'Meet the Press' transcript for Oct. 12, 2008

FMR. REP. PORTMAN:  Well, I think what they've focused on is two things, one is Senator Obama's judgment and second is his truthfulness.  I, I saw yesterday there had been nine different explanations about his relationship with Bill Ayers and, and when he met him and who he thought he was and so on. And so that's the issue, is his judgment and his truthfulness.  In terms of this campaign, as we get toward, you know, the last few weeks here, it's heated up, there's no question, on both sides.  And Senator Obama's rallies are, you know, he also inspires the crowd, and they can get pretty rowdy as well.  Having viewed a few of those, those, those rallies, and been at some of the McCain rallies, they are inspiring people, you know, to support their policies and their approach.  That's what rallies are all about.  They cannot control every single individual in that, in that rally and what that person might say.  But no, I, I think if you look at these campaigns...

MR. BROKAW:  You're comfortable with the ads.  You don't think they're too negative.

FMR. REP. PORTMAN:  Well, you know, you look at the negative ads.  Senator Obama has run more negative ads in this campaign than any presidential campaign in history.  Easily.  And far more negative ads than Senator McCain has run, and including ads that directly take on Senator McCain on things like stem cell research in a, in a dishonest way, Social Security, immigration, that are, you know, by independent fact checkers have been found to be absolutely false.  So, Tom, it's going on, on, on the ads, the TV wars on the Obama side.

MR. BROKAW:  And it turns out that the--on the other side there are some real issues as well.  Congressman John Lewis got a lot of attention over the weekend--he's the Atlanta congressman who's a veteran of the civil rights movement--when he said, "Senator McCain and Governor Palin are sowing the seeds of hatred and division.  ...  During another period in the not too distant past, there was a governor of the state of Alabama named George Wallace who also became a presidential candidate.  George Wallace never threw a bomb.  He never fired a gun, but he created the climate and the conditions that encouraged vicious attacks against innocent Americans who were simply trying to exercise their constitutional rights.  ...  They are playing a very dangerous game that disregards the value of the political process and cheapens our entire democracy." Not surprisingly, there was a quick response from the McCain campaign saying, "Congressman John Lewis' comments represent a character attack against Governor Sarah Palin and me that is shocking and beyond the pale.  The notion that legitimate criticism of Senator Obama's record and positions could be compared to Governor George Wallace, his segregationist policies and the violence he provoked is unacceptable and has no place in this campaign." And to that, Senator Obama said he "does not believe that John McCain or his policy criticism is in any way comparable to George Wallace or his segregationist policies.  But John Lewis" he says, "was right to condemn some of the hateful rhetoric that John McCain himself has personally rebuked just last night," and so on and so on.

Let me ask you both a simple question.  In Minnesota, the senator, Norm Coleman, the Republican candidate for re-election, has stopped all negative advertising.  Would that be a good idea for the presidential campaigns in the midst of this financial crisis when the country is so focused on their future?

GOV. CORZINE:  Tom, I, I--first of all, I think that actually is a good idea. I think the first ad you showed, which has lie on it printed several times, is inflammatory by anybody's stretch of imagination.  I don't--you know, I'm not going to say everybody's innocent.  I, you know, I think John Lewis is one of the most remarkable men in American history.  But, you know, I would not want to include this in the debate today since...

MR. BROKAW:  You think he was inappropriate in comparing him to George Wallace?

GOV. CORZINE:  Well, I just think it, I, I just think it is a--it is playing into what I think is the strategy that is going on here about this whole Ayers issue and everything else.  We want to turn the page on economics, because it's not working in the debate for Senator McCain, and get on to something else.  It's a distraction away from the most fundamental debate that we ought to be having in this country is how are we going to put people to work?  How are we going to keep people in their homes?  How are we going to raise the income of the middle class in this country?  These are the things that people are worried about in their lives, and this is a complete distraction.  And in--by the way, the facts, I mean, I don't--you know, if somebody sits on a board where somebody else is on the board, by the way, it's Walter Annenberg's board on school reform, and he picked Mr. Ayers, not Barack Obama.  They happen to be on the same board.  So that's a--that's the classic guilt by association.  It's really fueled...

MR. BROKAW:  Well, what about, what about John Lewis and guilt by association linking him with George Wallace?

GOV. CORZINE:  Yeah, I, I--as I said, I would prefer that we stay talking about what we talked about in the first part of this discussion today.  We've got people that have seen the cost per person go up--of the loss of their equity values almost $30,000.  I mean, this is a huge, huge problem that ought to be the centerpiece, not something that we've turned the page on and we're going to walk away from.  We need steady, thoughtful, careful analysis and presentation of policy so we can make a decision who'll be the best president.

MR. BROKAW:  Final word from Congressman Portman.

FMR. REP. PORTMAN:  Well, no, I, I agree with Jon on the fact that the economy's the key issue, and I totally disagree with him that anybody's turning the page in the McCain campaign.  You saw this in the debate the other night, Tom, where you were there.  Senator McCain focused entirely on struggling families in America and the needs they have in terms of health care, paying their mortgages, staying in their homes at all, their education costs for, for their kids and keeping a job.  And this is what John McCain's going to keep talking about.  He's focused on the economy, how to get us out of the ditch that we're in.  And he's got new innovative policies to do it, and it includes not taxing small businesses, which are the generators of new jobs in his economy, they're going to help us get out of that ditch.  But helping them includes not raising taxes on capital gains, on dividend income as the market's going down.  It includes pro-growth, pro-jobs policies that people are hungering for.  And that's going to be his focus, and that is his intention.

MR. BROKAW:  Final question.  You've been the go-to guy as a stand-in in debate preparation in a number of debates.  You were the stand-in for John McCain as Obama.  But in a Senate race in New York you were the stand-in as Hillary Clinton.  Which was more difficult to characterize, Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama?

FMR. REP. PORTMAN:  You know, I, I think it's, it's hard to say.  Playing Barack Obama's been very interesting, though.  He's a talented politician, you know, there's no question about it.  I also say he's, he's more predictable than some other people who I've had the opportunity to train.  You know, I, I played Joe Lieberman, also, who is more unpredictable and more authentic, I would say, in terms of his policy positions.  So what I've learned, Tom, is a lot about the economic positions of, of Senator Obama, as well as John McCain. And I come out of it more convinced than ever that to really get this economy moving again and to help people that John McCain's got the better approach.

Sometimes, you know, it's tough toward the end of a campaign to focus, as Jon has said, as we should be focused on how we're going to change and help, help, help people in, in their daily lives.  People ought to look.  You said go to the Web sites.  Look at the tax policies.  Look at the health care policies.  Look at the energy independence policies.  Look at how John McCain is focused on trying to get the economy back on track and make your decision on that basis.

MR. BROKAW:  Congressman Portman, Governor Corzine, thank you very much for being with us.

GOV. CORZINE:  Good to be here.

MR. BROKAW:  Twenty-three days until the election.  It's going to be a rapid countdown.

Coming up next, more on the economy and decision in 2008 with our political roundtable--Erin Burnett, Paul Gigot, John Harwood and Ted Koppel--right here on MEET THE PRESS.

(Announcements)

MR. BROKAW:  Our political roundtable on the countdown to Election Day, now just 23 days to go, coming up after this brief station break.

(Announcements)

MR. BROKAW:  Welcome all.  We have Paul Gigot of The Wall Street Journal, Ted Koppel of Discovery Channel, Erin Burnett and John Harwood of CNBC on our roundtable this morning.  We've got a lot to talk about.

Erin, let's begin with you.  As you talk to your sources, what do you think's going to happen tomorrow morning when the markets open here?

MS. ERIN BURNETT:  I think one of the things they're reacting to is what happened this weekend.  You were talking about the G20 meeting as well as the G7.  There's been a lot of criticism about what happened at those meetings, maybe the countries didn't do enough, but big investors that I'm speaking to seem to believe that we got what we needed out of the G7.  They made a strong statement that they're going to do everything they can do.  Countries need individual responses.  So in terms of that, there appears to be more confidence.  There's a little bit more confidence in the fixed-income market. That being said, though, Tom, any given day at this point could be a very sharp move one way or the other.

MR. BROKAW:  No one believes that we've bottomed out.

MS. BURNETT:  Some people do believe that, but that's a dubious term at this point.  Bottoming out--I mean, you could sit right around where we are for quite a while and that would be pretty painful.  But some people are making that call.  It's a pretty courageous call to make right now.

MR. BROKAW:  Let's talk about the politics of all this.  Paul Gigot, let's begin with you.  The McCain campaign.  Here's what Tommy Thompson, the former governor of Wisconsin had to say when he was asked about how the campaign is going--doing.  He, he was asked whether he believes it's going well.  And as you can see, he said, "No, and I don't know anyone who thinks that it is." Would that be your judgment as well?

MR. PAUL GIGOT:  Well, I think so.  Even within the campaign I'm not sure that they, they really believe that it's going well.  I think there's, you know, they didn't want to run a campaign about the economy as the main issue. They wanted to run a character campaign, an experience campaign.  John McCain, seasoned, somebody who's seen hard times vs.  the rookie, the neophyte, somebody who really hasn't been around.  That's been blown out of the water by events on Wall Street, events in the financial system.  And now John McCain is being forced to play on turf where he is not as comfortable he is--as he is on foreign policy and duty, honor, country.  It's been very tough for him. You've seen the campaign kind of move from idea to idea, and, and especially without a consistent narrative that the American people right now want to hear.  How did we get here?  What happened?  What are you ideas for getting out?  You can't just blame this or that.  Obama blames deregulation.  Well, that's simplistic.  McCain says it's Fannie and Freddie.  Well, that's part of it, but not everything.  You need a larger narrative.

MR. BROKAW:  Do you think the attacks on Obama's character and his association with William Ayers in the past are working?

MR. GIGOT:  I think it's a legitimate issue.  Associations are always a legitimate issue.  It speaks to judgment and character.  But I think in this context, coming as late as it has, I think it's going to look to some people like a distraction more than the central issue of the campaign.  I think McCain has to address the economy.

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