Meet the Press - September 10, 2023: Bill Cassidy
Interview
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Yeah, Chuck, thank you, and thank you for the honor of being on your last show.
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Of course. At some point, and statistically, it's in the '80s, you begin a more rapid decline. It's usually noticeable. So, anybody in a position of responsibility who may potentially be on that slope, that is of concern. I'm saying this as a doctor.
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Absolutely. By the way, I think Mitch McConnell's handled it perfectly. His doctor is releasing not just the tests but the results of the tests. And with that, there is a transparency that allows people to move beyond a number -- how old is the person -- into, "What is actually the kind of science," if you will, "the medical science, of how to evaluate?" And I think that should be the standard that folks are held to, and I think he's responded.
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I do.
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The doctor is not lying. He's saying, "These are the tests that we've done, and this is the results we have." By the way, I also have the advantage of seeing not just the clip of him during 20 seconds --
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-- but him before and him after, and there, he's quite clearly capable.
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Well, you know, I always say that I'm a gastroenterologist, he's an ophthalmologist. We're not the internist who's doing the physical exam, guiding. And so, you have to accept the limitations of training.
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Shouldn't there be transparency? Shouldn't President Biden, for example, release a full kind of neurologic evaluation of his cognitive ability and whomever else? You pick the person that you've had --
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Do what Mitch just did. There was total transparency. And so, if somebody running for that kind of high office --
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No, he said -- well, at some point, you have to say, "Okay, wait a second. He said he had an EEG, an MRI, a this, a that, a that, a this, and they're all normal." That's pretty good. Now, you may decide that the doctor is lying. But at some point, you have to have faith in somebody, and I think somebody who's not out of politics, being honest, giving you the results of the tests is a good start.
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Well, I don't know about the Constitution, but I think it should be certainly a House rule.
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Yeah, I agree with that.
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I would be okay with that. I think if you want to be the president of the United States, or a senator, or a House member, then there is a responsibility over and above that of just offering yourself. It has to be that you can show that you have clarity. Now, we could define what that means.
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I actually think that that would be reasonable, too.
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Because if the voter's going to make a decision, we need to give her as much information as we possibly can.
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You know, you're guessing what's in his mind. I will not -- I will not go there.
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He's got a difficult role to play, and I accept that, too. Now, if you treat each of those separately, would there be a reasonable thing that maybe Joe Biden was involved or at least knew of Hunter trading upon the family name for personal enrichment? That is something that the American people should know about.
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I'm not an attorney, and I'm not going to go there. In fact -- and I don't know the results of Congressman Comer's -- which I think he's doing the service to the country, a good service --
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I have not seen the documents that he wants, and I don't think he's seen them yet. So, if you treat that separately, is there something where Hunter was trading upon his father's name, and his father's enabling? That is something to know. On the other hand, is it -- do we need to pass the funding bill? Absolutely. So, hopefully they two can be considered separately. I don't know what Kevin's strategy is.
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Well, I'm told that there is something of foreign agent rule, where somebody who is a -- registered as a foreign agent is not being totally transparent in terms of how they're using this relationship. I'm also told it's difficult to enforce. Again, I'm not an attorney. But there's something about both the spirit and the letter of the law that I think the American people should know.
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I agree with that. On the other hand, you can't deny somebody a right to earn a living. To steal a phrase from another, they're not just a potted plant. My wife, for example, doesn't make any money at what she's doing, but she's got a career independently of me. Do we want to kind of snuff that out? And she's an incredibly capable person.
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Well, I'll say that I've not been quite so adamant recently.
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So, he might be the nominee, and I think Mike Pence is trying to draw the contrast. Is there a populist future to our country, to our party, to the Republican Party, or is there a non-populist? Populism has a role, but I think now, presidents -- the populism has come to the point where if you look at a poll of the American people, most don't like it.
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That's true.
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But --
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But think about the purpose of populism. When the elites come up with a policy set which is separate and different from that which the people actually feel meets their needs, that has to be addressed. And so, there is a role for that sensitivity to what the people want. I am totally in favor of that. What I don't like is when you tell people just what they want to hear even if it's not true. You know I've been very focused on Social Security.
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We've got two candidates who are telling the American people that which they wish to hear, not that which is true. Because of that, Social Security, if it goes insolvent, as it's predicted to, will result in a 24% cut in benefits for those receiving. So, for a candidate to tell the American people there's no problem, that's populism gone awry.
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You know, we're keeping our streak alive. Every time we've met, you've asked me about this.
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Well, because I'm going to vote for a Republican. Yes, I am.
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Might have to write it in.
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Depending upon who the candidates were.
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Yeah.
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If they came and spoke to me, I would certainly speak to them back.
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I am not.
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Yes, put it this way: 70% of the American people want something different. Plausibly, we could have a setting in which someone has been convicted and someone else shows signs of mental decline so significant, 70% of the American people are already thinking that he's too old. He is not being transparent like some are in terms of revealing the tests. There is an actual need to know what's going on, and we're not being told. With this, should there be another option for the American people? And I think, plausibly, there should be.
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Thanks, Chuck.
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