Updated on September 20, 2004 at 12:45 am
A two minute end of show drill with Cong. Henry Hyde [6th Cong. Dist., R- Addison] on Gays, Guns, Abortion, Term Limits, Cong. Hyde's health and President Bush. “Surely all good things come to an end,” Cong. Hyde [challenged by Democrat Christine Cegelis] tells us.
Coincidentally, the City of Chicago edition of Public Affairs, airing tonight [Monday, Sep. 20], at 8:30 pm throughout the City of Chicago, features Cong. Hyde’s opponent-- Candidate Cegelis, See blog entry, immediately following the partial transcript, below, of the show with Cong. Hyde.
***********************************************
Jeff Berkowitz: Your views on abortion—would you say you are 1000 % pro-Life?
Cong. Henry Hyde: Yes, I would. I would. I think abortion is wrong.
Berkowitz: Is it ever appropriate?
Hyde: Only to save the life of the mother.
Berkowitz: What about the health of the mother?
Hyde: I think the trade-off is unequal. A life for a life is one thing. A life for health is another.
Berkowitz: So, no matter how difficult it might be or how risky it might be in terms of the health of the mother, you would say unless it is the life of the mother that’s at stake that abortion, if it is a function of the health of the mother, shouldn’t be allowed.
Hyde: Well, it’s a fine line. Some doctor has to decide whether the condition of health, ill health, is life threatening. If it is life threatening,
Berkowitz: then it is Okay?
Hyde: then the claim is equal.
Berkowitz: What about rape and incest? Should there be an exception for rape or incest?
Hyde: I have supported rape and incest as exceptions because frankly it is the only way that legislation will pass. But, I do not agree that a child which is created as a result of a rape should be exterminated or killed.
Berkowitz: Because that child is innocent?
Hyde: Because of—
Berkowitz: So, you are doing it simply as a matter of, somewhat, political expediency?
Hyde: Pragmatism. Because otherwise, the votes aren’t there.
Berkowitz: Same sex marriage. You would be opposed to that?
Hyde: Yes, I don’t quite understand why two people of the same sex can’t sign contracts and leave their insurance to each other and make any arrangements they want.
Berkowitz: So, in a sense, would you favor civil unions between individuals of the same sex?
Hyde: I wouldn’t support them but I wouldn’t oppose them. I think people ought to be free to contract with each other.
Berkowitz: But, you are opposed to the states—you would discourage the state of Illinois, for instance, from allowing individuals of the same sex to marry, right?
Hyde: Yes, I think marriage should remain a —
Berkowitz: You support a constitutional ban on same sex marriage, right?
Hyde: Yes, if necessary.
*************************************
Berkowitz: …You oppose term limits, I take it?
Hyde: Yes, I am adamantly against them.
Berkowitz: …critics would say this, [you may] not have been as entrenched-- you may have used that power wisely, but some people will not if they are there in Congress for thirty years, are you concerned about that?
Hyde: No, if you believe in democracy, let the people decide. But, to foreclose the utility of the experience and wisdom. There are some people I wish never left congress. Boy, could we use them today.
Berkowitz: Your health is good right now?
Hyde: Yeah, I am not getting any younger. But, I am still alert and anxious to proceed.
Berkowitz: You are guaranteeing your voters that you are there and good for another two years?
Hyde: Oh, very, very good.
Berkowitz: How long do you think you will stay [in Congress]?
Hyde: Oh, I don’t want to answer that question now but surely all good things come to an end.
Berkowitz: Getting back to another social issue, guns. You supported the ban on assault weapons?
Hyde: Right.
Berkowitz: You would support it again?
Hyde: Yup.
Berkowitz: Should the President have pushed harder to have a ban on assault weapons? To have it come up for a vote?
Hyde: I don’t know that I can blame the President but I do think our leadership should have permitted a vote [show concludes].
*************************************************
Cong. Henry Hyde [6th Cong. Dist.; R- Addison], recorded on September 19, 2004 and as will be cablecast on “Public Affairs,” in the suburbs during the week of September 27, 2004 and throughout the City of Chicago on Monday, October 4, 2004 at 8:30 pm on Cable Ch. 21 [CANTV].
**********************************************
Updated September 20, 2004 at 12: 30 am
Christine Cegelis, 6th Cong. District Democratic Candidate, is featured on the City of Chicago edition of "Public Affairs" tonight, Monday night at 8:30 pm on Cable Ch. 21. The show airs throughout the City of Chicago. Cegelis [D-Rolling Meadows] is running against 30-year incumbent Cong. Henry Hyde [R-Addison]
A portion of the transcript of the show, not previously published on this blog, is included, below.
******************************************************************
Jeff Berkowitz: …Abortion, I would imagine you and Cong. Henry Hyde differ significantly on that issue, right?
Christine Cegelis: Yes.
Berkowitz: He has been described and he probably would say he is Pro-Life, right?
Cegelis: Yes. That is one way to describe him, yes.
Berkowitz: Probably 1000 % Pro-Life, right?
Cegelis: Yes.
Berkowitz: That would be fair?
Cegelis: That would be fair.
Berkowitz: Would it fair to say you are 1000% Pro-Choice, with respect to reproductive rights for women?
Cegelis: Yes.
Berkowitz: Are there any restraints, at all, that you would support on a woman’s right to have an abortion at any time in any place?
Cegelis: No, I don’t think so.
Berkowitz: Okay
Cegelis: I think that is just between-
*********************************************************
Jeff Berkowitz: So, a government run health care system would be preferred to you to a privately run health care system?
Christine Cegelis: I think something based along the lines of Medicare would definitely be more—
Berkowitz: So, you would like to expand Medicare to everybody?
Cegelis: I think so, yes. I think that makes much more sense. We can’t do it immediately and we can’t get there right away, but yes, I think looking in the long term, that makes sense.
*************************************************************
Berkowitz: …would you encourage the state legislature in Illinois to pass laws to make sure individuals of the same sex could marry?
Cegelis: I think that it is something that I wouldn’t be opposed to. Let’s put it that way.
Berkowitz: God. Should God be in the Pledge of Allegiance?
Cegelis: The Supreme Court seemed to feel that it should be and so—
Berkowitz: You are Okay with it?
Cegelis: I am Okay with that.
Berkowitz: … O’Hare expansion. You favor O’Hare expansion.
Cegelis: I do.
Berkowitz: You favor Peotone- an airport on the south side?
Cegelis: I favor [show concludes]
******************************************************
A portion of the transcript of the show previously published on this blog is included, below.
**************************************************************
Jeff Berkowitz: ...Hypothetically, if you were there...the legislation as it came before you, if you were the …congresswoman...would you have supported No Child Left Behind, at that time?
Christine Cegelis: I’d say I would not have because even at the time [the legislation passed] as I was reading about the legislation, I understood how the use of standardized testing could cause schools to be marked as failing-- especially the 95% rule where they have to be, 95 % of the students have to be there the day of standardized testing, that in and of itself causes a problem—
Berkowitz: So, you are not a fan of No Child Left Behind?
Cegelis: I am not a fan, no.
Berkowitz: Not just the implementation, but actually the theoretical construct?
Cegelis: Right.
Berkowitz: You know, it does bring an annual testing that is required by the federal government. Are you opposed to that concept?
Cegelis: I am not opposed to annual testing. It is just that it has to be specific testing and there has to be some guidance on it because standardized tests don’t necessarily give us a true picture so there has to be other types of testing as well.
*******************************************************
Berkowitz: If you had been in Congress in the fall of 2002, if you had been a congresswoman, would you have voted against the authorization of the President to take military action in Iraq?
Cegelis: I absolutely would have.
Berkowitz: And so you differ with Cong. Henry Hyde on that?
Cegelis: Absolutely.
**************************************************
Berkowitz: Is Iraq a better country now without Saddam Hussein?
Cegelis: I don’t think it is a safer country now.
Berkowitz: You don’t? So, you think—If you had to choose, let me give you a stark choice: If you could have Iraq as it was before a few years ago, with Saddam Hussein or the Iraq that exists now, without Saddam Hussein, on its way perhaps to a democratic government, which would you choose?
Cegelis: That’s where I don’t agree. I don’t think they are on their way to a democratic government.
Berkowitz: Okay, strike that clause. You have to choose between having two years ago Saddam Hussein there or whatever we have in Iraq [now] however you want to describe it, whatever we have. Which would you choose, the current situation or back two years ago with Saddam Hussein?
Cegelis: I will tell you for the safety of the United States, I would pick the two years back. Now what for the people of the Iraq, I don’t know.
Berkowitz: Do you think the people of the 6th Cong. Dist. agree with you on that?
Cegelis: I think they do.
Berkowitz: You are hearing from them.
Cegelis: Oh, definitely.
Berkowitz: They want to go back to Saddam Hussein of two years ago?
Cegelis: Nobody wants Saddam Hussein back. That’s a very bad way to put it. What we want is a more stable government where there are not threats of terrorist growth-- that is happening in Iraq now, that were not happening two years ago.
*********************************************
Christine Cegelis, 6th Cong. Dist. Democratic Candidate, recorded on September 4, 2004, and as is being cablecast on “Public Affairs throughout the City of Chicago on “Public Affairs,” tonight, Monday night, September 20, at 8:30 pm on Ch. 21
*************************************************
A two minute end of show drill with Cong. Henry Hyde [6th Cong. Dist., R- Addison] on Gays, Guns, Abortion, Term Limits, Cong. Hyde's health and President Bush. “Surely all good things come to an end,” Cong. Hyde [challenged by Democrat Christine Cegelis] tells us.
Coincidentally, the City of Chicago edition of Public Affairs, airing tonight [Monday, Sep. 20], at 8:30 pm throughout the City of Chicago, features Cong. Hyde’s opponent-- Candidate Cegelis, See blog entry, immediately following the partial transcript, below, of the show with Cong. Hyde.
***********************************************
Jeff Berkowitz: Your views on abortion—would you say you are 1000 % pro-Life?
Cong. Henry Hyde: Yes, I would. I would. I think abortion is wrong.
Berkowitz: Is it ever appropriate?
Hyde: Only to save the life of the mother.
Berkowitz: What about the health of the mother?
Hyde: I think the trade-off is unequal. A life for a life is one thing. A life for health is another.
Berkowitz: So, no matter how difficult it might be or how risky it might be in terms of the health of the mother, you would say unless it is the life of the mother that’s at stake that abortion, if it is a function of the health of the mother, shouldn’t be allowed.
Hyde: Well, it’s a fine line. Some doctor has to decide whether the condition of health, ill health, is life threatening. If it is life threatening,
Berkowitz: then it is Okay?
Hyde: then the claim is equal.
Berkowitz: What about rape and incest? Should there be an exception for rape or incest?
Hyde: I have supported rape and incest as exceptions because frankly it is the only way that legislation will pass. But, I do not agree that a child which is created as a result of a rape should be exterminated or killed.
Berkowitz: Because that child is innocent?
Hyde: Because of—
Berkowitz: So, you are doing it simply as a matter of, somewhat, political expediency?
Hyde: Pragmatism. Because otherwise, the votes aren’t there.
Berkowitz: Same sex marriage. You would be opposed to that?
Hyde: Yes, I don’t quite understand why two people of the same sex can’t sign contracts and leave their insurance to each other and make any arrangements they want.
Berkowitz: So, in a sense, would you favor civil unions between individuals of the same sex?
Hyde: I wouldn’t support them but I wouldn’t oppose them. I think people ought to be free to contract with each other.
Berkowitz: But, you are opposed to the states—you would discourage the state of Illinois, for instance, from allowing individuals of the same sex to marry, right?
Hyde: Yes, I think marriage should remain a —
Berkowitz: You support a constitutional ban on same sex marriage, right?
Hyde: Yes, if necessary.
*************************************
Berkowitz: …You oppose term limits, I take it?
Hyde: Yes, I am adamantly against them.
Berkowitz: …critics would say this, [you may] not have been as entrenched-- you may have used that power wisely, but some people will not if they are there in Congress for thirty years, are you concerned about that?
Hyde: No, if you believe in democracy, let the people decide. But, to foreclose the utility of the experience and wisdom. There are some people I wish never left congress. Boy, could we use them today.
Berkowitz: Your health is good right now?
Hyde: Yeah, I am not getting any younger. But, I am still alert and anxious to proceed.
Berkowitz: You are guaranteeing your voters that you are there and good for another two years?
Hyde: Oh, very, very good.
Berkowitz: How long do you think you will stay [in Congress]?
Hyde: Oh, I don’t want to answer that question now but surely all good things come to an end.
Berkowitz: Getting back to another social issue, guns. You supported the ban on assault weapons?
Hyde: Right.
Berkowitz: You would support it again?
Hyde: Yup.
Berkowitz: Should the President have pushed harder to have a ban on assault weapons? To have it come up for a vote?
Hyde: I don’t know that I can blame the President but I do think our leadership should have permitted a vote [show concludes].
*************************************************
Cong. Henry Hyde [6th Cong. Dist.; R- Addison], recorded on September 19, 2004 and as will be cablecast on “Public Affairs,” in the suburbs during the week of September 27, 2004 and throughout the City of Chicago on Monday, October 4, 2004 at 8:30 pm on Cable Ch. 21 [CANTV].
**********************************************
Updated September 20, 2004 at 12: 30 am
Christine Cegelis, 6th Cong. District Democratic Candidate, is featured on the City of Chicago edition of "Public Affairs" tonight, Monday night at 8:30 pm on Cable Ch. 21. The show airs throughout the City of Chicago. Cegelis [D-Rolling Meadows] is running against 30-year incumbent Cong. Henry Hyde [R-Addison]
A portion of the transcript of the show, not previously published on this blog, is included, below.
******************************************************************
Jeff Berkowitz: …Abortion, I would imagine you and Cong. Henry Hyde differ significantly on that issue, right?
Christine Cegelis: Yes.
Berkowitz: He has been described and he probably would say he is Pro-Life, right?
Cegelis: Yes. That is one way to describe him, yes.
Berkowitz: Probably 1000 % Pro-Life, right?
Cegelis: Yes.
Berkowitz: That would be fair?
Cegelis: That would be fair.
Berkowitz: Would it fair to say you are 1000% Pro-Choice, with respect to reproductive rights for women?
Cegelis: Yes.
Berkowitz: Are there any restraints, at all, that you would support on a woman’s right to have an abortion at any time in any place?
Cegelis: No, I don’t think so.
Berkowitz: Okay
Cegelis: I think that is just between-
*********************************************************
Jeff Berkowitz: So, a government run health care system would be preferred to you to a privately run health care system?
Christine Cegelis: I think something based along the lines of Medicare would definitely be more—
Berkowitz: So, you would like to expand Medicare to everybody?
Cegelis: I think so, yes. I think that makes much more sense. We can’t do it immediately and we can’t get there right away, but yes, I think looking in the long term, that makes sense.
*************************************************************
Berkowitz: …would you encourage the state legislature in Illinois to pass laws to make sure individuals of the same sex could marry?
Cegelis: I think that it is something that I wouldn’t be opposed to. Let’s put it that way.
Berkowitz: God. Should God be in the Pledge of Allegiance?
Cegelis: The Supreme Court seemed to feel that it should be and so—
Berkowitz: You are Okay with it?
Cegelis: I am Okay with that.
Berkowitz: … O’Hare expansion. You favor O’Hare expansion.
Cegelis: I do.
Berkowitz: You favor Peotone- an airport on the south side?
Cegelis: I favor [show concludes]
******************************************************
A portion of the transcript of the show previously published on this blog is included, below.
**************************************************************
Jeff Berkowitz: ...Hypothetically, if you were there...the legislation as it came before you, if you were the …congresswoman...would you have supported No Child Left Behind, at that time?
Christine Cegelis: I’d say I would not have because even at the time [the legislation passed] as I was reading about the legislation, I understood how the use of standardized testing could cause schools to be marked as failing-- especially the 95% rule where they have to be, 95 % of the students have to be there the day of standardized testing, that in and of itself causes a problem—
Berkowitz: So, you are not a fan of No Child Left Behind?
Cegelis: I am not a fan, no.
Berkowitz: Not just the implementation, but actually the theoretical construct?
Cegelis: Right.
Berkowitz: You know, it does bring an annual testing that is required by the federal government. Are you opposed to that concept?
Cegelis: I am not opposed to annual testing. It is just that it has to be specific testing and there has to be some guidance on it because standardized tests don’t necessarily give us a true picture so there has to be other types of testing as well.
*******************************************************
Berkowitz: If you had been in Congress in the fall of 2002, if you had been a congresswoman, would you have voted against the authorization of the President to take military action in Iraq?
Cegelis: I absolutely would have.
Berkowitz: And so you differ with Cong. Henry Hyde on that?
Cegelis: Absolutely.
**************************************************
Berkowitz: Is Iraq a better country now without Saddam Hussein?
Cegelis: I don’t think it is a safer country now.
Berkowitz: You don’t? So, you think—If you had to choose, let me give you a stark choice: If you could have Iraq as it was before a few years ago, with Saddam Hussein or the Iraq that exists now, without Saddam Hussein, on its way perhaps to a democratic government, which would you choose?
Cegelis: That’s where I don’t agree. I don’t think they are on their way to a democratic government.
Berkowitz: Okay, strike that clause. You have to choose between having two years ago Saddam Hussein there or whatever we have in Iraq [now] however you want to describe it, whatever we have. Which would you choose, the current situation or back two years ago with Saddam Hussein?
Cegelis: I will tell you for the safety of the United States, I would pick the two years back. Now what for the people of the Iraq, I don’t know.
Berkowitz: Do you think the people of the 6th Cong. Dist. agree with you on that?
Cegelis: I think they do.
Berkowitz: You are hearing from them.
Cegelis: Oh, definitely.
Berkowitz: They want to go back to Saddam Hussein of two years ago?
Cegelis: Nobody wants Saddam Hussein back. That’s a very bad way to put it. What we want is a more stable government where there are not threats of terrorist growth-- that is happening in Iraq now, that were not happening two years ago.
*********************************************
Christine Cegelis, 6th Cong. Dist. Democratic Candidate, recorded on September 4, 2004, and as is being cablecast on “Public Affairs throughout the City of Chicago on “Public Affairs,” tonight, Monday night, September 20, at 8:30 pm on Ch. 21
*************************************************
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