The Bush Campaign

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MR. RUSSERT: But first we are joined by the former mayor of New York City, Rudy Giuliani; welcome back. As you well know, the president has used images of September 11 in his campaign commercials, and received criticism for it. Let's take a look at what the president has put on the air:

(Videotape of Bush Re-Election Ad): PRES. GEORGE W. BUSH: I'm George W. Bush and I approved this message. I, George Walker Bush, do solemnly swear. (End videotape)

MR. RUSSERT: And that picture, Mr. Mayor, particularly using the flag-draped coffin-- Mindy Kleinberg, who lost her husband, Alan, in the Trade Center, said this to the Daily News, that "she was offended...because of the sight of remains being lifted out of Ground Zero in one of the spots. `How heinous is that?'" she asked. "`That's somebody's [loved one}.'" Are the families correct in their criticism of the president?

FORMER MAYOR RUDY GIULIANI, (R-NYC): The families who lost, you know, loved ones on September 11, 2001, have, you know, a number of different very, very emotional reactions, as I do, to the whole subject. I'm not sure I could ever be objective about it. I've been asked about what I think should be there, and I always realize that there's kind of a--almost a distortion that comes out of having lost so many people that I loved, saw maybe 20 minutes before they died. So the families have very conflicted feelings about this. Some feel, as that woman did, someone like Jenny Farrell who lost a brother there, feels it's a perfectly appropriate political ad, that the president led the country at that period of time, it's part of his history, and did a very good job. So I think, you know, if you go to the families, you're going to get a very, very emotional response.

I think if you asked a question, "Is September 11, 2001, a legitimate area for the president to point out?" He was facing challenges. You got to go back to the ad. The ad is challenges facing George W. Bush. Well, if you left out September 11, 2001, I think people would be asking, "Why is he leaving it out?" That was probably the biggest challenge that he's faced. Those of us who support him think he did a terrific job in getting the country through it. You know, other people on the other side have taken shots at him for not doing as good a job. So it's kind of unrealistic to think you're not going to have that as part of the political debate.

MR. RUSSERT: Some Democrats said this week that the Bush administration policy is not to show the coffins coming back from Iraq out of respect and reverence for the deceased and the families. So why would you show the coffins on September 11?

MR. GIULIANI: Well, it wasn't coffins. It was one flag-draped coffin, as well as the backdrop of September 11, 2001. I suspect any image of September 11, 2001, would have provoked the same reaction. I think the coffin is one. The backdrop of the charred remains of September 11 is another. If you had shown the Pentagon or whatever, people would say, oh, either you're exploiting it, or the president is using it appropriately. And I believe he is.

I mean, I think that--if you said September 11, 2001 was out of bounds, then the president couldn't use it, and his opponents couldn't be allowed to attack the way in which he's handled it, which they seem very, very free to do. So I think it's a very appropriate area. And it's part of his history. You know, 50 years from now, 100 years from now, George W. Bush is going to be judged far more by how historians believe he handled this worst attack in the history of this country than probably anything else we're talking about. And so you have to make it part of a political debate. You--it would be unrealistic if it wasn't.

MR. RUSSERT: Here's another snapshot of that ad and you'll see on our screen there are firefighters there with their red helmets on with the president. The head of the firefighters association, who has endorse John Kerry, issued this statement: "I'm disappointed but not surprised that the president would try to trade on heroism of those fire fighters in the September 11 attacks. The use of September 11 images are hypocrisy at its worse. Here's a president that initially opposed the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and now uses its first anniversary as cause to promote his re-election. Here's a president that proposed two budgets with no funding for the FIRE Act grants and still plays on the image of America's bravest. His advertisements are disgraceful." That's the head of the firefighters.

MR. GIULIANI: Well, the head of the firefighters who's usually on John Kerry's side I think in every single primary. So we have to be kind of realistic about that. I think I've seen him next to John Kerry more often than anybody else. So some of that charged language is, you know, politically inspired language. I mean, the fact is, President Bush was there. I was there when he was there. He was there on September 14, 2001. He came there, particularly to ground zero, against the advice of the Secret Service.

He remained there an extraordinary length of time. And it was dangerous for him to be there 'cause there were fires of 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit under the ground and there was no place to put him that would be absolutely safe. And he inspired the men and women who worked there by remaining there so long. They could see the Secret Service coming, trying to take him out, you know, touching his arm to say, "OK, Mr. President, it's time to leave." The president wouldn't leave. He made a connection with those men and women that's real. It happened at that time. He was there when it was dangerous. He was there when the action was going on. And some of that helped rebuild the morale of this country.

If you would asked me on September 11, 12, 13, 2001, how things were going to come out--'cause I think the terrorists attacked us to break our will and to destroy our morale. I think you might remember in the weeks after that, this country was more united than maybe we've ever been. You know, people were then all wearing American flag lapel pins and they were waving flags, and a lot of that the president, you know, led. That's part of what he did. That's part of being a good leader. So to leave it out of a political campaign when you're running for re-election cuts out half your leadership. I mean, it would make no sense. And then all you'd be is attacked as the president was for the last three or four months.

The Democrats weren't terribly sensitive about what they attacked the president about in the last three or four months. And John Kerry isn't particularly shy about using, you know, Vietnam and the whole backdrop of Vietnam. It was kind of like the core of his campaign. So I think this is a--they want to run their campaign and then they want to run our campaign and take out of our campaign the things that may be the most favorable about the president.

MR. RUSSERT: Stephen Push, whose wife died in a plane that crashed in the Pentagon, was also upset, but he had a different take on it. It was about the September 11 Commission. And this is what he said: "The Bush administration will not cooperate fully with the 9/11 commission and at the same time they're trying to invoke and own 9/11 and use it for his reelection." President Clinton and former President Gore are going to testify before the full commission looking into September 11 for a lengthy period. The president has said he will only testify for one hour and only before the committee chairman and co-chairman. Should the president not give more fulsome testimony before the full commission?

MR. GIULIANI: Well, first of all, Tim, just to clarify, no one owns September 11, 2001. None of us do. Whether you were involved directly or you weren't, it's something that happened to this entire country and it's part of our history. I mean, it's part of America. So, you know, it's not--no one has ownership of it. All of us have tremendous emotions about it but none of us have ownership of it. And the president isn't asserting that. All the president is asserting is, "This is my record. This is one of the things I had to handle. This is a challenge I had to handle. And judge me on it." And there are people who are going to judge him well and people probably will disagree.

So I don't think that that's what's going on here. Second, the president is going to cooperate. And this is an issue that comes up with all presidents. You can go back 50 years, when investigations go on and there are a lot of issues about confidentiality, about the ability of people to advise a president. I can't think of a president in the last four or five that hasn't had an issue like this when an investigation starts. And people often misunderstand it, but a president can't be open to, you know, hours and hours and hours and hours of questioning the way us lawyers do when we have depositions.

So to put some kind of a limit on it is OK. I imagine if they go through the inquiry and there are some very relevant questions that need more answering, I'm sure the president will give them more time if it isn't just a kind of fishing expedition. You give a lawyer an hour, we can get all the questions done in an hour. You give us two hours? It'll take two hours. You give us five days? We can take five days since we charge by the hour.

MR. RUSSERT: Well, why not before the full commission and why not for more than an hour if they have questions relevant to what happened on September 11?

MR. GIULIANI: Well, why don't we wait and see? Kind of an offer of proof. Let's see. If they can get it done in an hour, isn't that better use of their time, a better us of the president's time? If they really require more than an hour for relevant questions that really get to the core of what's going on, I'm sure there'll be flexibility to work that out.

MR. RUSSERT: And before the full commission rather than just the chair and co-chair?

MR. GIULIANI: I would imagine. But it would seem to me that why not start with an hour and see if it can't get done? I got to tell you one thing about President Bush, he's on time. Every time I've had a meeting with him. If it's 9:45, if you're one minute late, he's there at 9:45, and if it's 9:45 to 10:30, it's over at 10:30. It's a good discipline. I used to teach trial practice for a while, and if you get those questions in one hour, you can probably have a much better inquiry.


full transcript here....

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4456277/

[Sinner]

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Zell Miller appeared on the Don Imus show a couple of days ago and shared his thoughts on Jon Kerry. "Senator Kerry," he said, "has been in the Senate for a long time. And during his tenure, he's introduced 500 pieces of legislation, seven of which have been adopted. Two or three of those concerned renaming bridges. A couple involved research grants. And a couple were giveaway programs, small loans, etc. But, he has voted against virtually every defense weapons system bill that's come down the pike. Now in Georgia, we have a saying that pretty well sums up his record: All vines and no taters." ZELL MILLER (D-GA) ON KERRY........