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Inside Politics
White House Releases Controversial PDB; Is American Public Losing Faith in U.S. Military Strategy in Iraq
Aired April 11, 2004 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HOLLY FIRFER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Holly Firfer.
ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Erica Hill. Thanks for joining us on CNN SUNDAY MORNING. Stay tuned, "INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY" is next.
FIRFER: I'm Holly Firfer at the CNN Center in Atlanta with the latest developments now.
Pope John Paul II celebrated Easter mass at the Vatican. He called on world leaders to turn away from violence. Thousands turned out in St. Peters Square to hear him. The pontiff called terrorism "inhuman." He said the world is troubled by what he calls many threatening shadows, mentioning the Middle East, Africa and Iraq.
No word from Iraq on the fate of Thomas Hammil. He's the man captured by masked gunmen near Baghdad on Friday. His captors are threatening to execute him unless coalition forces withdraw from Fallujah. It's believed Hammil may be an American since he spoke with a slight southern accent on videotape taken by an Australian television crew.
Japanese officials say they do not know the fate of three civilian hostages, including a journalist and two aid workers. Their captors are demanding the ouster of Japanese troops now serving a noncombat role in Iraq. Arab media reports have indicated the three Japanese hostages would be released sometime today.
I'm Holly Firfer. "INSIDE POLITICS" is now.
KELLY WALLACE, HOST: Inside politics today, the White House releases a presidential briefing document on possible terror attacks by Osama bin Laden prior to September 11. Details of the page in a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) memo and reaction from a former Bush White House counterterrorism staffer, now top foreign policy adviser to John Kerry.
Also, amid heavy fighting, is the American public losing faith in the U.S. military strategy in Iraq and in the commander in chief? We have got the latest poll numbers.
And on this Easter Sunday, "The Passion of the Christ" is already a top grossing film. So why aren't politicians talking about it? That's all straight ahead.
ANNOUNCER: Live from Washington, this is INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY.
WALLACE: And welcome to INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY. And Happy Easter.
President Bush visits the troops in Texas. John Kerry celebrate the holiday in Boston. Good Sunday morning to you. I am Kelly Wallace. Politics doesn't take weekend off and neither do we. Thanks so much for joining us.
We begin with the White House, which has officially released the president's daily intelligence briefing from August 6, 2001. That is the memo that discusses Osama bin Laden's determination to strike America. It's also the memo that critics say should have alerted the president to the possibility of a terror assault on American soil. The September 11 attacks occurred 36 days after the president was briefed.
Details now from CNN's White House correspondent, Suzanne Malveaux, who is reporting from near the president's ranch in Crawford, Texas.
Good morning, Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Kelly.
President Bush continues to be updated on the developments in Iraq. He also spends the holiday at Fort Hood, Texas, visiting with troops, celebrating Easter services. Also meeting with some of the wounded there.
But at the same time, the White House continues to face scrutiny over September 11. It was yesterday that the administration declassified a very controversial brief that was requested by the 9/11 Commission.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX (voice-over): Saturday, the White House declassified the president's top secret briefing he received at his Crawford ranch one month before the September 11 attacks. The August 6, 2001 presidential daily brief entitled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S." lays out the al Qaeda leader's capability and determination to hit the United States.
It warns the CIA and FBI were investigating a tip that a group of bin Laden supporters were in the U.S. in May, just months before 9/11, and were planning attacks with explosives. It begins, "Bin Laden, since 1997, has wanted to conduct terrorist attacks in the U.S. After U.S. missile strikes on in his base in Afghanistan in 1998, bin Laden told followers he wanted to retaliate in Washington. The millennium plotting in Canada, 1999, may have been part of bin Laden's first serious attempt to implement a terror strike in the U.S."
The brief emphasizes the al Qaeda leader's resolve, recounting his 1998 attacks against U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that involved years of preparation. The brief says bin Laden followers are prevalent in the U.S. Al Qaeda members, including some who are U.S. citizens, have resided in or traveled to the U.S. for years. And the group apparently maintains a support structure that could aid attacks.
A source specifically mentions a bin Laden cell in New York in 1998 that was recruiting young Muslim Americans to carry out strikes. The brief lays out bin Laden's plot: an uncorroborated report that in 1998 bin Laden wanted to hijack a U.S aircraft to win the release of his comrades in U.S. custody, ongoing activity from the FBI of patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks, including recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York.
The brief concludes that the FBI was conducting at least 70 investigations in 2001 regarding possible al Qaeda cells operating in the U.S. A senior White House official says releasing the brief should clear up any myth that the president was warned of the 9/11 attacks, adding that there is nothing in the brief pertaining to the 9/11 plot. He said all threats were aggressively pursued.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: But some commissioners believe that the administration had at least enough information about al Qaeda's capabilities and intentions to issue a warning to the public saying that an attack was possible -- Kelly.
WALLACE: Suzanne, how concerned are your sources as you talk to them about any political fallout from the release of this document?
MALVEAUX: Well, it really is too soon to say. It was interesting, the timing of the release. It was late yesterday, as you know, the eve before the Easter holiday before the network newscasts. So it's going to be interesting to see how much this gets play over the weekend and in the week to come.
We know the focus is going to be on an intelligence, as well as law enforcement officials who go before the 9/11 Commission and will be looking at more of the structural changes, some of those things, the difficulties that the administration said that they had. The communication between the FBI and CIA. Things like that.
So they're still looking at this and wondering what the fallout is going to be. But they figured they needed to put this document out. They wanted to put it in the hands of the public so they could determine for themselves whether or not the administration could prevent 9/11.
WALLACE: Very quickly, Suzanne, what are they saying about the timing? This coming, as you said, Saturday night before Easter Sunday. Some critics saying the White House might have been trying to kind of bury this in the holiday weekend.
MALVEAUX: Well, it wouldn't be on either side to actually try to bury this either way. But what the White House says is that they were working on this for sometime, that they were working on those redactions.
You may see the letter itself, that there are some things they had to collect and make sure that they were not violating any kind of sources or methods in collecting intelligence. But this is something that was being leaked over the weekend. They wanted to get it out as quickly as possible.
WALLACE: Suzanne Malveaux, thanks so much. White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux reporting from Crawford, Texas.
While much attention was focused this week own what the president knew before September 11, it was a volatile and violent week in Iraq. That news appears to have some Americans changing their minds about how the Bush administration is managing the conflict.
Bill Schneider is here with the results of a New CNN-TIME poll.
Bill, so what changes are you seeing when it comes to American attitudes about Iraq?
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, Kelly, doubts are growing, but Americans are not ready to give up. Let's compare the public's views now and a year ago, when the initial fighting was ending.
A year ago, nearly two-thirds of Americans believed the U.S. was right to go to war in Iraq. Now, a majority still feels that way, but only a small majority. More than 40 percent thinks the U.S. made a mistake.
A year ago, most Americans felt the war in Iraq made the U.S. safer from terrorism. People do not feel that way anymore.
WALLACE: Well, Bill, something that's going to be very important to this White House in this election year is, how do Americans feel about how the president and his team are handling the situation in Iraq?
SCHNEIDER: Kelly, again, doubts are growing. The public is now inclined to believe the Bush administration does not have a clear and well thought out plan for dealing with Iraq. Now, as the bad news from Iraq stiffened Americans' resolve or heightened the desire to get out? Answer: both.
The prevailing sentiment is to stick with it. But just over a quarter of Americans want to increase the number of U.S. troops, and just over a quarter want to get out. Both of those numbers have been growing.
The bad news from Iraq is dividing the American public. The White House is facing more criticism from hawks and more criticism from doves -- Kelly.
WALLACE: Bill Schneider, thank you very much. And we will see you later, of course, for your "Story Behind the Story." Well, Senator Kerry is spending the weekend in Boston, where he is attending Easter Sunday mass at a Catholic church not far from his Beacon Hill home. He tried to spend the past week talking about domestic issues; namely, the economy, but the war in Iraq kept getting in the way.
Joining us now, And Beers. He is Senator Kerry's top foreign policy adviser on national security issues.
Mr. Beers, thanks for joining us.
RAND BEERS, KERRY ADVISER: Thank you. It's good to be here.
WALLACE: We should say, of course, you did serve in the Bush administration as the president's counterterrorism adviser from August 2002 until last spring. So, knowing what you know about all the threats you get in that job, looking at the release of this presidential daily brief, do you think the president could have or should have done more?
BEERS: I certainly think that the president could have done more. I think that the brief itself, the title, "Osama bin Laden Determined to attack the U.S.," and then the elements within it, there was clearly an attack to attack, there were cells in the U.S., there was a planning process which was very deliberate, and there was information suggesting that activities in the U.S. were occurring, that, together with all the information of last summer -- of that summer, excuse me -- certainly suggested that someone should have been out shaking the trees to find out what more we knew and what we could do about it.
WALLACE: The White House, of course, though, Condoleezza Rice, national security adviser, going before the commission, saying the White House was shaking the trees and the FBI conducting numerous investigations. That all agencies were doing what they could do. You don't buy that?
BEERS: I think that the testimony at the 9/11 Commission this past week suggested this there was a bit of a slip between the cup and the lip here. What they said was happening and what was actually happening appeared to be two different things.
Seventy investigations doesn't mean there's a huge volume of effort. It simply means that you can mark down on a checklist that the FBI in various locations is doing something. But you don't know what they're doing.
WALLACE: But take a look a little bit. After Condoleezza Rice testified, CNN-TIME conducted a survey asking Americans if they believed the Bush administration did all that could be expected before September 11. When you look at the numbers at the end of March, 54 percent saying, no, they didn't believe the administration did all that it could do.
Now that number has dropped to 40 percent after Condoleezza Rice's testimony. So it seems as if Americans, after hearing from Condoleezza Rice, believe more and more the administration really couldn't have prevented or couldn't have done more September 11.
BEERS: I understand that. I'm talking as an expert. I've been inside, and I know what that means. And I think they could have done more.
WALLACE: But, of course, some Republicans will say now you are a top foreign policy adviser to John Kerry. Republicans are accusing the Democrats, the Kerry campaign, of politicizing this, trying to get some political gain after September 11 for the candidate.
BEERS: I'm an American first. I spent 35 years in the U.S. government working to defend America. And I don't consider my comments political.
WALLACE: OK. What about the Democrats, though? Do you think it's an appropriate issue to raise during this presidential election year?
BEERS: I think that it's important for America to understand what happened around the 11th of September and to hear the recommendations of the commission about what we ought to do to fix it. The key here is going to the future, is getting those recommendations on the table and fixing them so we reduce the likelihood of another attack.
WALLACE: Let's switch, of course, to Iraq, the deteriorating situation there. Of course, Senator Kerry had very strong criticism of President Bush this week about the policy in Iraq. I want you to listen to White House communications director Dan Bartlett, who reacted very strongly to what Senator Kerry has been saying. Let's take a listen and hear what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAN BARTLETT, WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: He wants to complain about things that are going on, instead of sending a strong message to those thugs and sending a strong resolve message that we're going to stick it to them. Senator Kerry seems to be trying to take advantage of an event and testing that's going on in Iraq for political gain.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: Your reaction to that?
BEERS: Senator Kerry, first of all, said, we need to stay the course in Iraq, we need to finish the job. He is not disagreeing with the president on that point. He does disagree on the strategy to pursue that.
We have believed all along, and I think the administration is coming the notion, that we have to involve the U.N. and we have to make them the leaders in the political transition. There's a U.N. negotiator there now, Lakhdar Brahimi. He is talking with the people, trying to figure out how to get to the political transition on the 30th of June. If you're relying upon him to do that, why not give the U.N. the authority? If we don't give the U.N. the authority, we have no chance of getting additional forces or additional resources in Iraq. That's the key. That's how we should go. And that's what John Kerry is trying to say.
WALLACE: You know, of course, you've heard from Republicans, namely, though, who criticized John Kerry, saying he is criticized the president but is not really clarifying his very own policy on Iraq, saying, after all, he did vote for the resolution, giving the president the authority to wage war. Are you and the senator's advisers thinking it might be time for him to do another speech to clarify his position on Iraq?
BEERS: John Kerry's position has been clear since last September. He repeated it again in December. And he's been repeating it here.
The key is to bring the U.N. in, to put them in charge of the political transition. To go out using that base to get additional foreign forces to help in Iraq. To work with the security forces in Iraq to make sure that they can do the job they're being asked to do instead of putting them out on point where they'll be killed.
WALLACE: Is there discussion, though, with advisers about maybe having him reiterate the policy that you just articulated in light of the situation in Iraq?
BEERS: Well, he's been reiterating it on a daily basis. So whether or not there's a major speech or not, I'm not in a position to say at this point.
WALLACE: Very, very quickly, Senator Ted Kennedy said that Iraq is George Bush's Vietnam. Does the senator agree with that?
BEERS: The senator said very clearly that it is not Vietnam yet. But if we don't change course, we run that risk.
WALLACE: Rand Beers, foreign policy adviser to Senator John Kerry, we very much appreciate you joining us this morning.
BEERS: Thank you.
WALLACE: OK.
Up next, covering the candidate. We will speak to two reporters who are tracking President Bush and Senator Kerry every step of the way.
And later...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY LENO TALK SHOW HOST: I watched almost all the hearing. Here's my question: what was this guy smiling at? This is what the August 6 memo said... (END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: The late night comics had plenty of material this week. Stay tuned for our laugh-out-loud section.
This is INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY. Don't go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MIKE ALLEN, WASHINGTON POST: ... call this spike threat -- threat spike. And so we looked at what the president was doing, what he was saying, what the people around him were doing.
And what we found in August was a very typical sort of post-Cold War, pre-9/11 relaxed August. The president out golfing, joking with reporters about their hair, fishing. Very relaxed. Remember the Social Security lock box, stem cells, issues that at the time seemed like a big deal. It does not -- there was nothing external we found that suggested that they were at battle stations.
WALLACE: And, Jeff, of course, we all were in Crawford that summer of August 2001. You covered the White House, as well. What are your sources telling you? Are they concerned about the political fallout here, looking at what President Bush was doing and questions about did he really do enough in those weeks before September 11?
JEFF ZELENY, CHICAGO TRIBUNE: I think what's happening now is this is really an unexpected side issue going on right now. The Bush campaign officials who I talk to a lot were not expecting this and are not quite sure how to handle this at this point.
It will affect everything from their ad placement, what kind of ads can be running now. A couple of months ago, when they started running their first ads, they had images of 9/11. Well, now many of them aren't sure if that's a good idea. So I think this whole issue is going to affect everything they do in the next coming months of the campaign.
WALLACE: And Mike, is there any second guessing going on with your White House sources you talked to about how they've handled everything up to September 11? It has been resist, resist, and then almost a reversal each time, right?
ALLEN: You're exactly right. And there's a lot of long faces on Republicans this Easter morning because they know that, fairly or unfairly, this is going to be an issue, and it's going to be an issue for a long time.
The presidential brief that was put out yesterday does not appear to comport with the descriptions that were given of it. Dr. Rice said eight times during her appearance that this was historical information. We were told again and again that this pointed to threats overseas.
Kelly, there's 17 sentences in it. Fifteen of them are specifically about threats in the United States. WALLACE: And that raises a question, Jeff. You follow John Kerry. Is the Kerry campaign going to try and seize on this issue? He has been noticeably silent all week long about Condoleezza Rice's testimony.
ZELENY: He absolutely has. He was campaigning on Thursday in Wisconsin, and a voter asked him a question. He said, "What do you think about the testimony?" Of course, it was all over the morning news only hours earlier.
And he demurred. I think it was one of the first times I've seen him not swing at the ball that had been pitched to him.
But I think right now what their strategists are telling me is they're just going to sit back and let the story play out. It's a very serious matter, and they don't want to be viewed as politicizing it. But there's no question that this certainly plays into his broader argument about the Bush presidency.
WALLACE: And let's move over, of course, to another hot issue, Iraq. Your own paper reporting that Republicans expressing concern about the low profile of President Bush this past week. What are your sources telling you, and are they expecting to see the president get out there and really lay out his policy on how to deal with Iraq?
ALLEN: Well, Kelly, I think it's been obvious to anybody who's been watching your air that this week was a turning point. And where was the president? The president has not specifically in person talked about Iraq since Monday. He had a passing reference to it Tuesday.
Now, one of the Karen Hughes precepts that you see in the grammar of just about everything they do is, give the positive news first, back into the negative news if you have to. So they were waiting for an opportunity for the president to talk about some progress.
As the week went by, it was obvious that wasn't going to occur. Then they were just waiting for a lull. They didn't even get that.
So they very much expected him to take a break. He's been talking -- he was on a fishing show yesterday. He was with outdoors editors the day before. You know, they think that this regular guy image helps him. But if he looks out of touch, that would be a big problem.
WALLACE: But also turning the tables on John Kerry, who was very critical of President Bush in the past few days. But he's been criticized for not necessarily articulating a clear strategy for Iraq. Something that he would do differently than President Bush.
ZELENY: Right. For the last 12 months, even more than that, the war has been a problem for the Democratic nominee now, John Kerry. He's never quite been able to simply explain why he voted for the congressional authority to go to war and against the spending. But we saw last week him sort of turning up the volume day by day. And, again, on that campaign trip in Wisconsin, which is an important political state, he said that he had phoned the father of one of the soldiers who was killed a week before and he mentioned him by name. And so I think we are going to see more and more of the Iraq problem coming out into his daily speeches and his campaign activities.
WALLACE: And Mike, how worried is the White House? They expected this to be a wartime president, campaigning on Iraq, the war on terror. How worried are they about that image that might be a problem now for the president?
ALLEN: Right. Well, they're re-calibrating. They're realizing this campaign was very much built about defending on the economy. Now they realize that they're going to have to fight with John Kerry on national security.
That changes everything both with the presidential race and other races Republicans all over planned to run on this and have this be the strength. Always the place the could go if they were in trouble. Not anymore.
WALLACE: Five seconds or less, Jeff, how worried are your sources saying the White House is?
ZELENY: I think they're very worried. I talked to a Republican strategist yesterday who said, "We certainly hope this is not a replay of the 1980 campaign, where every day you see Iraq getting worse and worse, almost like the hostages in Iran."
WALLACE: Jeff Zeleny of The Chicago Tribune, Mike Allen, The Washington Post, two of the best in the business joining us on Easter Sunday. Thank you so much.
ALLEN: Have a great week, Kelly.
ZELENY: Thanks, Kelly.
WALLACE: Well, for more political nuggets that you won't hear anywhere else, we are serving up your morning political scoop fresh from our newsroom in today's "Morning Grind."
And we'll show you how the city of Washington, D.C., is now more monumental.
That's all ahead on INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY. Don't go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WALLACE: Welcome back. Time now to read all about it in the Sunday edition of our "Campaign News Daily."
Vice President Dick Cheney is in Tokyo, and he's urging the Japanese government to maintain its military presence in Iraq. Antiwar demonstrators have called for the removal of Japanese troops after three Japanese citizens were taken hostage, but the government said no. Japan is the first stop on the vice president's Asian tour. He will travel to South Korea and China later this week.
Senate leaders Bill Frist and Tom Daschle have canceled a joint trip to Iraq. It was intended to display bipartisan support for U.S. troops stationed there. The senators say they don't want to put extra demands on U.S. security personnel as the conflict intensifies. They plan to reschedule their visit for a later date.
And the public will finally get a glimpse of the New World War II Memorial in Washington. The formal dedication ceremony is not scheduled until Memorial Day Weekend, but officials are expected to unveil the monument this month, giving as many World War II veterans as possible a chance to visit.
Well, in Iraq, a U.S. Apache helicopter is brought down in west Baghdad. Straight ahead: the headlines making news this hour.
Also, the politics of "The Passion of the Christ." Our Easter "Story Behind the Story" is just ahead.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FIRFER: I'm Holly Firfer in Atlanta with the headlines at the half-hour.
A U.S. Army Apace attack helicopter was brought down west of Baghdad this morning. A coalition spokesman says the two crew members aboard the chopper were killed. According to coalition sources, unidentified ground fire hit the 1st Cavalry AH-64 around 11:00 a.m. local time.
Paul Bremer, top civilian administrator in Iraq, says a cease- fire between U.S. Marines and Iraq insurgents is holding. Talks were meant to start once the shooting stops, but other coalition officials say insurgents have not agreed to hold fire.
Comic-musician "Weird Al" Yankovic went on with a performance in Minnesota last night, a day after his parents died. Nic and Mary Yankovic were found in their Southern California home by paramedics. Officials say the house was full of smoke. Carbon-monoxide poisoning is suspected.
INSIDE POLITICS continues.
WALLACE: Religion, politics and a very popular but controversial movie. The message of "The Passion of the Christ" is having an impact on a number of levels inside and outside the United States.
Senior political analyst, Bill Schneider, doing double duty today, has "The Story Behind the Story"
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SCHNEIDER (voice-over): "The Passion of the Christ," for many an affirmation of faith. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The whole world needs to see this movie. It puts in perspective what Jesus did for us. He died for our sins.
SCHNEIDER: For others, it's a dangerous provocation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is depicted there is every crude stereotype of the Jew.
SCHNEIDER: There is no question the movie is a blockbuster. Even before Easter, it ranked as the 10th-highest grossing film of all times. Politicians are treating the movie with respect and caution.
Asked whether President Bush wants to see the movie, his aides said:
SCOTT MCCLELLAN: I don't know. I think he does, and I think at some point he probably will.
SCHNEIDER: John Kerry also said he was interested in seeing the movie, but he told reporters, "I'm concerned about the anti-Semitism message; I don't know what's there or not there. But it's a concern."
Critics say the film promotes the view that the Jews were responsible for Christ's death.
In 1997, 19 percent of Americans endorsed that view. Last month, that number had climbed to 26 percent. Does it have anything to do with the movie?
Among people who had seen "The Passion," 36 percent believed the Jews were responsible for Christ's death. But the figure was almost as high among people who said they planned to see the movie, which suggests that people who already harbor such sentiments are being attracted to the movie, unlike those that have no interest in the movie.
Most Americans who see "The Passion" are motivated by faith, not hate. But that may not be true in other parts of the world.
RABBI ROBERT LEVINE, V.P., N.Y. BOARD OF RABBIS: As this is translated around the world, in Europe, in the Arab countries, in South America, the number of people who can take material like this and use it for their own purposes, purposes that they may have walked into the movie with.
SCHNEIDER: Islam traditionally bans depictions of prophets, including Jesus. But "The Passion" has now opened in Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, setting box office records in most of the countries.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCHNEIDER: According to the Associated Press, one Muslim cleric urged the Kuwaiti government to allow "The Passion" to be shown because, he said, it -- quote -- "reveals crimes committed by Jews against Christ" -- Kelly. WALLACE: Bill, and it's an incredible phenomenon, because I think the box office, more than $300 million so far.
SCHNEIDER: That's right.
WALLACE: Amazing.
SCHNEIDER: Amazing.
WALLACE: Bill Schneider, thank you so much. Double duty, again, we appreciate it.
SCHNEIDER: Sure.
WALLACE: Well, later this hour, balancing religion and politics: the unique challenges Senator Kerry faces as a Catholic running for president.
Plus, which rocker is joining camp Kerry on the campaign trail? "The Morning Grind" is brewing right now.
And, plus, our favorite, late-night laughs. Can't wait? Well, here's a preview.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY LENO, "TONIGHT SHOW" HOST: As soon as Condoleezza Rice finished her testimony yesterday, Bill Clinton testified in private, but Clinton did not testify under oath. Well, of course, being Holy Week he felt it was too big a risk to put his hand on the Bible.
Yes. You know....
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: Thanks, Bill.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WALLACE: And time now to sit down and smell the coffee. Here with our Sunday cup of "The Morning Grind," CNN political editor, John Mercurio.
I love that intro, John.
JOHN MERCURIO, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: I love that. Where do you come with these?
WALLACE: Our fabulous producers who write the stuff.
Good morning.
MERCURIO: Good morning.
WALLACE: So, you know, so much discussion about Iraq and the September 11, but the presidential campaign keeps going, the fund- raising keeps going for President Bush and John Kerry.
What are you finding?
MERCURIO: Well, I think for the past couple of weeks, we've been in this sort of intense, money-making phase. I mean, every article reading you're reading at least has one or two lines about how, you know, "and then they went to a reception and raised a million dollars."
But for Bush, that's going to be ending, actually. Last week, he held a sort of a major fund-raiser last Monday. But from now on, he's just going to be on kind of the campaign mode. No major fund-raisers planned.
For Kerry, though, it's just beginning. He actually has, over the next week, six fund-raisers planned over the next seven days, including the biggest one, which is in New York on Tuesday -- I'm sorry, on Wednesday night, he's going to raise $4 million -- 2,200 people expected there.
What's most interesting, though, about the Kerry's fund raising right now is that over the past -- it's the online fund-raising that he's been able to sort of generate. And in the past -- in the first three months of this year, from January through the end of March, he raised more money, $27 million, than Howard Dean raised throughout his entire campaign, which was about $26 million.
So that's important, because it doesn't take a lot of money to raise money online. It's a lot -- it's a sort of a net benefit for Kerry.
WALLACE: Are people surprised? I mean, are Democratic insiders surprised about the fund-raising abilities of the Democratic Party and Kerry?
MERCURIO: I don't know that they're surprised necessarily. I think they're certainly encouraged by it. I mean, I think it shows the level of commitment and energy that's within the Democratic base.
I think, you know, clearly Kerry was competing against nine at some point -- eight or nine other Democrats, so he was challenged for fund-raising.
But no, they're definitely encouraged, I think.
WALLACE: Still long way to go, though, to catch the Republicans.
MERCURIO: Sure. Oh, absolutely. I mean, the Bush advantage is overwhelming right now.
WALLACE: So we know that camp Kerry hooking up with some big names this week, including a big rock star.
MERCURIO: A big rock star.
WALLACE: A big rock star. What can you tell us? MERCURIO: From our generation.
WALLACE: From our generation -- we're dating ourselves here. Right. Yes.
MERCURIO: Yes, he's got sort of an interesting week.
He's going to be raising money at night with sort of, I guess, rich people. And then during the day he's going to be hanging out on college campuses with people like Jon Bon Jovi. We found out that he's going to be -- he's campaigning over the next four days -- the next five days, he has four major events planned. One in New Hampshire, one in Rhode Island, New York. Sort of the big one in New York is going to be with Hillary Clinton at the City College on Wednesday. Also with Tom DeLong from Blink 182.
You know Blink 182, Kelly, I'm sure.
WALLACE: Don't hold me to that. I can always know the songs. I don't know who sings them. But that's another story.
MERCURIO: And then on Friday, he's going -- and then on Friday, he's going to be with Jon Bon Jovi at the University of Pittsburgh.
WALLACE: Now, looking ahead though, on the Republican side, you have two very Republican-friendly groups holding conferences, I think, this coming weekend, The National Rifle Association and the Log Cabin Republicans.
MERCURIO: Yes.
WALLACE: What are you hearing and what's the buzz about their approach to the Bush-Cheney team?
MERCURIO: Well, it's sort of interesting. You have two sort of, as you said, Republican-friendly groups, different sides of the ideological spectrum within the Republican Party, meeting on opposite coasts, both talking about the endorsement process -- or, I'm sorry, the decision on whether to not to endorse President Bush.
What I found out in talking to senior officials with both groups last night is that Dick Cheney, Vice President Cheney, is scheduled at this point to deliver the keynote for the NRA next Saturday. When I asked the Log Cabin officials whether or not they had invited Bush administration officials, the official I talked to laughed and said that wouldn't be -- that would be a -- definitely a waste of paper to invite anybody. They don't expect anybody.
I think both of those situations speak volumes about whether or not each group is going to endorse the administration for re-election.
WALLACE: John Mercurio, CNN political editor, we have to leave it there.
MERCURIO: OK.
WALLACE: Great to see you. Happy Easter.
MERCURIO: Thank you.
WALLACE: And for the best daily brew of politics, you must get your "Morning Grind" at www.cnn.com/grind for "The Morning Grind"
Well, too tired to stay up for the late-night show? Many of us feel that way. Are you ready to laugh out loud?
Plus, the politics of Iraq. It was a violent and bloody week. So how should President Bush and Senator Kerry craft their campaign messages? Our feisty panel dukes it out. That's straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WALLACE: George Bush and John Kerry were planning a big economic focus this week, but the September 11 commission and Iraq got in the way.
Here to talk strategy for the Bush and Kerry campaigns are two guests: Maria Echaveste, Democratic strategist and former deputy chief of staff in the Clinton administration; and Jonah Goldberg who is -- want to get your title -- editor of National Review online.
Thanks so much for joining us on this Sunday morning.
Jonah, let me begin with you. First, the political fallout. Do you believe there will be some deep political damage to the White House regarding this release of this document?
JONAH GOLDBERG, NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE: Well, I don't know how it's going to be deep. It's certainly going to be political damage. It keeps this story, which is not a helpful story for the White House, in play. The chum is clearly in the water, as it were.
You know, the White House wanted to run on 9/11 and how it acted after 9/11, and because of a lot of -- in my view, unfair criticisms about pre-9/11, that posture is in jeopardy as a campaign strategy.
WALLACE: Maria, for the Democrats, though, it's a little dicey to use this as an issue because they -- couldn't Democrats be accused of kind of playing politics with something like September 11?
MARIA ECHAVESTE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I think the important thing is, like all Americans, we want the know how to make sure that something like 9/11 doesn't happen again. And this is what I've been really strong (ph) about.
This is not about finding blame. I -- you know, a lot of folks want to find blame. But this is about what was done, what can be improved. And that's why this -- release of this memo is so critical, because it suggests that some things should have been done. And what's important is what are we doing now to make sure that this doesn't happen again? And that's where, I think, the Bush administration is really failing because they're not really owning up to, Well, maybe certain things needed to be improved. And that's what I would worry as an American...
GOLDBERG: Well, I'm not sure I agree entirely with that.
It's very interesting to listen to all the Democrats who -- rend and cloth (ph) and gnash their teeth about the Patriot Act over the last year and a half, when in fact the consensus coming out of this 9/11 commission is that many of fixes implemented by the Patriot Act were, in fact, precisely the fixes that could have prevented 9/11 in terms of the institutional difficulties between the FBI and the CIA.
And so now you have a situation where the substance of a lot of policy issues coming out of 9/11 commission, are actually well to the right of the Democratic position coming out of the primaries. But the politics are very different.
WALLACE: Do Jonah have a point there?
ECHAVESTE: No, I disagree completely. I mean, first off, I don't think anything that the Patriot Act has done to date has made -- has resulted in -- to the extent that we know -- has resulted in this thwarting of terrorism.
But more importantly as -- again, I come back to the creation of the Homeland Security Department. The two agencies that most need to be coordinated -- FBI, CIA -- they're not part of that. And so, where is that coordination going on? Is it happening at the National Security Council? What we're learning is, maybe not.
WALLACE: Let's move on to Iraq, another difficult issue.
Republicans even were talking, many privately though, saying that the president needs to get out there and get out there fast, to not only articulate his policy, but what's he's going to do to sort of transfer of power by June 30.
Do you agree?
GOLDBERG: Yes, no. I think the White House has been looking for the opportunity to get its message out about all this.
This has been a terrible week, not just for Republicans and Democrats -- you know, Democrats, kind of thing, but for Americans. It's just been a bad, bad week. And I think the White House needs to figure out how to disengage between political strategy and national -- and sort of presidential strategy in how to address these issues.
In terms of the politics of this, we got keep in mind, there's no way this can keep up for another eight months, unless it's a full- blown civil war. Better in some ways, since this had to happen militarily -- to drain these swamps, better to happen now politically, anyway. The election -- Election Day is months and months and months away.
WALLACE: John Kerry, though, is criticized by Republicans. He voted for the Iraqi war resolution. Some Republicans say he's playing politics here, criticizing the president without really articulating his own different strategy.
ECHAVESTE: He's has given several speeches about what he would he do if he were president to deal with the issue of -- now that we're in Iraq. I mean, this is the question. We can argue all we want about whether it was the right thing to do.
But right now, what we're seeing is that you can focus on message, but ultimately you have to have a plan. If you don't have a substantive plan, a real plan -- and that's what missing here. And what Kerry would do, go to the U.N., make sure that we have a new resolution that authorizes the building of an Iraqi government, a multilateral force. We need our international allies to help sustain and build Iraq.
WALLACE: We were hoping to talk about the economy. Of course, this week other events overshadowed it.
But John Kerry was out there in a speech on Wednesday, and one thing he said is, You can't trust George Bush to cut the deficit. His policies don't work, won't work. He used the trust word.
Are Republicans vulnerable here on the economy, especially in light of George Bush coming into office with a budget surplus and now facing budget deficits?
GOLDBERG: Well, I think the issue Kerry wants to get out is trust, not the deficits.
Historically, politically -- maybe economically is a different issue -- but politically, deficits really do not matter. When the economy is going well, people don't vote on deficit. When the economy is going poorly, people don't vote on the deficit.
WALLACE: Doesn't Jonah have a point? If we start seeing reports like 300,000 jobs created like we did in March, isn't that going to be a problem for John Kerry, who wants to...
(CROSSTALK)
ECHAVESTE: Excuse me -- 300,000 jobs being created, like, eight months before the election when you have lost over 2 million plus jobs. He's going to be the first president that's lost jobs on his watch.
More importantly, this isn't so much about the deficit, but rather your entire economic policy, and that's what doesn't add up here.
WALLACE: Unfortunately, we have to leave it there. So little time to discuss everything, I know.
Maria Echaveste, thank you so much.
Jonah Goldberg.
GOLDBERG: Thank you. WALLACE: We hope you can come back on INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY...
ECHAVESTE: Love to.
WALLACE: ...sometime soon. Thanks again.
Well, Senator Kerry is the first Catholic candidate for president since John F. Kennedy 44 years ago. In those days, Kennedy was criticized as too close to the church. These days, it's just the opposite for John Kerry.
Our senior political correspondent, Candy Crowley, reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Should a Catholic whose workweek runs counter to Sunday sermons, be denied communion? In the case of parishioner John Kerry, the question arises -- what's a father to do?
He is the first Roman Catholic to top a major national ticket since this Roman Catholic.
JOHN F. KENNEDY (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am not the Catholic candidate for president. I am the Democratic Party's candidate for president, who happens also to be a Catholic.
CROWLEY: For John Kennedy, the question was, would his religion have too much influence on policy?
For John Kerry, the question is -- why doesn't your religion have more influence?
KERRY: I fully intend to continue to practice my religion separately from what I do with respect to my public life.
CROWLEY: Kerry, a former altar boy, who calls himself a believing, practicing Catholic, supports stem-cell research, favors abortion rights and recently voted no to making the death of a fetus a separate count in federal criminal cases, all positions contrary to church theology. As Kerry's national prominence brings the issue to the forefront, there is some protest.
REV. JOHN MCCLOSKEY, FAITH AND REASON INSTITUTE: You simply cannot do that, because you're living a contradiction. You're giving great scandal to other Catholic citizens, and you're also putting your own soul in peril.
CROWLEY: Former New York Governor Mario Cuomo, pro-abortion rights and lifelong Catholic, has split this difference before.
MARIO CUOMO (D), FMR. NY. GOVERNOR: Now, our church teaches life begins at conception. That's a religious principle. It's not a scientific principle.
CROWLEY: Spiritually, Kerry may merely reflect the struggle of many American Catholics to mesh religion and politics. Politically, the issue may feed his critics, some of who sit in the Catholic pews.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think that he has flip-flopped a lot on -- has a lot of inconsistent positions on just about everything, and apparently religion is no exception for him.
CROWLEY: A decision on how church officials should deal with the issue of Catholic politicians may emerge from a meeting of bishops scheduled in November, just after the election.
Candy Crowley, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALLACE: And our thanks to Candy Crowley for that.
On INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY, you have been waiting and the time is almost here. We have got the best political punchlines from a very busy week.
Stay with us for our late-night laughs.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WALLACE: Time now for a week's worth of comedy. It's all about politics, late-night style.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LENO: Condoleezza Rice testified this morning before the 9/11 commission. Or as far they're calling it in Washington, the Passion of the Rice. That's what they're calling it.
JON STEWART, HOST, THE DAILY SHOW: Doctor, are you sure the threat of terrorism was getting the pre-9/11 attention that it deserved?
RICE: I do not believe that there was a lack of high-level attention. The president was paying attention to this. How much higher level can you get?
STEWART: Well, I suppose it could have gone to Cheney.
LENO: Did you see the Democrats going after Condoleezza today? Like Bob Kerrey kept calling her, Dr. Clarke. Five times he called Condoleezza Rice Dr. Clarke until she finally corrected him and everybody laughed.
I mean, he's on her case for not recalling little details from three years ago. He can't remember her name.
STEWART: They didn't know that there were al Qaeda cells in the state, did they?
CLARKE: Dick Clarke had told me, I think in a memorandum. I remember it as being only a line or two, that there were al Qaeda cells in the United States. STEWART: Well, how long should that sentence be? Al Qaeda cells are in the United States. It doesn't need to be that long of a sentence.
LENO: And let me tell you something, she did a great job. It is not raising your right hand while you're trying to cover your ass at the same time. You know what I'm saying?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALLACE: And it's tough to follow that. Certainly a favorite here, though.
That is all for INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY.
Coming up in 30 minutes, "RELIABLE SOURCES" takes a critical look at news-media coverage of the September 11 commission hearings.
And at noon Eastern, on "LATE EDITION" commission member Richard Ben-Veniste joins Candy Crowley, who is sitting in for Wolf Blitzer.
Have a terrific Sunday, and to those celebrating, happy Easter.
I'm Kelly Wallace in Washington. Thanks again for joining us.
"CNN LIVE SUNDAY" continues right now from CNN's global headquarters in Atlanta.
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Aired April 11, 2004 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HOLLY FIRFER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Holly Firfer.
ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Erica Hill. Thanks for joining us on CNN SUNDAY MORNING. Stay tuned, "INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY" is next.
FIRFER: I'm Holly Firfer at the CNN Center in Atlanta with the latest developments now.
Pope John Paul II celebrated Easter mass at the Vatican. He called on world leaders to turn away from violence. Thousands turned out in St. Peters Square to hear him. The pontiff called terrorism "inhuman." He said the world is troubled by what he calls many threatening shadows, mentioning the Middle East, Africa and Iraq.
No word from Iraq on the fate of Thomas Hammil. He's the man captured by masked gunmen near Baghdad on Friday. His captors are threatening to execute him unless coalition forces withdraw from Fallujah. It's believed Hammil may be an American since he spoke with a slight southern accent on videotape taken by an Australian television crew.
Japanese officials say they do not know the fate of three civilian hostages, including a journalist and two aid workers. Their captors are demanding the ouster of Japanese troops now serving a noncombat role in Iraq. Arab media reports have indicated the three Japanese hostages would be released sometime today.
I'm Holly Firfer. "INSIDE POLITICS" is now.
KELLY WALLACE, HOST: Inside politics today, the White House releases a presidential briefing document on possible terror attacks by Osama bin Laden prior to September 11. Details of the page in a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) memo and reaction from a former Bush White House counterterrorism staffer, now top foreign policy adviser to John Kerry.
Also, amid heavy fighting, is the American public losing faith in the U.S. military strategy in Iraq and in the commander in chief? We have got the latest poll numbers.
And on this Easter Sunday, "The Passion of the Christ" is already a top grossing film. So why aren't politicians talking about it? That's all straight ahead.
ANNOUNCER: Live from Washington, this is INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY.
WALLACE: And welcome to INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY. And Happy Easter.
President Bush visits the troops in Texas. John Kerry celebrate the holiday in Boston. Good Sunday morning to you. I am Kelly Wallace. Politics doesn't take weekend off and neither do we. Thanks so much for joining us.
We begin with the White House, which has officially released the president's daily intelligence briefing from August 6, 2001. That is the memo that discusses Osama bin Laden's determination to strike America. It's also the memo that critics say should have alerted the president to the possibility of a terror assault on American soil. The September 11 attacks occurred 36 days after the president was briefed.
Details now from CNN's White House correspondent, Suzanne Malveaux, who is reporting from near the president's ranch in Crawford, Texas.
Good morning, Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Kelly.
President Bush continues to be updated on the developments in Iraq. He also spends the holiday at Fort Hood, Texas, visiting with troops, celebrating Easter services. Also meeting with some of the wounded there.
But at the same time, the White House continues to face scrutiny over September 11. It was yesterday that the administration declassified a very controversial brief that was requested by the 9/11 Commission.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX (voice-over): Saturday, the White House declassified the president's top secret briefing he received at his Crawford ranch one month before the September 11 attacks. The August 6, 2001 presidential daily brief entitled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S." lays out the al Qaeda leader's capability and determination to hit the United States.
It warns the CIA and FBI were investigating a tip that a group of bin Laden supporters were in the U.S. in May, just months before 9/11, and were planning attacks with explosives. It begins, "Bin Laden, since 1997, has wanted to conduct terrorist attacks in the U.S. After U.S. missile strikes on in his base in Afghanistan in 1998, bin Laden told followers he wanted to retaliate in Washington. The millennium plotting in Canada, 1999, may have been part of bin Laden's first serious attempt to implement a terror strike in the U.S."
The brief emphasizes the al Qaeda leader's resolve, recounting his 1998 attacks against U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that involved years of preparation. The brief says bin Laden followers are prevalent in the U.S. Al Qaeda members, including some who are U.S. citizens, have resided in or traveled to the U.S. for years. And the group apparently maintains a support structure that could aid attacks.
A source specifically mentions a bin Laden cell in New York in 1998 that was recruiting young Muslim Americans to carry out strikes. The brief lays out bin Laden's plot: an uncorroborated report that in 1998 bin Laden wanted to hijack a U.S aircraft to win the release of his comrades in U.S. custody, ongoing activity from the FBI of patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks, including recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York.
The brief concludes that the FBI was conducting at least 70 investigations in 2001 regarding possible al Qaeda cells operating in the U.S. A senior White House official says releasing the brief should clear up any myth that the president was warned of the 9/11 attacks, adding that there is nothing in the brief pertaining to the 9/11 plot. He said all threats were aggressively pursued.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: But some commissioners believe that the administration had at least enough information about al Qaeda's capabilities and intentions to issue a warning to the public saying that an attack was possible -- Kelly.
WALLACE: Suzanne, how concerned are your sources as you talk to them about any political fallout from the release of this document?
MALVEAUX: Well, it really is too soon to say. It was interesting, the timing of the release. It was late yesterday, as you know, the eve before the Easter holiday before the network newscasts. So it's going to be interesting to see how much this gets play over the weekend and in the week to come.
We know the focus is going to be on an intelligence, as well as law enforcement officials who go before the 9/11 Commission and will be looking at more of the structural changes, some of those things, the difficulties that the administration said that they had. The communication between the FBI and CIA. Things like that.
So they're still looking at this and wondering what the fallout is going to be. But they figured they needed to put this document out. They wanted to put it in the hands of the public so they could determine for themselves whether or not the administration could prevent 9/11.
WALLACE: Very quickly, Suzanne, what are they saying about the timing? This coming, as you said, Saturday night before Easter Sunday. Some critics saying the White House might have been trying to kind of bury this in the holiday weekend.
MALVEAUX: Well, it wouldn't be on either side to actually try to bury this either way. But what the White House says is that they were working on this for sometime, that they were working on those redactions.
You may see the letter itself, that there are some things they had to collect and make sure that they were not violating any kind of sources or methods in collecting intelligence. But this is something that was being leaked over the weekend. They wanted to get it out as quickly as possible.
WALLACE: Suzanne Malveaux, thanks so much. White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux reporting from Crawford, Texas.
While much attention was focused this week own what the president knew before September 11, it was a volatile and violent week in Iraq. That news appears to have some Americans changing their minds about how the Bush administration is managing the conflict.
Bill Schneider is here with the results of a New CNN-TIME poll.
Bill, so what changes are you seeing when it comes to American attitudes about Iraq?
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, Kelly, doubts are growing, but Americans are not ready to give up. Let's compare the public's views now and a year ago, when the initial fighting was ending.
A year ago, nearly two-thirds of Americans believed the U.S. was right to go to war in Iraq. Now, a majority still feels that way, but only a small majority. More than 40 percent thinks the U.S. made a mistake.
A year ago, most Americans felt the war in Iraq made the U.S. safer from terrorism. People do not feel that way anymore.
WALLACE: Well, Bill, something that's going to be very important to this White House in this election year is, how do Americans feel about how the president and his team are handling the situation in Iraq?
SCHNEIDER: Kelly, again, doubts are growing. The public is now inclined to believe the Bush administration does not have a clear and well thought out plan for dealing with Iraq. Now, as the bad news from Iraq stiffened Americans' resolve or heightened the desire to get out? Answer: both.
The prevailing sentiment is to stick with it. But just over a quarter of Americans want to increase the number of U.S. troops, and just over a quarter want to get out. Both of those numbers have been growing.
The bad news from Iraq is dividing the American public. The White House is facing more criticism from hawks and more criticism from doves -- Kelly.
WALLACE: Bill Schneider, thank you very much. And we will see you later, of course, for your "Story Behind the Story." Well, Senator Kerry is spending the weekend in Boston, where he is attending Easter Sunday mass at a Catholic church not far from his Beacon Hill home. He tried to spend the past week talking about domestic issues; namely, the economy, but the war in Iraq kept getting in the way.
Joining us now, And Beers. He is Senator Kerry's top foreign policy adviser on national security issues.
Mr. Beers, thanks for joining us.
RAND BEERS, KERRY ADVISER: Thank you. It's good to be here.
WALLACE: We should say, of course, you did serve in the Bush administration as the president's counterterrorism adviser from August 2002 until last spring. So, knowing what you know about all the threats you get in that job, looking at the release of this presidential daily brief, do you think the president could have or should have done more?
BEERS: I certainly think that the president could have done more. I think that the brief itself, the title, "Osama bin Laden Determined to attack the U.S.," and then the elements within it, there was clearly an attack to attack, there were cells in the U.S., there was a planning process which was very deliberate, and there was information suggesting that activities in the U.S. were occurring, that, together with all the information of last summer -- of that summer, excuse me -- certainly suggested that someone should have been out shaking the trees to find out what more we knew and what we could do about it.
WALLACE: The White House, of course, though, Condoleezza Rice, national security adviser, going before the commission, saying the White House was shaking the trees and the FBI conducting numerous investigations. That all agencies were doing what they could do. You don't buy that?
BEERS: I think that the testimony at the 9/11 Commission this past week suggested this there was a bit of a slip between the cup and the lip here. What they said was happening and what was actually happening appeared to be two different things.
Seventy investigations doesn't mean there's a huge volume of effort. It simply means that you can mark down on a checklist that the FBI in various locations is doing something. But you don't know what they're doing.
WALLACE: But take a look a little bit. After Condoleezza Rice testified, CNN-TIME conducted a survey asking Americans if they believed the Bush administration did all that could be expected before September 11. When you look at the numbers at the end of March, 54 percent saying, no, they didn't believe the administration did all that it could do.
Now that number has dropped to 40 percent after Condoleezza Rice's testimony. So it seems as if Americans, after hearing from Condoleezza Rice, believe more and more the administration really couldn't have prevented or couldn't have done more September 11.
BEERS: I understand that. I'm talking as an expert. I've been inside, and I know what that means. And I think they could have done more.
WALLACE: But, of course, some Republicans will say now you are a top foreign policy adviser to John Kerry. Republicans are accusing the Democrats, the Kerry campaign, of politicizing this, trying to get some political gain after September 11 for the candidate.
BEERS: I'm an American first. I spent 35 years in the U.S. government working to defend America. And I don't consider my comments political.
WALLACE: OK. What about the Democrats, though? Do you think it's an appropriate issue to raise during this presidential election year?
BEERS: I think that it's important for America to understand what happened around the 11th of September and to hear the recommendations of the commission about what we ought to do to fix it. The key here is going to the future, is getting those recommendations on the table and fixing them so we reduce the likelihood of another attack.
WALLACE: Let's switch, of course, to Iraq, the deteriorating situation there. Of course, Senator Kerry had very strong criticism of President Bush this week about the policy in Iraq. I want you to listen to White House communications director Dan Bartlett, who reacted very strongly to what Senator Kerry has been saying. Let's take a listen and hear what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAN BARTLETT, WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: He wants to complain about things that are going on, instead of sending a strong message to those thugs and sending a strong resolve message that we're going to stick it to them. Senator Kerry seems to be trying to take advantage of an event and testing that's going on in Iraq for political gain.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: Your reaction to that?
BEERS: Senator Kerry, first of all, said, we need to stay the course in Iraq, we need to finish the job. He is not disagreeing with the president on that point. He does disagree on the strategy to pursue that.
We have believed all along, and I think the administration is coming the notion, that we have to involve the U.N. and we have to make them the leaders in the political transition. There's a U.N. negotiator there now, Lakhdar Brahimi. He is talking with the people, trying to figure out how to get to the political transition on the 30th of June. If you're relying upon him to do that, why not give the U.N. the authority? If we don't give the U.N. the authority, we have no chance of getting additional forces or additional resources in Iraq. That's the key. That's how we should go. And that's what John Kerry is trying to say.
WALLACE: You know, of course, you've heard from Republicans, namely, though, who criticized John Kerry, saying he is criticized the president but is not really clarifying his very own policy on Iraq, saying, after all, he did vote for the resolution, giving the president the authority to wage war. Are you and the senator's advisers thinking it might be time for him to do another speech to clarify his position on Iraq?
BEERS: John Kerry's position has been clear since last September. He repeated it again in December. And he's been repeating it here.
The key is to bring the U.N. in, to put them in charge of the political transition. To go out using that base to get additional foreign forces to help in Iraq. To work with the security forces in Iraq to make sure that they can do the job they're being asked to do instead of putting them out on point where they'll be killed.
WALLACE: Is there discussion, though, with advisers about maybe having him reiterate the policy that you just articulated in light of the situation in Iraq?
BEERS: Well, he's been reiterating it on a daily basis. So whether or not there's a major speech or not, I'm not in a position to say at this point.
WALLACE: Very, very quickly, Senator Ted Kennedy said that Iraq is George Bush's Vietnam. Does the senator agree with that?
BEERS: The senator said very clearly that it is not Vietnam yet. But if we don't change course, we run that risk.
WALLACE: Rand Beers, foreign policy adviser to Senator John Kerry, we very much appreciate you joining us this morning.
BEERS: Thank you.
WALLACE: OK.
Up next, covering the candidate. We will speak to two reporters who are tracking President Bush and Senator Kerry every step of the way.
And later...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY LENO TALK SHOW HOST: I watched almost all the hearing. Here's my question: what was this guy smiling at? This is what the August 6 memo said... (END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: The late night comics had plenty of material this week. Stay tuned for our laugh-out-loud section.
This is INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY. Don't go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MIKE ALLEN, WASHINGTON POST: ... call this spike threat -- threat spike. And so we looked at what the president was doing, what he was saying, what the people around him were doing.
And what we found in August was a very typical sort of post-Cold War, pre-9/11 relaxed August. The president out golfing, joking with reporters about their hair, fishing. Very relaxed. Remember the Social Security lock box, stem cells, issues that at the time seemed like a big deal. It does not -- there was nothing external we found that suggested that they were at battle stations.
WALLACE: And, Jeff, of course, we all were in Crawford that summer of August 2001. You covered the White House, as well. What are your sources telling you? Are they concerned about the political fallout here, looking at what President Bush was doing and questions about did he really do enough in those weeks before September 11?
JEFF ZELENY, CHICAGO TRIBUNE: I think what's happening now is this is really an unexpected side issue going on right now. The Bush campaign officials who I talk to a lot were not expecting this and are not quite sure how to handle this at this point.
It will affect everything from their ad placement, what kind of ads can be running now. A couple of months ago, when they started running their first ads, they had images of 9/11. Well, now many of them aren't sure if that's a good idea. So I think this whole issue is going to affect everything they do in the next coming months of the campaign.
WALLACE: And Mike, is there any second guessing going on with your White House sources you talked to about how they've handled everything up to September 11? It has been resist, resist, and then almost a reversal each time, right?
ALLEN: You're exactly right. And there's a lot of long faces on Republicans this Easter morning because they know that, fairly or unfairly, this is going to be an issue, and it's going to be an issue for a long time.
The presidential brief that was put out yesterday does not appear to comport with the descriptions that were given of it. Dr. Rice said eight times during her appearance that this was historical information. We were told again and again that this pointed to threats overseas.
Kelly, there's 17 sentences in it. Fifteen of them are specifically about threats in the United States. WALLACE: And that raises a question, Jeff. You follow John Kerry. Is the Kerry campaign going to try and seize on this issue? He has been noticeably silent all week long about Condoleezza Rice's testimony.
ZELENY: He absolutely has. He was campaigning on Thursday in Wisconsin, and a voter asked him a question. He said, "What do you think about the testimony?" Of course, it was all over the morning news only hours earlier.
And he demurred. I think it was one of the first times I've seen him not swing at the ball that had been pitched to him.
But I think right now what their strategists are telling me is they're just going to sit back and let the story play out. It's a very serious matter, and they don't want to be viewed as politicizing it. But there's no question that this certainly plays into his broader argument about the Bush presidency.
WALLACE: And let's move over, of course, to another hot issue, Iraq. Your own paper reporting that Republicans expressing concern about the low profile of President Bush this past week. What are your sources telling you, and are they expecting to see the president get out there and really lay out his policy on how to deal with Iraq?
ALLEN: Well, Kelly, I think it's been obvious to anybody who's been watching your air that this week was a turning point. And where was the president? The president has not specifically in person talked about Iraq since Monday. He had a passing reference to it Tuesday.
Now, one of the Karen Hughes precepts that you see in the grammar of just about everything they do is, give the positive news first, back into the negative news if you have to. So they were waiting for an opportunity for the president to talk about some progress.
As the week went by, it was obvious that wasn't going to occur. Then they were just waiting for a lull. They didn't even get that.
So they very much expected him to take a break. He's been talking -- he was on a fishing show yesterday. He was with outdoors editors the day before. You know, they think that this regular guy image helps him. But if he looks out of touch, that would be a big problem.
WALLACE: But also turning the tables on John Kerry, who was very critical of President Bush in the past few days. But he's been criticized for not necessarily articulating a clear strategy for Iraq. Something that he would do differently than President Bush.
ZELENY: Right. For the last 12 months, even more than that, the war has been a problem for the Democratic nominee now, John Kerry. He's never quite been able to simply explain why he voted for the congressional authority to go to war and against the spending. But we saw last week him sort of turning up the volume day by day. And, again, on that campaign trip in Wisconsin, which is an important political state, he said that he had phoned the father of one of the soldiers who was killed a week before and he mentioned him by name. And so I think we are going to see more and more of the Iraq problem coming out into his daily speeches and his campaign activities.
WALLACE: And Mike, how worried is the White House? They expected this to be a wartime president, campaigning on Iraq, the war on terror. How worried are they about that image that might be a problem now for the president?
ALLEN: Right. Well, they're re-calibrating. They're realizing this campaign was very much built about defending on the economy. Now they realize that they're going to have to fight with John Kerry on national security.
That changes everything both with the presidential race and other races Republicans all over planned to run on this and have this be the strength. Always the place the could go if they were in trouble. Not anymore.
WALLACE: Five seconds or less, Jeff, how worried are your sources saying the White House is?
ZELENY: I think they're very worried. I talked to a Republican strategist yesterday who said, "We certainly hope this is not a replay of the 1980 campaign, where every day you see Iraq getting worse and worse, almost like the hostages in Iran."
WALLACE: Jeff Zeleny of The Chicago Tribune, Mike Allen, The Washington Post, two of the best in the business joining us on Easter Sunday. Thank you so much.
ALLEN: Have a great week, Kelly.
ZELENY: Thanks, Kelly.
WALLACE: Well, for more political nuggets that you won't hear anywhere else, we are serving up your morning political scoop fresh from our newsroom in today's "Morning Grind."
And we'll show you how the city of Washington, D.C., is now more monumental.
That's all ahead on INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY. Don't go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WALLACE: Welcome back. Time now to read all about it in the Sunday edition of our "Campaign News Daily."
Vice President Dick Cheney is in Tokyo, and he's urging the Japanese government to maintain its military presence in Iraq. Antiwar demonstrators have called for the removal of Japanese troops after three Japanese citizens were taken hostage, but the government said no. Japan is the first stop on the vice president's Asian tour. He will travel to South Korea and China later this week.
Senate leaders Bill Frist and Tom Daschle have canceled a joint trip to Iraq. It was intended to display bipartisan support for U.S. troops stationed there. The senators say they don't want to put extra demands on U.S. security personnel as the conflict intensifies. They plan to reschedule their visit for a later date.
And the public will finally get a glimpse of the New World War II Memorial in Washington. The formal dedication ceremony is not scheduled until Memorial Day Weekend, but officials are expected to unveil the monument this month, giving as many World War II veterans as possible a chance to visit.
Well, in Iraq, a U.S. Apache helicopter is brought down in west Baghdad. Straight ahead: the headlines making news this hour.
Also, the politics of "The Passion of the Christ." Our Easter "Story Behind the Story" is just ahead.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FIRFER: I'm Holly Firfer in Atlanta with the headlines at the half-hour.
A U.S. Army Apace attack helicopter was brought down west of Baghdad this morning. A coalition spokesman says the two crew members aboard the chopper were killed. According to coalition sources, unidentified ground fire hit the 1st Cavalry AH-64 around 11:00 a.m. local time.
Paul Bremer, top civilian administrator in Iraq, says a cease- fire between U.S. Marines and Iraq insurgents is holding. Talks were meant to start once the shooting stops, but other coalition officials say insurgents have not agreed to hold fire.
Comic-musician "Weird Al" Yankovic went on with a performance in Minnesota last night, a day after his parents died. Nic and Mary Yankovic were found in their Southern California home by paramedics. Officials say the house was full of smoke. Carbon-monoxide poisoning is suspected.
INSIDE POLITICS continues.
WALLACE: Religion, politics and a very popular but controversial movie. The message of "The Passion of the Christ" is having an impact on a number of levels inside and outside the United States.
Senior political analyst, Bill Schneider, doing double duty today, has "The Story Behind the Story"
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SCHNEIDER (voice-over): "The Passion of the Christ," for many an affirmation of faith. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The whole world needs to see this movie. It puts in perspective what Jesus did for us. He died for our sins.
SCHNEIDER: For others, it's a dangerous provocation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is depicted there is every crude stereotype of the Jew.
SCHNEIDER: There is no question the movie is a blockbuster. Even before Easter, it ranked as the 10th-highest grossing film of all times. Politicians are treating the movie with respect and caution.
Asked whether President Bush wants to see the movie, his aides said:
SCOTT MCCLELLAN: I don't know. I think he does, and I think at some point he probably will.
SCHNEIDER: John Kerry also said he was interested in seeing the movie, but he told reporters, "I'm concerned about the anti-Semitism message; I don't know what's there or not there. But it's a concern."
Critics say the film promotes the view that the Jews were responsible for Christ's death.
In 1997, 19 percent of Americans endorsed that view. Last month, that number had climbed to 26 percent. Does it have anything to do with the movie?
Among people who had seen "The Passion," 36 percent believed the Jews were responsible for Christ's death. But the figure was almost as high among people who said they planned to see the movie, which suggests that people who already harbor such sentiments are being attracted to the movie, unlike those that have no interest in the movie.
Most Americans who see "The Passion" are motivated by faith, not hate. But that may not be true in other parts of the world.
RABBI ROBERT LEVINE, V.P., N.Y. BOARD OF RABBIS: As this is translated around the world, in Europe, in the Arab countries, in South America, the number of people who can take material like this and use it for their own purposes, purposes that they may have walked into the movie with.
SCHNEIDER: Islam traditionally bans depictions of prophets, including Jesus. But "The Passion" has now opened in Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, setting box office records in most of the countries.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCHNEIDER: According to the Associated Press, one Muslim cleric urged the Kuwaiti government to allow "The Passion" to be shown because, he said, it -- quote -- "reveals crimes committed by Jews against Christ" -- Kelly. WALLACE: Bill, and it's an incredible phenomenon, because I think the box office, more than $300 million so far.
SCHNEIDER: That's right.
WALLACE: Amazing.
SCHNEIDER: Amazing.
WALLACE: Bill Schneider, thank you so much. Double duty, again, we appreciate it.
SCHNEIDER: Sure.
WALLACE: Well, later this hour, balancing religion and politics: the unique challenges Senator Kerry faces as a Catholic running for president.
Plus, which rocker is joining camp Kerry on the campaign trail? "The Morning Grind" is brewing right now.
And, plus, our favorite, late-night laughs. Can't wait? Well, here's a preview.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY LENO, "TONIGHT SHOW" HOST: As soon as Condoleezza Rice finished her testimony yesterday, Bill Clinton testified in private, but Clinton did not testify under oath. Well, of course, being Holy Week he felt it was too big a risk to put his hand on the Bible.
Yes. You know....
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: Thanks, Bill.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WALLACE: And time now to sit down and smell the coffee. Here with our Sunday cup of "The Morning Grind," CNN political editor, John Mercurio.
I love that intro, John.
JOHN MERCURIO, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: I love that. Where do you come with these?
WALLACE: Our fabulous producers who write the stuff.
Good morning.
MERCURIO: Good morning.
WALLACE: So, you know, so much discussion about Iraq and the September 11, but the presidential campaign keeps going, the fund- raising keeps going for President Bush and John Kerry.
What are you finding?
MERCURIO: Well, I think for the past couple of weeks, we've been in this sort of intense, money-making phase. I mean, every article reading you're reading at least has one or two lines about how, you know, "and then they went to a reception and raised a million dollars."
But for Bush, that's going to be ending, actually. Last week, he held a sort of a major fund-raiser last Monday. But from now on, he's just going to be on kind of the campaign mode. No major fund-raisers planned.
For Kerry, though, it's just beginning. He actually has, over the next week, six fund-raisers planned over the next seven days, including the biggest one, which is in New York on Tuesday -- I'm sorry, on Wednesday night, he's going to raise $4 million -- 2,200 people expected there.
What's most interesting, though, about the Kerry's fund raising right now is that over the past -- it's the online fund-raising that he's been able to sort of generate. And in the past -- in the first three months of this year, from January through the end of March, he raised more money, $27 million, than Howard Dean raised throughout his entire campaign, which was about $26 million.
So that's important, because it doesn't take a lot of money to raise money online. It's a lot -- it's a sort of a net benefit for Kerry.
WALLACE: Are people surprised? I mean, are Democratic insiders surprised about the fund-raising abilities of the Democratic Party and Kerry?
MERCURIO: I don't know that they're surprised necessarily. I think they're certainly encouraged by it. I mean, I think it shows the level of commitment and energy that's within the Democratic base.
I think, you know, clearly Kerry was competing against nine at some point -- eight or nine other Democrats, so he was challenged for fund-raising.
But no, they're definitely encouraged, I think.
WALLACE: Still long way to go, though, to catch the Republicans.
MERCURIO: Sure. Oh, absolutely. I mean, the Bush advantage is overwhelming right now.
WALLACE: So we know that camp Kerry hooking up with some big names this week, including a big rock star.
MERCURIO: A big rock star.
WALLACE: A big rock star. What can you tell us? MERCURIO: From our generation.
WALLACE: From our generation -- we're dating ourselves here. Right. Yes.
MERCURIO: Yes, he's got sort of an interesting week.
He's going to be raising money at night with sort of, I guess, rich people. And then during the day he's going to be hanging out on college campuses with people like Jon Bon Jovi. We found out that he's going to be -- he's campaigning over the next four days -- the next five days, he has four major events planned. One in New Hampshire, one in Rhode Island, New York. Sort of the big one in New York is going to be with Hillary Clinton at the City College on Wednesday. Also with Tom DeLong from Blink 182.
You know Blink 182, Kelly, I'm sure.
WALLACE: Don't hold me to that. I can always know the songs. I don't know who sings them. But that's another story.
MERCURIO: And then on Friday, he's going -- and then on Friday, he's going to be with Jon Bon Jovi at the University of Pittsburgh.
WALLACE: Now, looking ahead though, on the Republican side, you have two very Republican-friendly groups holding conferences, I think, this coming weekend, The National Rifle Association and the Log Cabin Republicans.
MERCURIO: Yes.
WALLACE: What are you hearing and what's the buzz about their approach to the Bush-Cheney team?
MERCURIO: Well, it's sort of interesting. You have two sort of, as you said, Republican-friendly groups, different sides of the ideological spectrum within the Republican Party, meeting on opposite coasts, both talking about the endorsement process -- or, I'm sorry, the decision on whether to not to endorse President Bush.
What I found out in talking to senior officials with both groups last night is that Dick Cheney, Vice President Cheney, is scheduled at this point to deliver the keynote for the NRA next Saturday. When I asked the Log Cabin officials whether or not they had invited Bush administration officials, the official I talked to laughed and said that wouldn't be -- that would be a -- definitely a waste of paper to invite anybody. They don't expect anybody.
I think both of those situations speak volumes about whether or not each group is going to endorse the administration for re-election.
WALLACE: John Mercurio, CNN political editor, we have to leave it there.
MERCURIO: OK.
WALLACE: Great to see you. Happy Easter.
MERCURIO: Thank you.
WALLACE: And for the best daily brew of politics, you must get your "Morning Grind" at www.cnn.com/grind for "The Morning Grind"
Well, too tired to stay up for the late-night show? Many of us feel that way. Are you ready to laugh out loud?
Plus, the politics of Iraq. It was a violent and bloody week. So how should President Bush and Senator Kerry craft their campaign messages? Our feisty panel dukes it out. That's straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WALLACE: George Bush and John Kerry were planning a big economic focus this week, but the September 11 commission and Iraq got in the way.
Here to talk strategy for the Bush and Kerry campaigns are two guests: Maria Echaveste, Democratic strategist and former deputy chief of staff in the Clinton administration; and Jonah Goldberg who is -- want to get your title -- editor of National Review online.
Thanks so much for joining us on this Sunday morning.
Jonah, let me begin with you. First, the political fallout. Do you believe there will be some deep political damage to the White House regarding this release of this document?
JONAH GOLDBERG, NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE: Well, I don't know how it's going to be deep. It's certainly going to be political damage. It keeps this story, which is not a helpful story for the White House, in play. The chum is clearly in the water, as it were.
You know, the White House wanted to run on 9/11 and how it acted after 9/11, and because of a lot of -- in my view, unfair criticisms about pre-9/11, that posture is in jeopardy as a campaign strategy.
WALLACE: Maria, for the Democrats, though, it's a little dicey to use this as an issue because they -- couldn't Democrats be accused of kind of playing politics with something like September 11?
MARIA ECHAVESTE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I think the important thing is, like all Americans, we want the know how to make sure that something like 9/11 doesn't happen again. And this is what I've been really strong (ph) about.
This is not about finding blame. I -- you know, a lot of folks want to find blame. But this is about what was done, what can be improved. And that's why this -- release of this memo is so critical, because it suggests that some things should have been done. And what's important is what are we doing now to make sure that this doesn't happen again? And that's where, I think, the Bush administration is really failing because they're not really owning up to, Well, maybe certain things needed to be improved. And that's what I would worry as an American...
GOLDBERG: Well, I'm not sure I agree entirely with that.
It's very interesting to listen to all the Democrats who -- rend and cloth (ph) and gnash their teeth about the Patriot Act over the last year and a half, when in fact the consensus coming out of this 9/11 commission is that many of fixes implemented by the Patriot Act were, in fact, precisely the fixes that could have prevented 9/11 in terms of the institutional difficulties between the FBI and the CIA.
And so now you have a situation where the substance of a lot of policy issues coming out of 9/11 commission, are actually well to the right of the Democratic position coming out of the primaries. But the politics are very different.
WALLACE: Do Jonah have a point there?
ECHAVESTE: No, I disagree completely. I mean, first off, I don't think anything that the Patriot Act has done to date has made -- has resulted in -- to the extent that we know -- has resulted in this thwarting of terrorism.
But more importantly as -- again, I come back to the creation of the Homeland Security Department. The two agencies that most need to be coordinated -- FBI, CIA -- they're not part of that. And so, where is that coordination going on? Is it happening at the National Security Council? What we're learning is, maybe not.
WALLACE: Let's move on to Iraq, another difficult issue.
Republicans even were talking, many privately though, saying that the president needs to get out there and get out there fast, to not only articulate his policy, but what's he's going to do to sort of transfer of power by June 30.
Do you agree?
GOLDBERG: Yes, no. I think the White House has been looking for the opportunity to get its message out about all this.
This has been a terrible week, not just for Republicans and Democrats -- you know, Democrats, kind of thing, but for Americans. It's just been a bad, bad week. And I think the White House needs to figure out how to disengage between political strategy and national -- and sort of presidential strategy in how to address these issues.
In terms of the politics of this, we got keep in mind, there's no way this can keep up for another eight months, unless it's a full- blown civil war. Better in some ways, since this had to happen militarily -- to drain these swamps, better to happen now politically, anyway. The election -- Election Day is months and months and months away.
WALLACE: John Kerry, though, is criticized by Republicans. He voted for the Iraqi war resolution. Some Republicans say he's playing politics here, criticizing the president without really articulating his own different strategy.
ECHAVESTE: He's has given several speeches about what he would he do if he were president to deal with the issue of -- now that we're in Iraq. I mean, this is the question. We can argue all we want about whether it was the right thing to do.
But right now, what we're seeing is that you can focus on message, but ultimately you have to have a plan. If you don't have a substantive plan, a real plan -- and that's what missing here. And what Kerry would do, go to the U.N., make sure that we have a new resolution that authorizes the building of an Iraqi government, a multilateral force. We need our international allies to help sustain and build Iraq.
WALLACE: We were hoping to talk about the economy. Of course, this week other events overshadowed it.
But John Kerry was out there in a speech on Wednesday, and one thing he said is, You can't trust George Bush to cut the deficit. His policies don't work, won't work. He used the trust word.
Are Republicans vulnerable here on the economy, especially in light of George Bush coming into office with a budget surplus and now facing budget deficits?
GOLDBERG: Well, I think the issue Kerry wants to get out is trust, not the deficits.
Historically, politically -- maybe economically is a different issue -- but politically, deficits really do not matter. When the economy is going well, people don't vote on deficit. When the economy is going poorly, people don't vote on the deficit.
WALLACE: Doesn't Jonah have a point? If we start seeing reports like 300,000 jobs created like we did in March, isn't that going to be a problem for John Kerry, who wants to...
(CROSSTALK)
ECHAVESTE: Excuse me -- 300,000 jobs being created, like, eight months before the election when you have lost over 2 million plus jobs. He's going to be the first president that's lost jobs on his watch.
More importantly, this isn't so much about the deficit, but rather your entire economic policy, and that's what doesn't add up here.
WALLACE: Unfortunately, we have to leave it there. So little time to discuss everything, I know.
Maria Echaveste, thank you so much.
Jonah Goldberg.
GOLDBERG: Thank you. WALLACE: We hope you can come back on INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY...
ECHAVESTE: Love to.
WALLACE: ...sometime soon. Thanks again.
Well, Senator Kerry is the first Catholic candidate for president since John F. Kennedy 44 years ago. In those days, Kennedy was criticized as too close to the church. These days, it's just the opposite for John Kerry.
Our senior political correspondent, Candy Crowley, reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Should a Catholic whose workweek runs counter to Sunday sermons, be denied communion? In the case of parishioner John Kerry, the question arises -- what's a father to do?
He is the first Roman Catholic to top a major national ticket since this Roman Catholic.
JOHN F. KENNEDY (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am not the Catholic candidate for president. I am the Democratic Party's candidate for president, who happens also to be a Catholic.
CROWLEY: For John Kennedy, the question was, would his religion have too much influence on policy?
For John Kerry, the question is -- why doesn't your religion have more influence?
KERRY: I fully intend to continue to practice my religion separately from what I do with respect to my public life.
CROWLEY: Kerry, a former altar boy, who calls himself a believing, practicing Catholic, supports stem-cell research, favors abortion rights and recently voted no to making the death of a fetus a separate count in federal criminal cases, all positions contrary to church theology. As Kerry's national prominence brings the issue to the forefront, there is some protest.
REV. JOHN MCCLOSKEY, FAITH AND REASON INSTITUTE: You simply cannot do that, because you're living a contradiction. You're giving great scandal to other Catholic citizens, and you're also putting your own soul in peril.
CROWLEY: Former New York Governor Mario Cuomo, pro-abortion rights and lifelong Catholic, has split this difference before.
MARIO CUOMO (D), FMR. NY. GOVERNOR: Now, our church teaches life begins at conception. That's a religious principle. It's not a scientific principle.
CROWLEY: Spiritually, Kerry may merely reflect the struggle of many American Catholics to mesh religion and politics. Politically, the issue may feed his critics, some of who sit in the Catholic pews.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think that he has flip-flopped a lot on -- has a lot of inconsistent positions on just about everything, and apparently religion is no exception for him.
CROWLEY: A decision on how church officials should deal with the issue of Catholic politicians may emerge from a meeting of bishops scheduled in November, just after the election.
Candy Crowley, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALLACE: And our thanks to Candy Crowley for that.
On INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY, you have been waiting and the time is almost here. We have got the best political punchlines from a very busy week.
Stay with us for our late-night laughs.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WALLACE: Time now for a week's worth of comedy. It's all about politics, late-night style.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LENO: Condoleezza Rice testified this morning before the 9/11 commission. Or as far they're calling it in Washington, the Passion of the Rice. That's what they're calling it.
JON STEWART, HOST, THE DAILY SHOW: Doctor, are you sure the threat of terrorism was getting the pre-9/11 attention that it deserved?
RICE: I do not believe that there was a lack of high-level attention. The president was paying attention to this. How much higher level can you get?
STEWART: Well, I suppose it could have gone to Cheney.
LENO: Did you see the Democrats going after Condoleezza today? Like Bob Kerrey kept calling her, Dr. Clarke. Five times he called Condoleezza Rice Dr. Clarke until she finally corrected him and everybody laughed.
I mean, he's on her case for not recalling little details from three years ago. He can't remember her name.
STEWART: They didn't know that there were al Qaeda cells in the state, did they?
CLARKE: Dick Clarke had told me, I think in a memorandum. I remember it as being only a line or two, that there were al Qaeda cells in the United States. STEWART: Well, how long should that sentence be? Al Qaeda cells are in the United States. It doesn't need to be that long of a sentence.
LENO: And let me tell you something, she did a great job. It is not raising your right hand while you're trying to cover your ass at the same time. You know what I'm saying?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALLACE: And it's tough to follow that. Certainly a favorite here, though.
That is all for INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY.
Coming up in 30 minutes, "RELIABLE SOURCES" takes a critical look at news-media coverage of the September 11 commission hearings.
And at noon Eastern, on "LATE EDITION" commission member Richard Ben-Veniste joins Candy Crowley, who is sitting in for Wolf Blitzer.
Have a terrific Sunday, and to those celebrating, happy Easter.
I'm Kelly Wallace in Washington. Thanks again for joining us.
"CNN LIVE SUNDAY" continues right now from CNN's global headquarters in Atlanta.
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