American Morning

VICTOR KAMBER, DEMOCRATIC CONSULTANT: Good morning.

CLIFF MAY, FMR. RNC COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Good morning.

S. O’BRIEN: All right, let’s pick up where we just heard Miles leave off — the secret tapes. You’ve heard some of them now. What do you make of any the damage done? Cliff, why don’t we begin with you?

MAY: I don’t think there’s a lot of damage done, but let me be clear for the record here that this was a deceptive thing to tape somebody when he didn’t know he was being taped, to release it without his permission. It was deceptive, it was disloyal, it a betrayal. But President Bush is the kind of guy who — you know, what you see is what you get. You’re hearing nothing on this tape that you didn’t know about him. Probably with the P.R. adviser, he might say certain things differently. I don’t think it does any damage. He’s been re- elected already. But I think it’s the kind of infuriating, rather nasty, what’s happened here.

S. O’BRIEN: Victor, I’d like you to weigh in as well. To some degree, doesn’t the president get more points? We see say, wow, you know, he’s kind of saying the same thing on tape, secretly recorded, that he said in his press conference. You’re right, maybe a P.R. flack (ph) would say clean it up a little bit.

KAMBER: Yes, I frankly agree with you, Soledad — or actually with Cliff. I don’t think that much damage has happened here. I’m surprised that Cliff just didn’t blame the liberal media and the liberals for doing this. The bottom line is, the president was candid, like I think he tries to be always. There’s nothing new here. We didn’t learn anything exciting or different. He’s — this was indiscretions in his youth. He had a troubled youth. He wasn’t the star of the family and he obviously found faith, found a wife, found a new ability to move ahead and he became president of the United States. I’m — you know, while I’ll read the book and find it of interest, I’m not sure I’ll learn anything brand new.

S. O’BRIEN: Well, let’s talk a little bit about the president’s trip, It’s been called a fence mending five-day trip through Europe. We just heard him speak a few minutes ago, where he very clearly was trying to delineate the connection between the United States and Europe, the long historical connection, as well. He also talked about Putin — Putin problem, as some people have said. It’s Jack’s “Question of the Day.”

Cliff, why don’t you take this one to start? What should be done about President Putin?

MAY: Well, the president has begun by talking honestly. Churchill said that diplomacy is the art of telling the truth without getting offense. Right now, what Putin is doing is very much hostile to American interests and American values. Putin is saying he doesn’t believe the mullahs of Iran are attempting to develop nuclear weapons so he has no problem giving them nuclear technology and nuclear fuel. What Putin really means is if they build a bomb, they’re not going to use it against us so what do I care? That’s a huge problem.

Secondly, Putin is retreating from democracy, corrupting the judiciary, shackling the press. It is a huge problem for us and for the Europeans. That’s part what Bush tried to get across. I would just say very quickly, what you heard there was not fence mending. What you heard was Bush saying to the Europeans, let’s remember what our values are and let’s act on that.

S. O’BRIEN: Which some people call fence mending in some places. Victor, what do you think of the strategy with President Putin? Do you think that President Bush needs to come out more strongly against the Russian president?

KAMBER: No. I think if anything, I think what he’s doing right now is the right way to do it. He has gone on what I’ll call the same as you, a fence mending tour. He needs to rebuild the strength of the allies. He needs to reestablish America as a friend, as an ally, not as a bully. I was very proud when I heard him talk about Egypt and Saudi Arabia, in terms of democracy, because I think you cannot pick and choose countries. You cannot talk about Russia, you cannot talk about certain places in the world and then have as your best friends dictators or countries that equally disdain democracy.

If you are promoting democracy, which he was doing throughout this speech, then you promote it equally across the board. Russia needs to hear from us. Russia needs to — we must be direct with Putin, which I think Bush will be. But we must equally be direct with Saudi Arabia, with Egypt, with other countries in the world.

S. O’BRIEN: Victor Kamber, Cliff May, this morning. Nice to see you guys, as always. Thanks.