago, I made a very serious mistake, a mistake that I am responsible for and no one else.

(End videotape)

MR. GREGORY:  So many reactions.

Paul Gigot, your paper editorialized it this way:  "While no one disputes Mr. Edwards' assertion that he is `the dumbest man in America,' those who supported his candidacy - with their time, money and beliefs - clearly thought him worth their commitment.  It is an egregious failure of judgment and character to let so many people work so hard for a candidacy that Mr. Edwards knew was at high risk of destruction.  Ambition made him run.  Blind ambition brought him to this." He could have been the Democratic nominee right now.

MR. GIGOT:  I congratulate, congratulate the Democratic electorate on their wisdom in not nominating him because, if they had, they would be in desperate straits right now.  I, I, I agree with David Bonoir, his former campaign manager, who said--John Edwards' former campaign, campaign manager saying, "He betrayed us.  He betrayed all the people who supported him."

MR. GREGORY:  Did...

MR. DIONNE:  You know where would we'd be...

MR. GREGORY:  Yeah.

MR. DIONNE:  ...right now if John Edwards had won the Democratic nomination? We would be sitting here talking about an open convention.

MR. GREGORY:  Right.

MR. DIONNE:  We'd be talking about rebellions among Edwards' delegates.  It would be an absolute mess.

MR. GREGORY:  Real quick, David Broder, are there ripple effects to this story beyond the rise and fall of John Edwards?

MR. BRODER:  Yes, because he's not really very important in American politics now.  But I'm afraid this will just deepen the cynicism that the American people feel toward politics and politicians, and that's going to be a terrible problem for the next president, who's going to have to ask for sacrifice from the American people.

MR. GREGORY:  Does it impact the VP search?  Something we haven't talked about a lot today.  Will that accelerate the process in the more personal area?

MR. BRODER:  They will be checking out all of these people, but they'd have done that in any case.  And I never thought that there was any likelihood that John Edwards would be on the list for Obama.

MR. GREGORY:  OK.  Before we go today, somebody around this table is celebrating their 400th appearance on MEET THE PRESS.  And I think I speak for everybody when I say congratulations to Erin Burnett on, on all these--no, it's actually David Broder...

MS. BURNETT:  The blink of an eye.

MR. GREGORY:  David Broder, 400 appearances on this program.  Your first appearance, we just happen to have the videotape.

MR. BRODER:  Oh, no.

MR. GREGORY:  July 7th...

MS. BURNETT:  Oh, this is going to be fun.

MR. GREGORY:  ...1963, talking about President Kennedy.  Let's watch.

(Videotape, July 7th, 1963)

MR. BRODER:  In 1960, as you recall, the Republicans told the people of this country that the White House is no place for on-the-job training.  I take it that you believe that President Kennedy's record so far bears out that warning?

MR. JOHN TOWER:  I would say that President Kennedy, Kennedy's record certainly does bear out that warning and has proved the point.

(End videotape)

MR. GREGORY:  Four hundred appearances, Mr. Broder.

MR. BRODER:  With the late John Tower, who was there because he had just launched the "Draft Goldwater" movement.  And that's--I hate to say it, but that's a long time ago, David.

MR. GREGORY:  Is this as momentous an election as you've covered, looking back?

MR. BRODER:  It's the best election I've ever covered.  I always thought that 1960, which was my first, was the best campaign, but all of the good parts of that came after Labor Day.  And we've had so many wonderful and unbelievable moments already in this one, and we're not even to the conventions yet.

MR. GREGORY:  All right.  Well, it, it's also a poignant moment not just for this milestone, but we think about our friend Tim Russert, and how much it would have meant to him to have marked your milestone and your contributions to this program.

MR. BRODER:  Thank you, David.

MR. GREGORY:  So congratulations.

We will leave it there.  Thanks to everyone around the table this morning. And we'll be right back.

(Announcements)

MR. GREGORY:  That's all for today.  We will be back next week, again at a special time in some areas due to coverage of the Olympic Games.  Please check your Web site or local listings for airtimes.  If it is Sunday, it's MEET THE PRESS.

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