American Morning - Transcript

CNN

SHOW: AMERICAN MORNING 7:00 AM EST

October 22, 2004 Friday

HEADLINE: Interview With Senator Richard Durbin, Senator John Cornyn; Scott Peterson Trial; Stranded Hikers

BYLINE: Bill Hemmer, Soledad O'Brien, Jack Cafferty, Heidi Collins, Gloria Gomez

GUESTS: Richard Durbin, John Cornyn, Keith Lober, Dr. Mark Hammergren

O'BRIEN: Yes, we're happy for him today. He's thrilled.

Let's go back and talk about politics, shall we? Sinclair Broadcasting Group is going to air parts of a highly critical anti- Kerry film, "Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal," tonight in 39 markets across the country. Some of them are in key battleground states. How much of this will have an impact on voters, the question is today?

U.S. Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois is a co-chair of the Democratic National Committee. He joins us here.

Nice to have you. Thanks for being with us.

SEN. RICHARD DURBIN (D), ILLINOIS: Welcome to Chicago.

O'BRIEN: Thank you very much. We've had a wonderful time, by the way.

Let's first show this new ad, which has just been released by the Bush campaign. I just want to show a small chunk of it. It's called "Wolves." Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In an increasingly dangerous world, even after the first terrorist attack on America, John Kerry and the liberals in Congress voted to slash America's intelligence operations by $6 billion. Cuts so deep they would have weakened America's defenses. And weakness attracts...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Obviously they're talking about the terror threat. The title of it is "Wolves," as I said. What do you make? What's your reaction to this ad?

DURBIN: It's all about the fear factor. Will America be afraid enough not to ask hard questions as to whether we've done enough to protect our country, and whether we could do better in terms of making life a little more reasonable for working families.

O'BRIEN: The polls show that the president is very strong on this issue. What can Senator Kerry do to chip away at the president's strength?

DURBIN: Well, I think Senator Kerry made that point in the debates. He's just as committed as the president, if not more so, when it comes to homeland security and fighting terrorism. And that's the point that we made and made effectively, I think, in the first debate.

President Bush picked the topic for the first debate. It was going to be terrorism and foreign policy. John Kerry got on the stage, and when it was all over, most people said he won the debate.

O'BRIEN: At the same time, when you see an emotional ad like this, it's essentially a knockoff of an ad that Ronald Reagan did, the bear ad years ago. Do you think that it has the potential to really grasp the hearts and minds of the voting public as we head just days away from the election?

DURBIN: You know, I think there's a built-in skepticism by the voters this late in the campaign. This is the kitchen sink period of the campaign when candidates throw everything at one another.

I think that skepticism is at work. And most people have made their decision in terms of where they're headed, and they understand John Kerry is committed to America's security as much, if not more, than the president.

O'BRIEN: We've been talking, everybody's been talking about the Sinclair Broadcast, and parts of this documentary about Senator Kerry. They're now only going to show chunks of it, apparently. How concerned are you about the broadcast and the impact of the broadcast?

DURBIN: I'm very concerned. Sinclair Broadcasting is not dedicated to the public interest. They're dedicated to a political agenda.

They have, for example, decided when ABC "Nightline" wanted to memorialize the troops that died in combat in Iraq, they wouldn't let them show the program because they thought it might be viewed as critical of the Bush administration. Now they've come in with this pro-Bush documentary in the closing days of the campaign, and I just think it's just fundamentally unfair. I think when it's all over, the FCC or the Federal Election Commission is going to hold Sinclair accountable.

O'BRIEN: We'll see. Dick Durbin, nice to have you. Thanks for having us in your fine city. We appreciate it.

Let's turn now to Senator John Cornyn, a Republican of Texas, for the other side this morning.

Nice to see you, sir. Thanks for being with us.