American Morning

In just a few minutes, will the Reagan family’s long and excruciating struggle with Alzheimer’s transform the debate in Washington D.C. over stem cell research? We’ll get perspective from the right and the left on this controversial subject. We talk to our friends Kamber and May this morning.

Also we’re taking a look at a new round of ads from the dairy industry, which suggests that milk and yogurt can help you lose weight. Is it true? Dr. Sanjay Gupta is going to join us with a reality check on that.

But first, let’s go back to Washington D.C. and Bill Hemmer.

Hey, Bill. Good morning again.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Soledad. Good morning again to you. After spending the last few days in Simi Valley, in California, it is no understatement to say that the crowds that turned out to visit the casket of Ronald Reagan were absolutely enormous. They’re saying 106,000 in total, over that about 30 to 34 hour period. Each person that came through was given a memento, a little placard, a little card, that recognizes their presence their and recognizes the life of Ronald Reagan. On it, “With gratitude for your expression of sympathy in honoring the life of Ronald Wilson Reagan, Simi Valley, California, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.”

We expect large crowds again in Washington later tonight, 8:30 local time, when the president’s body lies in state in the Rotunda of the Capitol building. When President Bush eulogizes the former president on Friday at the National Cathedral, comparisons between the two now inevitable, we are told by many political advisers. Is that a good or bad thing, for either President Bush or Senator Kerry? Let’s talk about it with Kamber and May. Democratic consultant Victor Kamber is our guest here in D.C.

Victor, good morning to you.

VICTOR KAMBER, DEMOCRATIC CONSULTANT: Good morning, Bill. How are you?

HEMMER: I’m doing just fine, thank you. Also in L.A., former RNC communications director Cliff May.

How are you, Cliff? Good morning to you as well.

CLIFF MAY, FMR. RNC COMM. DIR.: I’m good. Good morning, Bill. Good morning, Vic.

HEMMER: I’m going to start close to home here, in our nation’s capital. Five months away, Victor. Does Reagan’s passing influence President Bush, Senator Kerry, or can we know at this point?

KAMBER: Well, I think today it’s all about Ronald Reagan. He’s being lionized in a way I think is deserving of a person who was extremely popular within his own party, with both parties as a human being popular. While some of his policies were not terribly accepted everywhere, he as a human being was.

I think, truthfully, in the short run, George Bush suffers, because George Bush is a disciple of Ronald Reagan, and he’s not able to deliver in the way that Ronald Reagan delivered. But I think that short run is just that. I think within several weeks of this ceremony and this funeral, we’ll be back to the campaign and the issue will be about George Bush or John Kerry, not Ronald Reagan.

Cliff, the suggestion there is that the great communicator makes the current president not look like such a great communicator? Your thoughts?

MAY: There’s no question that Ronald Reagan had an ability to communicate that was astonishingly good and it’s a really the standard for everyone to meet.

But Ronald Reagan was something else. He was a man who believed in his convictions, had the courage of his convictions. He said things that were not popular at the time, when he called the Soviet Union “evil empire,” people, maybe, Victor, were totally scandalized by that. The Soviet Union was an empire. That’s why it sent soldiers into Czechoslovakia, Hungary, it was evil. I don’t know what else you would call the Gulag Archipelago. He stood up to America’s enemies, and even when that was not popular, he showed leadership, and that may redown to Bush’s benefit as he tries to do something similar now.

HEMMER: On stem cell research — Victor, start us off on this one — Nancy Reagan has put a face on this clearly in the national conscience over the several weeks and going forward. That’s at odds to what the White House thinks about this. Does that debate know come front and center. Does it change at all right now with the passing of Ronald Reagan?

KAMBER: Again, I think in the short run, it does raised issue, the fact that also 58 senators and 206 House members recently wrote to George Bush, urging him to put out an executive order that would deal with the stem cell research issue, and use some federal funds for experimentation and for research.

I think in the short run, again, George Bush does nothing. He will alienate his constituency, that hardcore that is anti-this issue. I think Nancy Reagan, clearly, raises the visibility and keeps the issue alive. I think after the election will be the real test of where this issue goes.

HEMMER: Do we wait until December then, Cliff?

MAY: Well, look, I think where we can agree, is we want to find the most effective treatments as quickly as possible. We also want to be careful of some moral lines, not to cross them. If Nancy Reagan wants to get into this debate, having dealt with Alzheimer’s and probably studied it for years, she should. There is a difference between embryonic stem cell research, embryos out of the product of human cloning, or abortions, and adult stem cell research, which is making great strides.

I think this is an important debate to have. It shouldn’t be simply political; it should be on what is best for patients who are suffering, and again, with some respect for certain moral lines in terms of creation of human life for harvesting.

HEMMER: Just about 30 seconds left, third topic, if we can squeeze it in here. The $10 bill — does Ronald Reagan replace Alexander Hamilton? Cliff, what do you think?

MAY: I would prefer that he not replace Alexander Hamilton, who as you look back in history, was a very important voice in terms of our economic structure.

But Jackson on the $20? I think that may be a good way to memorialize one ever the most — there are two consequential presidents in the 20th century, we’re going to see. One was FDR, a Democrat. One was Ronald Reagan, a Republican. Both deserve to be memorialized.

HEMMER: What about it, Vic?

KAMBER: I think it’s too early to know. I think like postage stamps, where there’s a federal law that gives a time, I think there needs to be a time between the passing of a great leader and putting them on coinage or dollars, and I don’t know what that time is, five, 10 years. And frankly, if anything, I think we should create two new bills, A $500 and $1,000 bill, put them back in circulation. I don’t think we replace people. I think we find another way to honor them.

HEMMER: Thank you, gentlemen, Kamber and May. Kamber and May. Victor Kamber, Cliff May from D.C. and from Los Angeles this morning.