Below is the transcript of a CNN interview with John Kerry on October 15, 2004, where he answers very important questions and gives people very good reasons why to vote for him!With the polls running about even right now overall and with so much on the line in this election, we need to define John Kerry, define his message and positions, and define his answers to the Bush campaign's distortions of him as thoroughly and as clearly as possible to the voters as we actively campaign in the final days before the election!Please forward this transcript on far and wide to every voter who you know and also print this out and distribute it in areas that you are campaigning in because John Kerry does a fantastic job of defining himself, defining his true message and positions, and he clears up the Bush campaign's distortions about him!Many people who will potentially vote for John Kerry but have not committed to yet may not have access to a computer or cable television so printing out something like this to distribute as we campaign may be the only way that we can define John Kerry to these people, give them good reasons why to go to the polls and vote for him, and refute the Bush campaign's distortions of him to win these important voters!To get people to the polls, we have to give them good reasons why to vote for John Kerry and answer their questions for them. Material like this (as well as from the John Kerry website) is exactly what the voters need to see to help get them make that final decision to go to the polls and vote for John Kerry!Mitch Dworkinhttp://www.johnkerry.com/index.html http://blog.johnkerry.com/rapidresponse/ John Kerry Rapid Response Center: Here is where you can see the truth about John Kerry and the issues through the Bush campaign's distortions! --------------------http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0410/15/pzn.01.html Open up this link for the full transcript!PAULA ZAHN NOWInterview With Senator John KerryAired October 15, 2004 - 20:00 ETPAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening and thank you so much for joining us tonight. Welcome...But, first, our exclusive PRIME TIME POLITICS interview with Senator John Kerry. Today, in Milwaukee, he sat down for an exclusive one-on-one interview with our senior political correspondent, Candy Crowley. And Candy joins us now from Milwaukee.Hi, Candy. CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Paula... ZAHN: And we're going to take a look now at that interview. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CROWLEY: We're on the stage where you just gave an economic speech. I want to bring it down to one person. A middle-aged guy lives in Wisconsin. He doesn't have a job. John Kerry becomes president in January. His life changes February, March, April?SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, his life will change very quickly providing Congress responds. There are immediate things that I can do with respect to trade policy, immediate things I can do in the regulatory system that will help. But the most important thing is to lower the cost of health care and to raise incomes for middle class Americans, put in place a $4,000 tuition tax credit, get a $1,000 into the pocket of Americans by lowering their health care premiums.CROWLEY: But can you get him a job?KERRY: Well, I -- directly, day one? No. I'm not going to pretend that I can do that on day one. But what I can do is put in place policies that are going to expand the private sector of America. And I will do that. I'll do that by closing the tax loophole that encourages companies to go overseas. I'll do it by providing a manufacturing job credit which could have an immediate impact on helping companies to expand here in America. I can do it by creating a fair playing field in trade so that companies are more inclined to stay here. And if you lower the cost of health care, Candy, you really make American companies more competitive. And that's what I'm going to do.CROWLEY: A lot of talk about the programs that we've heard you talk about now for two years. KERRY: I know. CROWLEY: You will not end Social Security. You don't want to raise the age. You don't want to lower the benefits. And you don't want to privatize. You want to make health care available to as many people as possible. You want to add to the loans and grants for college. You want to fully fund No Child Left Behind. You want to increase veterans' benefits. You want to give another tax cut for the middle class. KERRY: Correct.CROWLEY: That's an awful lot of money. And a lot of people say you are...KERRY: Actually...CROWLEY: ... falling very short. Where are you going to -- you know, I know that you want to pay for a lot with those tax cuts but...KERRY: No, you can't pay for all of it from that. And I've shown exactly where I'm going to pay for it. Principle number one -- and I want Americans to here this clearly, principle number one, with which I am approaching the budget, is we have to reinstate pay-as-you- go and we have to be fiscally responsible. Now every program you just listed, I've shown precisely how we're going to pay for it. We pay for it partly by rolling back the tax cut for people earning over $200,000 a year. I give a tax cut, cut, to 98 percent of Americans. All of middle class America gets $1,000 tax credit for child care, a $4,000 tuition tax credit for college, and we lower the cost of health care. I also close corporate tax loopholes. We have $40 billion going to Bermuda and other countries. We have incredible giveaways through the tax code that subsidize companies for going overseas. I don't want to the American worker subsidizing a company that goes overseas, I want them to give a tax credit break to a company that creates jobs here. I'm going to cut 100,000 contractors from the federal government. I'm going to consolidate 70 different statistical agencies into one. I'm going to consolidate 10 export agencies into one. So we're going to actually -- George Bush has the biggest government, biggest spending in American history. We can reduce the burden on the taxpayer and put money into these things that are more valuable. CROWLEY: Let me turn you to Iraq. Over the past couple of days, three car bombs in Baghdad, many deaths. We have the full scale attack now on Fallujah. When you came back from Vietnam, the word "quagmire" was used quite a bit. You said: "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?"You have called this war the wrong war, wrong time, wrong place, which says to me a mistake. Why do you think we have to stay in Iraq when you didn't think we should stay in Vietnam?KERRY: They're very different. This is a war on terror, that was a civil war, an ideological war.CROWLEY: But you said there wasn't a terror threat, right?KERRY: Oh, there is now. That's the problem. The problem is that where there wasn't a connection to al Qaeda, now you have this extraordinary magnet that has been created for jihadists who have crossed the border in the thousands. And it is a haven for terrorism now. And I have said...CROWLEY: So we are staying (CROSSTALK) KERRY: But I've also said since day one -- no, what you have to do now, Candy, is make certain that it isn't a mistake. And the way you make certain it isn't a mistake is to do it right, which is what I have said from day one. I believed you had to hold Saddam Hussein accountable. And I said from day one there is a right way to do it and a wrong way to do it. This administration in almost every decision chose the wrong way. I mean, they look how they went to war. They went to war without giving our soldiers the body armor they need. They went to war without the Humvees that are armored. They went to war without adequate troops. Paul Bremer has said that. General Shinseki said that. You have to be accountable for your decisions. The decision they made was to go to war without adequate planning to win the peace. Now we're paying the price. I know how to win this peace. And we have to win it and I'm determined to win it. And we have to win the war on terror. But I can fight a smarter, more effective war on terror than George Bush has. And I can bring allies to our side.George Bush has pushed people away and isolated America rather that America joining with other people to isolate the radical extremists of Islam. I think that you have to separate them from the real Islam and the religion. They haven't done that effectively. I will.CROWLEY: How comfortable would you be if one of your political opponents used your daughter's sexual orientation to make a point of their own?KERRY: I've said what I'm going to say about that yesterday, it was meant as a very constructive comment, in a positive way. I respect their love for their daughter and I respect who she is, as they do. CROWLEY: Do you understand why the Cheneys are upset that this feels like an invasion of their privacy? KERRY: They have talked about it themselves publicly. CROWLEY: But you know other gay -- other people with gay children, you could've mentioned them, but you specifically mentioned her.KERRY: I think that people understand. They've become familiar with that particular situation. I think it was a way of saying, look, she's who she is. I have great respect for her, great respect for them. It was meant constructively in terms of their love and affection for a person who is she is. CROWLEY: Your buddy John McCain said it was inappropriate.KERRY: Well, people have different opinions. I've said what I've said.CROWLEY: Let me ask about Ralph Nader. He was quoted in "The New York Times" today, saying that you are not your own man, that you've let George Bush push you to the right, that you're taking your liberal base for granted and that it doesn't say much for your character. Can you respond to that?KERRY: Well, let me just say that my record and my -- what I want to do for America is the response to that. I want to provide health care to all Americans. And I have a plan to do it. George Bush does not.I led the fight to stop the drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge. I'm very proud of that accomplishment. I lead the fight to stop Newt Gingrich from undoing the Clean Air, Clean Water Act. I've fought against powerful interests my entire life. And I'm not going to take a second seat to anybody, including Ralph Nader, in terms of my agenda for this nation, fighting to raise the minimum wage, fighting to guarantee equal pay for women, fighting to guarantee that the middle class gets a fair shake in their tax breaks, not to corporations. If people want a change and they want responsibility for the middle class in America, don't throw away your vote. There is only one choice here. Either George Bush is going to be president, or John Kerry. CROWLEY: Have you talked to Ralph Nader? Since I know you saw him in early spring -- maybe in late spring...KERRY: No, I haven't had a chance to. CROWLEY: Is anybody trying to talk him out of this, because there are some Democrats that are worried he could make a difference?KERRY: I've had no conversation with him. And I'm not aware of anybody who is. CROWLEY: Are you worried? KERRY: I'm confident the American people are going to look at this race as the most important election of our lifetime. There could be four justices of the Supreme Court at stake in this race. Certainly fairness for middle class Americans who are increasingly squeezed. They've seen their income go down, $1,500. Their jobs going overseas, the jobs that replace them pay $9,000 less. If people want an economy that's fiscally responsible and we want a future where we engage with other nations responsibly as we have in the past, there really is only one vote I think. CROWLEY: You've said repeatedly throughout this campaign that George Bush misled the American people into Iraq. More recently you came closer to the L-word, saying he has lied. Did George Bush deliberately distort intelligence information because he wanted to go to war in Iraq?KERRY: Candy, I can't tell you that. CROWLEY: But you think it's possible?KERRY: I can't get into the intent. What I know is this, that the president made a promise, a series of promises to America. He stood up in Cincinnati and he said to us, before we voted, we will take every precaution. We will plan carefully. War is not inevitable. He said he would go to the U.N. and go through that process respectfully. Now Candy, he didn't. He didn't let the inspectors finish their job. He didn't built a real global coalition. He didn't go to war as a last resort. And all I can do... CROWLEY: But did he lie to get us to go along with it?KERRY: Candy, I'm not -- I think that language is -- I've never used it and I'm not about to tonight. I think that he misled America in the statements he made about what he would do. And, look, how can you call leaving 850,000 tons of ammunition unguarded planning carefully?How do you call not having enough troops and firing your Army chief of staff who tells you you're going to need 200,000 troops or more and you basically retire him early -- how do you call that listening and planning carefully? How do you send troops without the body armor and the Humvees that are armored and without adequate -- without the 4th Infantry Division in the north and all the things we needed to make certain that this was successful/I believe this president rushed to war without a plan to win the peace and America is paying an extraordinary, hundreds of billions -- $200 billion price. And, more importantly, our young are at risk. I want those young properly protected and I'm going to put in place a policy that does it.CROWLEY: Name me one mistake that you've made in the past three- and-a-half years as a public policy-maker. (LAUGHTER)KERRY: Gosh.I think I made a mistake in terms of the breadth of some of the programs that I have talked about in the primaries, because the deficit was larger than we anticipated and we obviously couldn't afford it. So I've scaled them back since then. CROWLEY: You never once said to yourself, I wish I hadn't voted for that war resolution?KERRY: No, it wasn't -- because, you see, what we did, we gave the president the authority to load the gun, to hold the trigger so to speak. We didn't tell him to shoot himself in the foot. We gave him an authority that he had to use properly. I would have wanted that authority if I was president because it was the only way Saddam Hussein ever responded to anything was with that threat of force.But I would have used it very differently and more responsibly. That's the difference. CROWLEY: Last question. Name two mistakes the Red Sox have made?(LAUGHTER)KERRY: Oh, gosh.(LAUGHTER) KERRY: How about Grady Little not pulling Pedro a year ago, and maybe a trade here or there. CROWLEY: Pretty painful.(CROSSTALK) KERRY: But, you know, being a Red Sox is the way to kind of really be in touch with the ups and downs of life.(LAUGHTER)CROWLEY: Thank you, Senator. Appreciate it.KERRY: Thank you.

posted by Joshua P. Angell  @ 22.10.04

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