Better than Monday Night Football: Berkowitz one on one w/Obama Media Team Member Forrest Claypool
Jeff Berkowitz:... Do you see that argument, that [John McCain] is the one Republican who can argue that he is not a third term of George Bush, and he, more than Barack Obama, has demonstrated the ability to walk across the aisle on major matters, and work in a bipartisan way.
Cook County Commissioner and Obama Media Team Member Forrest Claypool (D-Chicago): I would say, as I said before, that if this were 2000, and the John McCain of 2000, you might have a more credible argument.
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The "Public Affairs," show with Obama Media Team Member and Cook County Cmsr. Forrest Claypool airs throughout the City of Chicago tonight , at 8:30 pm on Cable Ch. 21 (CANTV) and also tonight on cable in Aurora and surrounding areas at 7:30 pm on ACTV-10. The Aurora station, Aurora Community Television, Comcast Cable Ch. 10, reaches all of Aurora, Bristol, Big Rock and parts of Oswego, Sandwich, Sugar Grove and Montgomery.
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You can also watch the Claypool show on your computer.
*******************************************
For more about the show, go here.
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Jeff Berkowitz: …I think an argument can be made, and I think you would concede this, that John McCain, more than any other Republican, is the one Republican who was running for President, relative to his competitors who lost, who could stand up and make the argument that he is not a third term of George Bush, because of his differences historically with Bush on taxes, on immigration, on campaign finance, on torture, on judges, and so-on and so-forth, and he’s the one guy that does walk across the aisle. He did that on judges with the Gang of 14. He did that on immigration with Teddy Kennedy. He’s done that with campaign finance with Russ Feingold. So, do you see that argument, that this is the one Republican who can argue that he is not a third term of George Bush, and he, more than Barack Obama, has demonstrated the ability to walk across the aisle on major matters, and work in a bipartisan way.
Cook County Commissioner and Obama Media Team Member Forrest Claypool (D-Chicago): I would say, as I said before, that if this were 2000, and the John McCain of 2000, you might have a more credible argument.
Jeff Berkowitz: Excuse me, but he did those things recently.
Forrest Claypool: He has reversed himself.
Jeff Berkowitz: Immigration was not 2000. It was 2006. It almost cost him the [primary] election.
Forrest Claypool: John McCain has reversed himself on virtually every major issue, and embraced the far right, and embraced George Bush economics. He has said that he supports the President more than other Republicans. He has fully embraced the Bush foreign policy. He has fully embraced the Bush economic policy. He has fully embraced the social conservative religious right agenda of the party, even banning abortion in cases of rape and incest. In order to secure the Republican nomination, he has become a different candidate, and embraced policies that are antithetical to the interests of the country.
Jeff Berkowitz: On foreign policy he stood up to Bush. He said Rumsfeld should be fired as Secretary of Defense.
Forrest Claypool: Five years into the war.
Jeff Berkowitz: No, no. He said early on, too few troops, you were going to mess up your-
Forrest Claypool: That’s not true.
Jeff Berkowitz: He supported going in to Iraq, but he-
Forrest Claypool: He praised Rumsfeld. He praised the administration when they sent troops into battle without body armor, when they sent troops with Humvees that didn’t have proper equipment. It was only after the war had reached a disastrous pinnacle that he finally-
Jeff Berkowitz: When was that? 2003?
Forrest Claypool: Began to criticize Rumsfeld and the administration, but his judgment-
Jeff Berkowitz: When was that?
Forrest Claypool: Do you know what he said at the beginning of the enterprise?
Jeff Berkowitz: Give me a date.
Forrest Claypool: That it would be an easy war.
Forrest Claypool: It was after the debacle was obvious.
Jeff Berkowitz: Give me a date. Just give me a date.
Forrest Claypool: I don’t know. Long after “Mission Accomplished,” when the sectarian violence had reached its peak.
Jeff Berkowitz: That was 2003. That’s relatively early—mission accomplished.
Forrest Claypool: But here’s a guy who said that we’re going to be greeted as liberators, that we’re going to have roses thrown at our troops’ feet. It will be an easy war. He even said Shia and Sunni don’t have a history of conflict with one another, so that will not be a problem.
Jeff Berkowitz: At the end of the day, the American people don’t really give a rat’s ass about what we’re saying here.
Obama Media Team Member Forrest Claypool [D-Chicago]: They may not. But it shows his judgment. It shows the judgment of the Commander of Chief.
Jeff Berkowitz: What they care about ultimately is, was it right to go into Iraq, which is up for debate, was [McCain or Obama] right on the Surge. Barack Obama only recently on Fox admitted that the surge worked militarily. He still claims that it didn’t work politically, and then he said it worked even beyond the expectations of John McCain…and is that a bad thing…this worked better than you thought, Mr. McCain, so it was a bad argument on your part?
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We thank Amy Allen, Public Affairs intern, for preparing a draft of the above partial transcript of tonight's show with Obama Media Team Member Forrest Claypool
***************************************************************
"Public Affairs," is a weekly political interview show airing in Chicago on CANTV, in the Chicago metro area and in Aurora on Comcast and also often on the Illinois Channel. You can watch the shows, including archived shows going back to 2005, here. You can still read Berkowitz's occasional "glance back," reports from the presidential conventions for and at the Chicago Daily Observer [where you can read these reports first here]. *************************************************************
Recently posted shows on the Public Affairs YouTube page now include recent shows featuring clips and interviews from the Democratic and Republican National Party conventions, with Cook County Cmsr. and Obama Media Team Member Forrest Claypool, State Senator Bill Brady (R-Bloomington) and State Rep. Ken Dunkin (D-Chicago), 8th CD Republican Nominee Steve Greenberg, our recent show with Senator Obama (D-IL), Gov. Sebelius (D-KS), DLC Chairman Harold Ford, Cong. Rahm Emanuel (D-Chicago), Attorney General Madigan, WTTW's Carol Marin, Real Clear Politics' Tom Bevan, Sun-Times Abdon Pallasch and much more, recent shows w/ 16th CD Democratic Nominee Robert Abboud, who is taking on 16 year, 16th CD Republican incumbent, Cong. Don Manzullo; Cook County Cmsr. and Republican State's Attorney Nominee Tony Peraica, Real Clear Politics' Tom Bevan , 13th CD Demoratic Nominee Scott Harper,State Rep. Candidate Tim Stratton (R-Glencoe, 58th Dist.), Sen. Kwame Raoul(D-Chicago), Senator John Cullerton (D-Chicago)- ; State Rep. candidate Joan Solms (R-Aurora), Comm. Forrest Claypool (D-Chicago) on the Obama Presidential campaign and shows with many other pols.
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Cook County Commissioner and Obama Media Team Member Forrest Claypool (D-Chicago): I would say, as I said before, that if this were 2000, and the John McCain of 2000, you might have a more credible argument.
********************************************
The "Public Affairs," show with Obama Media Team Member and Cook County Cmsr. Forrest Claypool airs throughout the City of Chicago tonight , at 8:30 pm on Cable Ch. 21 (CANTV) and also tonight on cable in Aurora and surrounding areas at 7:30 pm on ACTV-10. The Aurora station, Aurora Community Television, Comcast Cable Ch. 10, reaches all of Aurora, Bristol, Big Rock and parts of Oswego, Sandwich, Sugar Grove and Montgomery.
*************************************************
You can also watch the Claypool show on your computer.
*******************************************
For more about the show, go here.
*************************************
Jeff Berkowitz: …I think an argument can be made, and I think you would concede this, that John McCain, more than any other Republican, is the one Republican who was running for President, relative to his competitors who lost, who could stand up and make the argument that he is not a third term of George Bush, because of his differences historically with Bush on taxes, on immigration, on campaign finance, on torture, on judges, and so-on and so-forth, and he’s the one guy that does walk across the aisle. He did that on judges with the Gang of 14. He did that on immigration with Teddy Kennedy. He’s done that with campaign finance with Russ Feingold. So, do you see that argument, that this is the one Republican who can argue that he is not a third term of George Bush, and he, more than Barack Obama, has demonstrated the ability to walk across the aisle on major matters, and work in a bipartisan way.
Cook County Commissioner and Obama Media Team Member Forrest Claypool (D-Chicago): I would say, as I said before, that if this were 2000, and the John McCain of 2000, you might have a more credible argument.
Jeff Berkowitz: Excuse me, but he did those things recently.
Forrest Claypool: He has reversed himself.
Jeff Berkowitz: Immigration was not 2000. It was 2006. It almost cost him the [primary] election.
Forrest Claypool: John McCain has reversed himself on virtually every major issue, and embraced the far right, and embraced George Bush economics. He has said that he supports the President more than other Republicans. He has fully embraced the Bush foreign policy. He has fully embraced the Bush economic policy. He has fully embraced the social conservative religious right agenda of the party, even banning abortion in cases of rape and incest. In order to secure the Republican nomination, he has become a different candidate, and embraced policies that are antithetical to the interests of the country.
Jeff Berkowitz: On foreign policy he stood up to Bush. He said Rumsfeld should be fired as Secretary of Defense.
Forrest Claypool: Five years into the war.
Jeff Berkowitz: No, no. He said early on, too few troops, you were going to mess up your-
Forrest Claypool: That’s not true.
Jeff Berkowitz: He supported going in to Iraq, but he-
Forrest Claypool: He praised Rumsfeld. He praised the administration when they sent troops into battle without body armor, when they sent troops with Humvees that didn’t have proper equipment. It was only after the war had reached a disastrous pinnacle that he finally-
Jeff Berkowitz: When was that? 2003?
Forrest Claypool: Began to criticize Rumsfeld and the administration, but his judgment-
Jeff Berkowitz: When was that?
Forrest Claypool: Do you know what he said at the beginning of the enterprise?
Jeff Berkowitz: Give me a date.
Forrest Claypool: That it would be an easy war.
Forrest Claypool: It was after the debacle was obvious.
Jeff Berkowitz: Give me a date. Just give me a date.
Forrest Claypool: I don’t know. Long after “Mission Accomplished,” when the sectarian violence had reached its peak.
Jeff Berkowitz: That was 2003. That’s relatively early—mission accomplished.
Forrest Claypool: But here’s a guy who said that we’re going to be greeted as liberators, that we’re going to have roses thrown at our troops’ feet. It will be an easy war. He even said Shia and Sunni don’t have a history of conflict with one another, so that will not be a problem.
Jeff Berkowitz: At the end of the day, the American people don’t really give a rat’s ass about what we’re saying here.
Obama Media Team Member Forrest Claypool [D-Chicago]: They may not. But it shows his judgment. It shows the judgment of the Commander of Chief.
Jeff Berkowitz: What they care about ultimately is, was it right to go into Iraq, which is up for debate, was [McCain or Obama] right on the Surge. Barack Obama only recently on Fox admitted that the surge worked militarily. He still claims that it didn’t work politically, and then he said it worked even beyond the expectations of John McCain…and is that a bad thing…this worked better than you thought, Mr. McCain, so it was a bad argument on your part?
*******************************************
We thank Amy Allen, Public Affairs intern, for preparing a draft of the above partial transcript of tonight's show with Obama Media Team Member Forrest Claypool
***************************************************************
"Public Affairs," is a weekly political interview show airing in Chicago on CANTV, in the Chicago metro area and in Aurora on Comcast and also often on the Illinois Channel. You can watch the shows, including archived shows going back to 2005, here. You can still read Berkowitz's occasional "glance back," reports from the presidential conventions for and at the Chicago Daily Observer [where you can read these reports first here]. *************************************************************
Recently posted shows on the Public Affairs YouTube page now include recent shows featuring clips and interviews from the Democratic and Republican National Party conventions, with Cook County Cmsr. and Obama Media Team Member Forrest Claypool, State Senator Bill Brady (R-Bloomington) and State Rep. Ken Dunkin (D-Chicago), 8th CD Republican Nominee Steve Greenberg, our recent show with Senator Obama (D-IL), Gov. Sebelius (D-KS), DLC Chairman Harold Ford, Cong. Rahm Emanuel (D-Chicago), Attorney General Madigan, WTTW's Carol Marin, Real Clear Politics' Tom Bevan, Sun-Times Abdon Pallasch and much more, recent shows w/ 16th CD Democratic Nominee Robert Abboud, who is taking on 16 year, 16th CD Republican incumbent, Cong. Don Manzullo; Cook County Cmsr. and Republican State's Attorney Nominee Tony Peraica, Real Clear Politics' Tom Bevan , 13th CD Demoratic Nominee Scott Harper,State Rep. Candidate Tim Stratton (R-Glencoe, 58th Dist.), Sen. Kwame Raoul(D-Chicago), Senator John Cullerton (D-Chicago)- ; State Rep. candidate Joan Solms (R-Aurora), Comm. Forrest Claypool (D-Chicago) on the Obama Presidential campaign and shows with many other pols.
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