American Morning

Vic, what’s happening? Good morning there.

VICTOR KAMBER, DEMOCRATIC CONSULTANT: Good morning.

HEMMER: And former RNC communications director, Cliff May. Cliff, what’s going on with you?

CLIFF MAY, FORMER RNC COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Good morning, Bill.

HEMMER: Good morning to you guys.

Vic, let’s start with Laura Bush. Some are saying this was an ill advised trip. Do you go to that region and not go to the Western Wall? Do you go to that region and pay a visit to the Dome of the Rock?

KAMBER: Well, I think the first question is do you go to the region if you’re Laura Bush? She is not a diplomat. She has no diplomatic experience.

I think the administration, the president in particular, were trying to play off the enormous popularity that she presently has and hoping that it would convey, both in the United States a positive image and redirect American attention to this area in a way that was positive and, also, win some goodwill.

But the bottom line is, I think they misunderstood, misrepresented how much dislike there is in that region for this administration, regardless if it’s Laura Bush or George Bush or Condoleezza Rice.

HEMMER: It’s certainly getting a headline today, Cliff. But this is about 40 or 50 people. It wasn’t like they had thousands waiting to protest there when she arrived.

MAY: Exactly. I’m surprised Victor doesn’t understand this.

Laura Bush is from the United States, a democratic country. She can’t go out for a tuna fish on rye without getting protested here. We have protests all the time and as long as they’re peaceful, we don’t mind.

Same thing about Israel. It’s a democratic country. They have protests at the drop of a hat. As long as it’s peaceful, that’s fine, too.

Very important, by the way, that in Israel, all holy sites, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, are very carefully protected. That’s not true in a lot of other countries in the region, and I think it’s good that someone like Laura Bush, who is a dignified presence, who is just an admirable woman, she’s going to learn, she’s going to talk. She’s talking about women’s rights over there.

Sure, the headlines are going to be against her, but you know, she’s a Republican.

HEMMER: All right. All right. That’s topic No. 1. Topic No. 2, Vic, Howard Dean over the weekend told Tim Russert on “Meet the Press” that Tom DeLay, essentially, will likely go to jail. Did he cross the line, knowing this investigation is still underway?

KAMBER: Well, you know, no. Yes and no. I don’t think so in the sense that he backed it up by saying that, you know, Howard — Tom DeLay, at this point, has already been found ethically challenged on a number of issues prior to the present charges.

He — he wouldn’t back down. I watched it also and didn’t understand exactly why he wouldn’t quite back down and say you’re innocent until proven guilty, because he basically said the guy is already guilty of ethical charges.

I think we all would have to agree — Cliff may not — that Tom DeLay is ethically challenged. He probably should be stepping aside at this point while the charges are pending and until it’s all cleared up. And I, like Howard Dean, think in the end, when it is cleared up, he’ll be out of office.

HEMMER: What are you smirking at, Cliff?

MAY: Because Howard Dean is the guy who said that Saddam Hussein was innocent until proven guilty. But he doesn’t give the same courtesy to somebody like Tom DeLay, who hasn’t been convicted, hasn’t been indicted.

Yes, there have been a lot of charges, some of them made by Howard Dean. So now, if you charge somebody with something, they should go to jail for it?

KAMBER: He has been — he has been found guilty by the ethics panel for four charges before the recent ones.

MAY: No. No, there are no crimes for which he’s been found guilty, and there have been admonitions in regard to — to rules of the House, which you know are not crimes. Don’t confuse people like that.

KAMBER: I didn’t say crimes, but he’s been found ethically challenged by his colleagues.

MAY: You don’t go to jail because of the ethical rules in the House. You know that. It’s not a crime to do that.

Look, Howard Dean is somebody who cannot distinguish between his enemies or America’s enemies, like Saddam Hussein, and his adversaries, such as people like Tom DeLay. He only wants to fight Republicans. He doesn’t want to fight anybody in the real world, which is why Democrats didn’t select him as their candidate.

HEMMER: I’ve got time for one more topic. Warren Beatty was speaking at a commencement address over the weekend at the University of California, Berkeley. Listen to what he said about the current governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, in that state.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WARREN BEATTY, ACTOR: The government is not a joke. Despite what he said, it’s not a movie.

But he’s going to have to listen. He’s not stupid. He knows I’m a private citizen, just as he was a year ago. I’m an opponent of his muscle-bound conservatism, with a longer experience in politics than he has. And although I don’t want to run for governor, I would do one hell of a lot better job than he’s done.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HEMMER: Pretty strong speech. He talked for an hour. I think the idea for commencement speech is to keep it to 12 minutes or less. The grads want to get the heck out of there. Does he want his job, in essence, Victor?

KAMBER: I don’t think so. I think he was — probably got caught up with himself. As you say, he talked for an hour on a series of subjects.

I think all he did with the governor was indicate, I think, the view of a lot of Democrats that it’s a failed governorship at this point, no different than when he took office from Gray Davis. Nothing has been accomplished. And even Warren Beatty could probably beat him is what he’s saying.

HEMMER: Cliff, you have five seconds.

MAY: I wish he’d try. Look, it’s very funny that he says, “I have longer experience than Schwarzenegger does in politics.” I guess that means because he produced movies like “Reds,” in which he played a Russian revolutionary He think he has had experience in politics.

Let him run.

HEMMER: I don’t think we’ve seen — I don’t think this will be the last chapter of this, do you?

MAY: Let him run. Let him run something but his mouth.

HEMMER: Thanks, Cliff. Thanks, Victor. Talk to you again later in the week.