October 31, 2006
Hotline After Dark -- The FNC GOTV Edition
One week out, lots of good interviews:
Pres. Bush sat down with FNC's Hannity:
On the midterms: "You know, in 2002, a lot of the pundits didn't get the off-year elections right. In 2004, a lot of people thought I was going down eight days before the election. And in 2006, there is a lot of predictors saying that, you know, the Democrats will sweep the House and maybe take the Senate. And I just don't see it that way."
Hannity: "You've been a big target of the Democrats, as you know -- some of the rhetoric has been really harsh. Let me give you some examples and get your reaction to it. Nancy Pelosi, you're mentally unstable. Harry Reid called you a loser in front of schoolchildren. Ted Kennedy has called you're a liar. He's said you concocted the war for political gain. Al Gore screamed at the top of his lungs that you betrayed your country. When you hear that -- these are the leaders, the prominent leaders of the Democrats -- does that offend you? Does that bother you? What does that say to you?"
Bush: "First of all, I believe I've made the right decisions. And, therefore, I don't let those screeches bother me. It's sad that we can't have a civil discourse in the midst of historic times. You know, the president has got to make decisions, and these folks know why I made the decisions I've made. And, you know, I'm sorry that politics has gotten to that point. I'm not the first president, however, that has been -- you know, that they've called names, and I won't be the last."
On Dems talking about their Iraq vote: "People made their votes on Saddam Hussein based upon the same intelligence as I had and that my judgment is you stand by your vote and you stand by your principles. ... But this notion about trying to chase public opinion is just not how you can make good, sound decisions. One man who stood by his decision is Joe Lieberman. He understands the consequences. And the Democrat Party ran him out of the party because he stood on principle."
Asked if he's supporting Lieberman: "I am studiously staying away from that race."
On "stay the course": "Well, what I meant was, 'Don't leave before the job is done.' But in my line of work, words always get, you know, kind of put in different contexts and, you know, I guess they use words to suit their purposes" ("Hannity & Colmes," 10/30).
AND NOW, YOUR NUMBER TWO
VP Cheney sat down with FNC's Cavuto:
Cavuto: "Do you think, though, that the insurgents are better at these polls than even we are, that they are reading them and seeing frustration growing with the war, and, regardless of the good economy, saying: Let's keep up the attacks; let's keep up the pressure?"
Cheney: "It's my belief that they're very sensitive of the fact that we have got an election scheduled. And, you know, they can get on the Web sites like anybody else. There isn't anything that's on the Internet that's not accessible to them. They're on it all the time. They're very sophisticated users of it. And I do believe that that's a part of it. I think we have also seen, of course, a higher level of violence because of Ramadan. Traditionally, there's a spike about this time of year, in terms of level of activity."
On Lynne Cheney's CNN interview: "I thought it was great. We refer to it around the house as the 'slap-down.' And she was very tough, but she was very accurate and very aggressive. And, of course, she was in the business for a while. There was a time, on that network, when she used to host the show they had on for a long time called 'Crossfire,' on Sundays for a couple of years. So, she spoke her mind, and I thought it was perfectly appropriate."
More: "I told her I thought it was a sterling performance."
Asked about the film "Death of a President": "I haven't seen it."
Cavuto: "What's interesting is how you're portrayed, though. The president is killed, and you are on a vindictive witch-hunt that takes you across the Middle East, namely, to Syria -- not too good, not too -- I don't know the best way to put it -- complimentary. What do you think of that?"
Cheney: "I haven't seen it. I'm reluctant to even comment on it."
Cavuto: "But does your image in the press and the fact that, you know, the way you're parodied, and the way you're looked at in the media in general, does it ever bug you? Or does Lynne -- we're in your wife's office now -- ever say: I don't like that at all; they're not being fair to you?"
Cheney: "No, I think the family has adjusted over the years. It goes with the turf. I sometimes listen to Don Imus in the morning on the grounds that, whatever is going to happen to me during the day, it can't be as bad as what's been said about me first thing in the morning while I'm shaving. You need to have a thick skin in this business. I say what I think, and do everything I can to support the president and do the right thing" ("Your World," 10/30).
He also sat down with CNBC's Kudlow. Most of the discussion focused on business issues.
On the midterms: "I'm optimistic. ... I think we've been picking up speed here in the last couple of weeks. We did very well, I think, back in September, then we slowed down, obviously, and ran into some issues that were a distraction. But I sense we're back on track now. I've done 115, 116 campaigns so far this year. And I'm going back out on the road again this week. I think we will hold the House and hold the Senate. We may lose a few seats along the way, but I think that it's going to be a surprisingly strong year for Republicans" ("Kudlow & Company," 10/30).
HUNTING FOR VOTES
Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) was in the "Situation Room" to discuss his WH run:
Asked about reports he's announcing now because he's afraid Dems will take control of Congress: "I think that's nuts. I mean if you announce ahead of the elections, people will question it. If you announce after the elections, then they'll say, well, you tried to get a consolation prize. I just do what I always do."
Asked if he would take the Defense Sec. job if offered: "No. I think Don Rumsfeld, our longest serving defense secretary in the history of this country, is doing an outstanding job. And I think what Americans realize ... it's just a tough job. He's revamping the military all the way through. He's got wars in two theaters. He's got a two-and-a-half million man Army and National Guard and Marine Corps and Air Force and Navy. This is a tough job. It's heavy lifting. But we're spreading freedom and we're not in any worse shape than we were during the cold war, when lots of people said you're going in the wrong direction" (CNN, 10/30).
Hunter discussed immigration issues on "Lou Dobbs Tonight" and also played "Hardball":
Hunter: "I think I can win this thing. And remember, I haven't announced. What I said is, I'm making preparations to run. The second announcement comes later so you can get a second press conference, or course."
Asked if he's a Bush GOPer: "Call me a Reagan Republican" (MSNBC, 10/30).
BACK AT YOU
And CNN's Blitzer said of his Lynne Cheney interview: "I just want to correct the record. We did not sandbag Mrs. Cheney, she knew full well that we would be asking her serious political questions in addition to those questions that we asked her about her new children's book that was reaffirmed with her staff only hours before the interview. In fact, every time she has come to do an interview with me in recent years about children's books, she always agrees to answer serious questions, and she did as well this time" ("Situation Room," 10/30).
TALK TIME
TV's doing fewer candidate profiles and more candidate interviews:
- NBC's Reid profiled PA SEN for the "Nightly News."
- Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) in the "Situation Room" talked about the Casey ads tying him to Bush: "That 98 percent figure I think has been in almost every single ad he's run. So, he obviously believes that, you know, tying me to the president, even though, you know, that 98 percent is based only on 21 percent of the votes I cast. And, if you look at Senator Specter, he has almost a 90 percent voting record out of that index" (CNN, 10/30).
- Rep. Harold Ford Jr. (D-TN) was on "Tucker" as where MD SEN candidates Michael Steele (R) and Ben Cardin (D) in separate interviews.
- CNN's Crowley profiled MO SEN for "Lou Dobbs Tonight."
Posted at 07:20 AM
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