CNN American Morning

Good morning all of you. Thanks for joining us.

Hey, Donna, let’s begin with you. A debate that’s been going on in Congress, does the U.S. need to have more troops in Iraq? What do you weigh in on that with?

DONNA BRAZILE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, I think I don’t think we necessarily need United States troops. I think we need to internationalize support and bring more foot soldiers who speak the language and understand the culture so that we can return power back to the Iraqi people.

O’BRIEN: Cliff, way easier said than done to internationalize that force, right?

CLIFF MAY, FOUNDATION FOR THE DEFENSE OF DEMOCRACY: Yes, and more troops can just mean more targets, and you don’t want that. What you need is much better intelligence gathering so you find out where the terrorists were plotting, you can go after them. And by the way, Donna is right, over time, what you want is for Iraqis to control their own streets.

O’BRIEN: Andy, weigh in on this for me.

ANDY BOROWITZ, “THE NEW YORKER”: If in fact we need thousands more people, why don’t we send everybody who is on the California ballot?

O’BRIEN: All right.

Well speaking of California, we heard Arnold Schwarzenegger, who’s in the race, going on the record about marriage, going on the record about abortion, going on the record about medical marijuana. Got a little fuzzy when he tried to go on the record about what went on back in 1977 at an interview he did with “Oui” magazine.

Let’s begin with you, Cliff. Do you think Californians are going to have any major reaction to this? Or is this just so old, who cares?

MAY: Oh, I think Californians will identify with him because of that. And by the way, I heard in Bob Franken’s report, Arnold say he didn’t remember it. Well, anybody who took part in the 1970s, frankly, can’t remember it.

O’BRIEN: That’s what they used to say about the ’60s, not so much the ’70s.

Donna, you agree with that?

BRAZILE: Well, I hope he can recall something more than the scripts in his movie lines. But I believe that the voters in California deserve someone better than an actor who can’t recall his past.

O’BRIEN: Do you honestly believe he can’t recall his past or do you think, Andy, or do you think that, boy, it’s just convenient to be a little fuzzy on these particular details, because group sex, such a not nice topic with the voters sometime.

BOROWITZ: Soledad, I’m so disturbed by the image of Arnold having group sex, I can’t focus on anything else today.

O’BRIEN: All right, let’s talk about Congress. This will clear your mind. Congress, of course, returning from the summer break.

What do you think, Donna, is the very first and foremost thing that our elected officials should be working on when they get back to work?

BRAZILE: I think it’s time for Congress to really solve health care crisis and to give seniors a prescription drug benefit that they deserve, and stop playing around with our health care system.

O’BRIEN: Wow, that’s a really big item on the agenda. Cliff, you agree?

MAY: It’s a big item. But there are other items. I think the State Department needs reform. Colin Powell should make that his mission. Congress should tell him that is your mission. And we need an intelligence gathering capability, clandestine capability, special forces capability way beyond anything in the past. It’s time to start, so we win this war on terrorism.

O’BRIEN: Andy, 15 seconds to tell me what you think the congressional priority should be right now?

BOROWITZ: I think we can expect the Democrats and Republicans to roll up their sleeves and start blaming each other for the blackout.

O’BRIEN: We’ll be making a lot of progress there.

I want to get to what you think was the most inappropriately under-covered story this week. And, Cliff, let’s begin with you for this one.

MAY: Well, reporters have just not been able to connect the dots. We’ve had suicide bombings in Baghdad, we’ve had suicide bombings in Jerusalem, also in Bombay, also in Jakarta, terrorist attacks in Kashmir, all by groups who will say we’re fighting a jihad against Americans, Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, moderate Muslims? Does anybody see a picture emerging?

O’BRIEN: You think it’s al Qaeda.

Donna what do you think?

MAY: No, I don’t. No, I think it is an Islamic radicalism, of totalitarianism, of jihadism that includes Baathists, it Al Qaeda, it includes Hamas. These are all part of — we’re fighting not just terrorism, but the ideologies that drive terrorism.

O’BRIEN: All right — Donna.

BRAZILE: I believe that Cliff is right in terms of what — that we need to connect those dots, because it is a clear picture.

But I think the under-covered story of this week is that while on vacation in Crawford, for an entire month, President Bush will return and tell federal employees who opened up the door and keep our government going that they’re only going to get a 2 percent raise. That is wrong.

O’BRIEN: Andy, you know the bell went off, but you know I want to hear what you have to say. I always love your final word of the final word. So what do you got to tell me.

BOROWITZ: This is breaking news, actually. Offering an alternative to Arnold, Cruz Bustamante today said that he never had group sex, never used hashish and never exercised.

O’BRIEN: Oh, oh. You know. Luckily, Mr. Bustamante seems to have a very good sense of humor about the whole exercising thing. You guys, thanks so much as always. Nice to see you. Thanks for joining me.

BOROWITZ: Happy labor day.

O’BRIEN: Thank you. Likewise.