HBO Real Time with Bill Maher - Transcript
HBO Real Time with Bill Maher - Transcript
April 29, 2005
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
MAHER: ... All right. We've got a great show. We've got Martin Short, Farai Chideya-[applause] [cheers]-Lt. Governor Michael Steele, and a little later, I will be speaking with Jeff Gannon. Yes, the one and only Mr. Jeff Gannon. [applause] But first up, he is the senior United States Senator from New York , and the ranking Democrat on the Oversight Committee, the Honorable Charles Schumer. Hey! [applause] [cheers] How are you doing, Senator?
Sen. CHARLES SCHUMER [via satellite]: Hi, Bill, I'm pretty good tonight.
MAHER: Thank you. Thank you for making time for us. What is the Oversight Committee?
SCHUMER: Well, we oversee everything. [laughter] But one of the things we do is look after the courts and the judiciary. And it's been pretty controversial right now.
MAHER: Oh, I guess so. Yeah, it seems that that's a hard one to follow. It seems to me like nowadays there's two kinds of issues in America . There's the kind that's too Byzantine and boring for the average Joe to even know what's going on. You know, the environment and the filibusters and the gerrymandering and what did Tom DeLay do on vacation. [laughter] And then the really stupid issues that they can understand like Terri Schiavo and gay marriage. And it seems to me the American people have become completely irrelevant. Your thoughts. [laughter]
SCHUMER: Well, no, I don't think so. It is true that when you get inside Washington , sometimes the politicians are so busy talking to one another that they forget what's going on with the people. But, you know, they're not irrelevant. I mean, the party that wins, at least when the Democrats win, it's only when we're talking to people about things that matter to them: education, health care, jobs, the meat-and-potato issues. [applause] And when we get away from that, we tend to lose because the Republicans are much better at these complicated issues than we are, in the sense that they appeal to people's fears and can sort of shake things up.
People want government to help them - help them. That's what government is all about. And that's what the Democratic Party ought to stick to.
MAHER: I think you ought to stick to scaring people. [laughter] No, I'm serious.
SCHUMER: [overlapping] I'm not good at that.
MAHER: I mean, you mentioned health care and education. This is how John Kerry ran his campaign. He said, "I'm not really going to contest President Bush on the terrorism stuff. I'm going to say the war in Iraq , I pretty much have the same - you know, foreigners like me better. Other than that, we're the same." I don't understand why the Democratic Party doesn't make it their main issue that this president has really not addressed Homeland Security. [applause]
I know we're fighting them over there-
SCHUMER: Yes.
MAHER: --because we don't fight them here. But this week - this week, the 9/11 Commissioners said that the government really hasn't done anything they proposed. Once again, I heard the chemical plants in this country are sitting ducks for terrorists. Last week, they said airport security, just as bad as it was before 9/11.
SCHUMER: [overlapping] Oh, no-
MAHER: Why don't the Democrats make this their signature issue and make it stick to this president?
SCHUMER: Well, it's a great issue, and you're right, the president has done very little. Let me give you one little example. What's the greatest - worst thing that could happen? Someone smuggles a nuclear weapon into the country and, God forbid, explodes it in Chicago or somewhere.
And I've tried for three years now to get us to put money in the budget to develop detectors. So when someone brings a nuclear device in, whether it's on a truck across the border or in one of the containers on the ships, it would be detected. We got $500 million in the Senate budget. They moved it down to 150 in the House. And then they haven't - they passed that - and now they've only spent $30 million of it. So I think you're right. It's a great issue.
One of the problems, though, is - and this is about scaring people - when people hear about these things and the dangers we face, often they don't want to hear about it because it's too - it's too unpleasant to deal with. But we should be talking about it more, and it's one of the issues that I've been pursuing. Everywhere, we're wide open. Ports, rail, trucks, nuclear, cyber-terrorism.
You know, someone could create one of these little viruses that could shut down the electric system in the country or, God forbid, invade a - I'll tell you a funny story. I worry about this stuff. I asked somebody what about if someone created a virus at the - at the Indian Point nuclear power plant; they got the control rods to withdraw and created a whole reaction. He said, "Well, we've checked that out. Don't worry. Indian Point is so backward that they're not even connected to the Internet. [laughter] I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. [laughter]
MAHER: We're all going to die. That is a funny story. [laughter] [applause]
SCHUMER: That's why we don't do this subject so much.
MAHER: Yeah, does it seem to you like everything works backwards from the 30-second attack ad? That every politician in Washington worries about everything that they will do, how it's going to look in the next election when it's portrayed in the 30-second attack ad.
SCHUMER: Yes.
MAHER: I know that there's a lot of pork now in the military budget. There's a lot of pork that's easy to put into Homeland Security funding because no one wants to vote against something because of how it will look. In the last election, Bush hung that around John Kerry's neck. "He voted against military spending." How do we reverse that so that politicians do the right thing for the country instead of the right thing for the next election?
SCHUMER: Yeah, I think you have to just stand up and just address the issue head on. Hey, I am for a strong military, but I'm not for pork. Hey, I am for keeping taxes low on the middle class, but the well-to-do should pay more. If you run away from the issue, they win. [applause] I think you have to stand up to it and speak the truth. [applause]
MAHER: But, with all due respect, haven't the Democrats been characterized somewhat lately as doing just that?
SCHUMER: Well, no, I think we're beginning. You know, we're holding firm on judges. They're trying to roll over us on judges and the nuclear option. On Social Security, the president sort of put himself in a hole when he called for privatization. And yesterday, he called for deeper benefit cuts and dug the hole deeper. And Democrats are pretty united. No question about it, Bill. We have a ways to go. We're not there yet.
But on a couple of the key issues, we've stood strong and firm. And guess what? We're winning. We're winning on Social - the two biggest issues of the day: Social Security and judges. [applause] We are winning, and the public is on our side. So I think, again, if you believe in something, you stand firm, you don't let them scare you, you can win. And too often in the past, you are right, Democrats have run away from some of these issues.
MAHER: What about Tom DeLay? What's going to happen to him? Are you going to be able to get rid of him? [laughter] [applause] [cheers]
SCHUMER: Well, I think he's going to - maybe he'll go on one final trip to Houston and not come back.
MAHER: Okay. And so much of this seems to revolve around trips he took, which I think now the issue is, Democrats are worried that this is going to be a Pandora's Box because they're going to find out - people are going to find out that some Democrats took some trips that they shouldn't have taken. My question: why do congressmen need to take trips? [laughter]
SCHUMER: Yeah, well, it depends what kind of trip you're talking about here. Some of them are always on trips. [laughter] [applause]
MAHER: [laughs]
SCHUMER: But, no, I'm - I agree with you. You know, for me, a big trip is to Buffalo . [laughter]
MAHER: Right.
SCHUMER: And I think the trips are overdone. You should be out there, most of all, among your constituents. There are times when a trip, you know, you will really learn something. But they're overdone. And when they start getting paid for - you know, you go on a fact-finding trip about golf in Hawaii paid for by some lobbyist
MAHER: Right.
SCHUMER: You sort of get the picture.
MAHER: Okay. Well, I know you're reputed to be the hardest-working man in Congress, so I appreciate you taking some time out for us. Thank you. Senator Schumer.
SCHUMER: Bill, thank you very much. [applause] [cheers]
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
http://www.safesearching.com/billmaher/print/transcripts.shtml