MSNBC: Scarborough Country
MSNBC
SHOW: SCARBOROUGH COUNTRY 22:00
July 22, 2004 Thursday
TRANSCRIPT: # 072200cb.471
SECTION: NEWS; INTERNATIONAL
LENGTH: 7070 words
HEADLINE: SCARBOROUGH COUNTRY For July 22, 2004
BYLINE: Clint Van Zandt; Scott Weinberger; Joe Scarborough
GUESTS: Jon Voight; Deborah Volpe; Michael Smerconish; Mario Diaz-Balart; Ed Smart; Mindy Tucker; Daniel Cruise
HIGHLIGHT:
Did President Clinton receive a warning about al Qaeda three years before President Bush did? Are terrorists in training making dry runs for the next 9/11? Academy Award winner Jon Voight argues that director Michael Moore would be charged with treason if he lived anywhere else but the United States.
BODY:
JOE SCARBOROUGH, HOST: Tonight's top headline, Sandy Berger is snared in a sting operation. The "Real Deal," it looks like Mr. Berger is in sinking sand.
Welcome to SCARBOROUGH COUNTRY, where no passport is required and only common sense is allowed.
President Bush has been blasted for not acting on a memo that said bin Laden was planning attacks in the U.S. but President Clinton got a similar report three years earlier. Will Bush's critics now point the finger at bill?
Then are terrorists in training making dry runs for the next 9/11? We're going to be talking to one flight attendant who says the current airline security system just isn't working. And she's asking Congress for help. Plus, NBC reporter Scott Weinberger brings us exclusive new details in our continued coverage of Northwest Flight 327.
And Michael Moore has been attacking the president and the troops all over the world. Academy Award winner Jon Voight says the director would be charged with treason if he lived anywhere else but the good old USA.
ANNOUNCER: From the press room, to the courtroom, to the halls of Congress, Joe Scarborough has seen it all. Welcome to SCARBOROUGH COUNTRY.
SCARBOROUGH: Hey, good evening and welcome to our show.
Today's debate over the 9/11 report shows why so many Americans hate Washington. It's time for tonight's "Real Deal."
You know, there comes a time when partisan politics should be left inside smoke-filled cloak rooms. And one of those times is now, when America is struggling to win a war on terror and survive a war Iraq. It used to be that politics ended at the water's edge. But, these days, that seem to be where it begins. This age of Michael Moore that we're caught in is doing more to damage not just our political system, but it's also stopping serious policy makers on both sides of the aisle from working together to save America from destruction.
Now, no serious policy analyst doubts that al Qaeda will be able to gain access to a nuclear bomb in the next decade, nor do they question whether bin Laden is trying to gain control of a nuke right now to detonate New York, D.C. or Los Angeles. Listen, folks, with millions of Americans' lives hanging in the balance, don't you think that Democrats and Republicans should put aside partisanship long enough to put national security before petty politics?
Let's face it. Republicans have made mistakes through the years. And so have Democrats. But we should all be disturbed that the Democratic Party right now seems to be basing their electoral hopes on the failure of America's mission in Iraq and at home. I've talked to Democrats recently who are giddily asking me whether a terror attack during one of the conventions could seal the deal for their candidate, John Kerry. The answer, of course, is no.
It would actually strengthen George Bush's hand. But that's beside the point. We're all on the same side here. And if John Kerry is elected president in November, he's going to have my unwavering support when American troops are in harm's way. Now, that doesn't mean that Americans shouldn't ask tough questions about their commander in chief. But the hate speech coming from Democratic heroes like Michael Moore takes national security debates into the gutter. 7
We deserve more from our political leaders, because now Americans really may be living in the eve of destruction. It's a terrifying thought, but it's tonight's "Real Deal."
With me tonight to talk about the Sandy Berger scandal and the 9/11 report is Daniel Cruise. He served with Sandy Berger at the National Security Council. And he is also the council's current director of public affairs. We also have Mindy Tucker. She is a Republican strategist. We also have Mario Diaz-Balart, who is a congressman from Florida.
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SCARBOROUGH: And, of course, you know, also, there were times "The Washington Post" said that when staffers were around him from the Archives, he would actually tell them to get out of the room because he claimed, and the Archives people didn't believe him, but they left-he claimed that he was about to get on a phone call that dealt with classified information.
Now, I want to go to you, Congressman, because when Condoleezza Rice and Richard Clarke testified before the 9/11 Commission, a lot was made of the presidential daily briefing seen by President Bush that was titled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.," not big news, even though Michael Moore made it big news in his movie.
But the commission's full report today had information there where we learned that President Clinton received an equally chilling briefing three years earlier. It was titled "Bin Laden Preparing to Hijack U.S. Aircraft and Other Attacks."
I want to ask you this, Congressman. Let's rise above the political fray. Can we admit that the Democrats failed miserably in stopping bin Laden and that there were Republicans who also failed miserably, not only in the Bush administration, but also in the 1990s, in not seeing this threat?
REP. MARIO DIAZ-BALART ®, FLORIDA: Well, I think it is pretty obvious that when you're in the White House for eight years and you have supposedly the brightest and best, including people like Sandy Berger, who was considered to be the brightest and the best in the Clinton administration, they're there for eight years, and Americans continue to die by hands of these bloodthirsty terrorists, obviously, there's some responsibility shared.
Yes, it is true that President Bush got elected. He was there for eight months. And in eight months, by the way, as you well know in this process, I doubt very much that he even knew where the bathrooms were. By the way, most of his people were not even in place. And I think he bears responsibility for that little period of time, you know, to maybe not understanding everything that the Clinton administration failed to understand in eight years.
Look, the bottom line is this. A lot of answers, a lot of questions have to be answered, whether it is Mr. Sandy Berger, national security adviser under President Clinton, who then saw it necessary on more than one occasion to steal sensitive documents. I just heard Danny. Look, I respect him. But for him to defend the stealing of sensitive secret documents and then tell say, oh, but people are complaining. How do people complain?
Wait a second. This is stealing documents from a secure room, sensitive, secret documents. I don't care if it is Sandy Berger. I don't care who it is. You are not allowed to steal on two occasions secret documents that pertain-he mentioned the 9/11 Commission-that pertain to terrorism, our war against terrorism, our preparation for that war against terrorism.
When that happens, and for anybody to defend and it say that he didn't know, wait a second. Are you telling me that the national security adviser to President Clinton, that bright, intellectual human being, who, by the way, was so bright, so well talented, so brilliant that the Kerry campaign used him as well, that person is incapable of knowing that he is stealing sensitive documents, that he is putting them in his pants or his jacket, in violation of the rules and the law?
Hey, that does not pass a stink test. It doesn't matter when it came out. The issue is this.
SCARBOROUGH: It really doesn't.
(CROSSTALK)
DIAZ-BALART: He has to answer those questions. It is a national security issue.
SCARBOROUGH: You're exactly right. Congressman, thanks for being with us.
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