CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports - Transcript

CNN

SHOW: CNN WOLF BLITZER REPORTS 5:00 PM EST

November 3, 2004 Wednesday

HEADLINE: Interview with Nancy Pelosi; U.S. Marines In Iraq Honor Fallen Soldiers Today; Interview with Christopher Dodd

BYLINE: Wolf Blitzer, Susan Candiotti, Bob Franken, Jonathan Mann, Kathleen Koch, Brian Todd, Karl Penhaul, Ed Henry, William Schneider, Frank Buckley, Dana Bash

GUESTS: Christopher Dodd, Nancy Pelosi

BODY:

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BLITZER: Let's go to Capitol Hill now, get some reaction from the House Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi of California.

I'll ask you the same question, Congresswoman. What happened to the Democrats?

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), MINORITY LEADER: Well, last night was not a good night for Democrats. That's for sure. And I share Senator Dodd's view that, on some of the social issues, Democrats did not connect well enough with the American people. Certainly, Democrats are faith-filled. Certainly, we love our country and we're very patriotic. But, somehow or other, that did not come across, when 61 percent of those who are regular churchgoers voted for President Bush and when 22 percent of Americans gave its highest number to what determined their vote to issues relating to morality, more than the economy, more than terrorism.

So I believe that we have it within us. I know that many of the people who are in politics on the Democratic side do so according to the Gospel of Matthew and, indeed, the Bible. But we don't demonstrate it clearly enough. And faith is such an important part of the lives of most people in our country. They want to know that we identify with that.

BLITZER: Congresswoman, you had so many issues to go after the president and the Republicans, the war in Iraq, the economy. You had millions of dollars out there. You had an attractive candidate. But you went down across the board, the White House, the Senate, the House. Who should bear responsibility for this failure?

PELOSI: Well, it's not a question of failure. It's a question of, where do we go from here?

As you look at the map of the country, you see it red-hot across much of the country. And in our races for the House, we certainly thought we had better prospects than we had in some of those red states. But as it got closer to Election Day, the intensity was such that we had to do all we could to protect our incumbents. And many of our incumbents were in the president's home state. So I take full responsibility for whatever happened as far as the House races are concerned.

But I just had a conference call with all of our House colleagues. We're ready. We're ready for the lame duck session. We're ready for the next session of Congress. We're ready for the next election. We have a clear agenda that, for us in the House, may be easier to present in a nonpresidential year.

BLITZER: What worries you the most about the Republicans in control of both houses by even bigger margins, as well as the White House, during the second term?

PELOSI: Well, I'm very concerned about the radical right-wing agenda of President Bush and the Republicans in the Congress. They couldn't talk to the American people about creating jobs or expanding access to quality health care for more Americans or including many more people into education, higher education.

They starved No Child Left Behind, 30 years of bipartisan environmental progress rolled back quietly and quickly, concerns that we have about the war in Iraq. They diverted the public's attention to issues of faith and family and country, which are issues of grave concern to all of us. They are our highest priorities. They are our lives. But they did it in a way that eclipsed the issues that government really has to deal with. And when they took it to religion, I think they dangerously blurred the line between church and state. And I think that's a very major concern that I have with the president and the Republicans in Congress. I might add, President Kennedy said it best in Houston when he was running. He said, the issue is not what church I believe in. It's what America I believe in.

And that's where we have to take the debate.

BLITZER: Nancy Pelosi, thanks for joining us.

PELOSI: Thank you, Wolf.

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