CNBC Capital Report - Transcript

CNBC News Transcripts

SHOW: Capital Report 7:00 AM EST CNBC

September 30, 2004 Thursday

HEADLINE: Representative Mario Diaz Balart of Florida and Kerry adviser Stephanie Cutter discuss tonight's presidential debate

ANCHORS: GLORIA BORGER

BODY:

GLORIA BORGER, co-host:

So what can voters look for on tonight's debate showdown? For that we turn to our campaign brains: Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart, Republican of Florida, and Stephanie Cutter is a spokeswoman for the Kerry-Edwards campaign. Both join me now from the debate site at the University of Miami.

Thanks to both of you for being with me tonight. Let's start with you, Stephanie Cutter. Who is your candidate trying to reach tonight?

Ms. STEPHANIE CUTTER (Kerry Campaign Adviser): He's trying to reach every American, Gloria. He has a lot to say tonight. He has-he's going lay out a concise vision about where he wants to take this country and how to make us safer: finish the mission in Iraq and win the war on terror. It'll be a good debate.

BORGER: What about you, Congressman? Who's the president trying the reach?

Representative MARIO DIAZ BELART (Republican, Florida): (As identified on screen) Well, actually I think the president's going to show that he's a man who sticks to his guns. I'm actually looking forward to see which John Kerry comes to the debate today. You know, he's become the Sybil of presidential politics. We do know that whatever he says tonight, he'll change his mind tomorrow. That's something that you cannot expect from President Bush. You know that he sticks to his guns, he says what he believes in and he follows through with it.

BORGER: Stephanie, you want to respond to that?

Ms. CUTTER: I do. I do. You know, if you-just because you have a firm grip on the wheel doesn't mean you should drive off the road. You know, the president needs to stand up tonight and admit some mistake; have a debate-night conversion and realize that the American people want to hear the truth. And the truth is that he's had some failed policies in Iraq that have made us less safe. John Kerry's had one consistent position; that you go to war as a last resort. And the president did not do that.

BORGER: Congressman, do you expect the president tonight to admit that he's made some mistakes? He did say that he miscalculated. And, also, the polls show that American voters, even those who like him, wish that he would sometimes change or allow-be a little more flexible. I guess that's the way to put it.

Rep. DIAZ-BALART: Yeah, but, I mean, there was no mistake in getting rid of Saddam Hussein. America and the world are safer; John Kerry said so himself. He said so during the Democratic debates. He's changed his mind about 13 or 14 different times. And I can guarantee you one thing. No matter what John Kerry says today, tomorrow he'll say something totally different. Again, look, President Bush is somebody who sticks to what he believes in. He's right on these issue. He's the right man under very difficult circumstances. We're at war. We have a commander in chief who the troops follow, who understand where we're going and who has a plan to win this war-not back out of it and lose; to win this war.

BORGER: Stephanie Cutter, though, isn't this debate really the difference between whether voters see Iraq as a distraction from the war on terror or as an integral part of the war on terror?

Ms. CUTTER: Well, Gloria, I think that everybody knows now that Iraq is part of the war on terror because before we went to war, there weren't any terrorists on the ground in Iraq. And now that we're there and we've invaded Iraq, toppled Saddam Hussein without a plan to win the peace, there are more terrorists on the ground than ever before. We've got a real mess on our hands over there.

And I just want to comment on something the congressman said. You know, he says that John Kerry changed his position. I want to talk to you about changing positions: 23 different rationales for war. What type of commander in chief is that? That's a commander in chief that's living in fantasyland. That's not what the troops need. They need reality, they need the truth. They needed a plan to win the mission over there. That's something that's really lacking with this president.

BORGER: Congressman, you know, that's clearly the line of the Kerry campaign; that the president is living in what John Kerry calls a 'fantasy world of spin.'

Rep. DIAZ-BALART: Well, that's their line this week. Next week it will probably be something different.

Ms. CUTTER: It will.

Rep. DIAZ-BALART: We saw the Washington Post saying, 'Tow they're changing their line on Iraq again.' Look, Senator Kerry said-he first voted for the war. He said later on that he was-that he would have voted for that war again. He said to Mr. Dean that if he didn't understand that the world was better off with Saddam Hussein, that he was not fit for being president, and now he says that we're not safer with Saddam Hussein-if you follow Senator Kerry's own logic, then Senator Kerry, in his own words, is not fit to be president.

Whether you look at his vote against the $87 billion-a month before he said it would be irresponsible to vote against giving our troops what they needed. Less and month later he was one of only 12 senators who voted for the war and then voted against...

BORGER: Well...

Rep. DIAZ-BALART: ...giving our troops what they needed on the field. He said that's irresponsible. I agree with him there. He was irresponsible, and he continues to act irresponsibly.

BORGER: Stephanie, go ahead.

Ms. CUTTER: I guess the congressman hasn't read The New York Times or The Washington Post or any of the other major media organizations over the last couple weeks who have reported that John Kerry has actually had a very consistent position since the beginning of this war. It was the right vote to give the president the authority to hold Saddam Hussein accountable. Unfortunately, the president broke every single promise he made to go with our allies...

BORGER: But...

Ms. CUTTER: ...to have a plan to win the peace, to armor our troops and to finish this off the right way. The president didn't do that. You know, like I said before, just because you have a firm grip on the wheel doesn't mean you should drive off the cliff, and that's exactly what we're doing.

BORGER: But, Stephanie, doesn't John Kerry tonight have to reassure voters that he has a plan for Iraq and tell them what it is in order to change their minds, particularly those persuadable voters that are out there?

Ms. CUTTER: Mm-hmm, absolutely he does, Gloria. You're going to see two men standing side by side tonight, only one with a vision about how to win the war in Iraq. He will reassure voters that help is on the way.

BORGER: And, Congressman, does George W. Bush have to show himself to be a man with some flexibility, who also talks about the future in Iraq?

Rep. DIAZ-BALART: You know, George W. Bush, President Bush, doesn't have to reinvent himself for this debate. He's not reinventing himself or-you know, we know who he is, and we know what he stands for. Stephanie says-and I think it's a great line-that Senator Kerry, you know, may have the grip to the wheel. The problem is Senator Kerry's wheel is made out of mush; it's made out of sand and water.

The president has been very clear; he's told the American people why we're in this war. And he has a plan to get us out of this war. Iraq is going to have elections in January to elect a new prime minister for the first time. They're having a democracy. Four countries in that region...

BORGER: OK.

Rep. DIAZ-BALART: ...that were helping terrorists are now helping us against the terrorists.

BORGER: OK.

Rep. DIAZ-BALART: huge victories. And, by the way, let's not minimize the victories of the troops. The president supports our troops, and I think we should all do that.

BORGER: OK. I want to just change the subject for one quick moment, obviously still on the debate. But we've got these crazy rules, these over 30 pages of rules: No charts are allowed; no TV shots allowed of yawning spectators; the green light and the red lights are shown to the public. Stephanie Cutter, there was a lot made of the fact that John Kerry didn't want those green and red lights shown to the public. What can you tell us about that, and does it matter?

Ms. CUTTER: Well, Gloria, you know, the Bush campaign has been very, very fixated on the rules from day one. We don't-we're not worried about the rules. We just want to have a good, substantive debate on the issues before us. You know, there was an issue about the timing of the questions and whether or not to put lights up to show when the questions were ending. The Bush campaign wanted those lights on the podiums of the two individual candidates, which we felt was game showlike and demeaning. But if that's what they want in order to distract from the answers that George Bush will give, then we'll let them have that. They can have those lights. But we're just going to continue to debate on the real issues that the American people care about.

BORGER: Well, thanks to both of you. Let's hope it is not game showlike at all but a serious debate.

Ms. CUTTER: I agree.

BORGER: Thanks so much, Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart...

Rep. DIAZ-BALART: Pleasure.

BORGER: ...and Kerry campaign spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter. Thanks for being with us.

Ms. CUTTER: Thank you.

BORGER: Alan.

ALAN MURRAY (Co-host): Thank you, Gloria.

Coming up, we're going to hear from two undecided voters from the battleground. What do they want to hear tonight from George Bush and John Kerry?

And Walter Cronkite tells us why he thinks this presidential debate is so critical to American voters. You're watching CAPITAL REPORT on CNBC.