CNN American Morning - Transcript
CNN
SHOW: AMERICAN MORNING 7:00 AM EST
November 5, 2004 Friday
HEADLINE: Latest On the Condition of Yasser Arafat; President Bush's Agenda For Second Term; Democrats' Plans For the Next Four Years
BYLINE: Bill Hemmer, Kelly Wallace, Daryn Kagan, Jim Bittermann, John King, Toure
GUESTS: Nancy Pelosi
BODY:
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HEMMER: Kelly, as the Republicans move forward on their agenda, Democrats picking up the pieces of their party.
Is four more years enough time to do it?
The House minority leader, Democratic Representative Nancy Pelosi, my guest now from Capitol Hill.
And welcome back.
Good morning to you.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: We picked up on a few things you've said over the past couple of days and we'll try and address them this morning.
One thing you said, "Quite frankly, I think the table is set for us in the next election. We have lost just about everything that we can lose."
How is the table set for the Democrats after this race on Tuesday?
PELOSI: Bill, the table is set in the following way. For the past couple of years, the president, the Republicans have controlled the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives. They lost jobs. More people lost their access to health care. College education has become less affordable. The war in Iraq is not going well.
But they were not held accountable for it because the public didn't know that they controlled all of the elements of government. Now, the public does. The president talks about a mandate. So we will, you know, he has-he says he has a mandate but Democrats have a responsibility to present our agenda for creating 10 million jobs, to expand access to health care, to make college education more affordable, to reduce this deficit, to protect our country.
And it isn't-it is a responsible opposition that we will present. But the responsibility will lie with the Republicans and the public will know that.
HEMMER: But as you reflect on Tuesday, Americans weren't voting on those issues.
PELOSI: That's right. You're exactly right, Bill. The president was successful in eclipsing the issues of jobs, health care, education, the war in Iraq, by social issues. The public did not give the president a mandate to continue his failed record of losing jobs, the worst record in second decades of any president...
HEMMER: Do you believe you can reach those people?
PELOSI: Yes, I do.
HEMMER: Fifty-eight million.
How?
PELOSI: I believe, well, first of all, over five -- 50 million people, 55 million people voted Democratic. I would hope that the president would be the president of all of the people. Each of us has a responsibility to all Americans, to find our common ground with the president, but to hold our ground where we think he is doing the wrong thing. And he...
HEMMER: And you talk about responsibility. The other day you told Wolf Blitzer I take full responsibility...
PELOSI: Exactly.
HEMMER: ... for whatever happened as far as the House races are concerned.
PELOSI: That's right.
HEMMER: Are you concerned about your own leadership position at this point?
PELOSI: No, I'm not. No, I'm not.
HEMMER: Why not? PELOSI: Democrats are united. We have our-we're united around core principles of a secure and growing middle class. We are prepared to go into this next Congress with an initiative and not just a complaint. We are, again, united. We know what the election was about. It wasn't about the social issues only. It was about our domestic agenda and how we protect and defend the American people.
I think that you will calmly see our moment, that while the president controls all of, again, the House, Senate and the White House, they will have to be held accountable and there will be no blurring of the responsibility.
HEMMER: One more thing here. This you said the other day. "They exploited the loveliness of the American people"...
PELOSI: That's right.
HEMMER: ... the devoutness of people of faith for a political end."
PELOSI: Yes.
HEMMER: That is very strong.
PELOSI: Yes.
HEMMER: Exploit? How?
PELOSI: Well, I believe that the separation of church and state was blurred in the last election and that's something that is fundamental to our democracy. But they were successful in doing that. The churches participated in a way that I thought was not appropriate, as devout as I am myself as a Catholic and as a regular churchgoer as I am. Every place I went in the country, they were reading letters about choice and this or that, elements that really were un-I thought the timing of it was inappropriate.
But, anyway, be that as it may, our faith is very important to each and every one of us. And it shouldn't have to be you're either a person of faith or you want to fight for jobs, fight for education, fight for access to quality health care. This is going to, as I say, this calmly will be our time to point out the differences to the American people and how the president has lost jobs, endangered us with the war in Iraq, has grown the deficit to gross proportions.
So when they want to say they're going to reduce the deficit, they created the problem. We had a zero deficit under President Clinton. They have created the problem of a complicated tax code, made it more complicated --
HEMMER: OK...
PELOSI: ... and now say they're going to simplify it.
We have an agenda. We're calm about it. We're ready to confront the president. And we're also ready to find common ground with him where we can.
HEMMER: You know, they're going to kill me if I don't say thank you.
PELOSI: Thank you.
HEMMER: My pen's running out of ink from your list, too.
PELOSI: Don't be killed.
HEMMER: Nancy Pelosi, we'll talk again, and clearly we have a lot to discuss. Thanks.
PELOSI: Thank you, Bill.
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