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'Meet the Press' transcript for July 13, 2008
Broadcast videos, highlights |
 Netcast July 13: An exclusive debate: RNC Victory Chair & former CEO of Hewlett-Packard Carly Fiorina for the McCain campaign and Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., national co-chair of the Obama campaign. Plus, a roundtable with former Rep. Harold Ford, Jr., Mike Murphy & Andrea Mitchell. |
SEN. McCASKILL: Ironically...
MR. BROKAW: Senator McCaskill.
SEN. McCASKILL: Ironically, if you, if you look at the tax plans by these two candidates, you can, in fact, bring down the deficit by giving tax cuts to most of America, as long as you make...
MS. FIORINA: I certainly agree with that.
SEN. McCASKILL: ...as long as you make a very thin sliver pay more. We have done a lot for the hedge fund managers, we've done a lot for corporate CEOs in the last eight years. And you know what, it hasn't turned out so well. We've lost almost a half a billion, half a, half a billion--half a million jobs since January; 428,000 jobs since January. And it, it--and in January, John McCain was saying nice things about the economy, so...
MS. FIORINA: That is not true.
SEN. McCASKILL: It is, it, it is true.
MS. FIORINA: By the way...
SEN. McCASKILL: He did say--he said, "This economy's in pretty good shape."
MR. BROKAW: He said, he said, he said it would take care of itself, Ms. Fiorina. We just, we just showed that. He said, the--"We'll work our way through the economy at this time."
MS. FIORINA: Oh, Tom. Look.
MR. BROKAW: Let me, let me just prove...
MS. FIORINA: I've been around long enough to know that you can make a sound bite say anything you want. The reality is that John McCain has been saying for months and months and months...
MR. BROKAW: Well, we didn't make that up.
MS. FIORINA: ...that Americans are hurting. And by the way, he has also said that every American that loses his or her job is a problem. But interestingly, at the same time that the American economy has shed 428,000 jobs, Senator is absolutely right, the one place in the economy that's working is small business; 233,000 jobs were produced by small businesses. And that's why it's critically important that we not raise taxes on small businesses, that we not raise taxes on the American people. If you look at John McCain's record vs. Barack Obama's record, John McCain will cut taxes on the American people in business, and Senator Barack Obama will raise them.
MR. BROKAW: Let me quickly move to a couple of other issues that are of great importance to the American people in the closing moments that we have.
Today, your senator is speaking by satellite to the American Federation of Teachers. The No Child Left Behind Act, which has been controversial for a variety of reasons, now there's a bipartisan effort within the House to remove the accountability section in which you have a national standard by which all schools can be measured. Just yesterday I heard Bill Gates, who's deeply involved in education reform in this country, say, "No Child Left Behind has not been perfect, but it has been phenomenal for two reasons. It's pointed out that education in America desperately needs reform, and that accountability is an important part of that." Does Senator Obama support the idea of keeping accountability as part of No Child Left Behind?
SEN. McCASKILL: Absolutely, but we can do accountability in different ways. What we have done with No Child Left Behind is squeeze the creativity out of the classroom because teachers have begun to just teaching to the test. We need to measure progress and reward progress, not hit some one number that one size fits all, but as long as we keep accountability in there, by forcing people to measure progress and judging them, and saying, "If you do better, good for you. If you do worse, you've got a problem." But that's not what we're doing with No Child Left Behind. What we have done is we have said one size fits all, so we need to reauthorize No Child Left Behind, but we need to change it so that we get accountability through progress rather than one standard number for everybody.
MR. BROKAW: Senator McCaskill, I've talked to a number of educational reformers across the country, some of them card-carrying Democrats, self-described. They all say, quietly because they're afraid to do it publicly, the Democratic Party has to break its bonds with the teachers' union in this country. It can't move forward as long as the teachers continue to have, effectively, veto power over educational policy.
SEN. McCASKILL: Well, I don't think that the teachers do have veto power. I would...
MR. BROKAW: Do you think they have too much power?
SEN. McCASKILL: I don't. I think what Barack Obama is about--I've watched him do it on ethics reform. I've watched him, watched him do it a number of times in the Senate. What Barack Obama will do is, obviously, he's going to listen to the teachers in the classroom, but he also understands that we have an obligation, a moral obligation, to be able to teach our kids. It is very important in terms of all the globalization talk. Really, we're going to be left behind, and that's why his, his help for college kids, saying to college kids, "We're going to help you with your college education, but you've got to give back. You've got to take responsibility for your country, and you've got to work for your community as a result of getting help with your college education." That's the kind of policies that he's going to be about, and about a cooperative venture with the teachers and with parents and with educational systems, and local control across this country.
MR. BROKAW: Ms. Fiorina, you have been openly supportive of Senator Hillary Clinton and the kind of campaign that she ran. You understood, as a woman, the kinds of challenges that you--you said that you admired her, the way that she ran the campaign.
MS. FIORINA: I did.
MR. BROKAW: If Senator McCain gets elected, will there be a place in his government for Senator Hillary Clinton?
MS. FIORINA: I, I certainly don't know. That's up to John McCain...
MR. BROKAW: Would you recommend it?
MS. FIORINA: ...I know that he admires and respects her. It's not my business to recommend people for John McCain's Cabinet. But let me just say, if I may. I do have admiration and respect for Hillary Clinton. I know that John McCain does as well. I have empathy for what she went through. But let me just end on a note of bipartisan agreement, if I may. I absolutely agree that one size does not fit all in the subject of education, and that is why John McCain supports choice and competition, giving parents the choice as to how to best educate their children. He believes that No Child Left Behind was an imperfect piece of legislation. Nevertheless, there are things about it that have worked. We need to learn the lessons, fix the problems, fully fund it, and continue to focus on the education of our children as well as the education and training of our displaced workers. But he absolutely believes that we must give parents a choice as to how they best educate their children as opposed to a government mandate that says one size will fit all, which is what, from what I can tell, Barack Obama's education plan is.
SEN. McCASKILL: It's not one size fits all. It's, it's about making sure we don't undermine public education. We are who we are as a nation because we figured out how to educate our kids with public money, public education. The rest of the world has admired us from the days that we became a country, and we cannot turn our back on public education. And sometimes the word choice is code for making sure that we can skim the cream off the top into private schools and leave public schools flailing and, and in desperate need of help. And so we've got to make sure that our commitment is to our public education system.
MR. BROKAW: Will...
MS. FIORINA: There is no question the public education system has to continue to be funded and fixed.
MR. BROKAW: Will we see either one of you on the ticket as a vice presidential candidate?
MS. FIORINA: Well, that's up to John McCain and Barack Obama.
MR. BROKAW: Sounds like you'd like to accept it if it were offered.
MS. FIORINA: You know, I am doing this because I think this is a very important election. I think the two candidates...
MR. BROKAW: That's not the question is. The question is would you accept it if you were offered?
MS. FIORINA: I don't deal in hypotheticals. I think there are many, many people who would be honored to serve the country and John McCain. I am certainly among them. But he will have a long list of qualified people that he can call upon. I'm doing this because I think this election matters. I'm doing this because I think the choices are stark and clear between these two candidates. I'm doing this because I think John McCain will make a wonderful president of the United States.
MR. BROKAW: Senator McCaskill, you come from the battleground state of Missouri. You're a popular first-term senator. And Senator Obama does need help with women of a certain age. After the campaign...
SEN. McCASKILL: I think you just said I was old.
MR. BROKAW: Would you like to be his vice presidential candidate?
SEN. McCASKILL: You know, I'm, I'm going to be very honest. I am extremely honored to even be mentioned.
MR. BROKAW: Are you being vetted?
SEN. McCASKILL: You know, I have no idea as to what Barack Obama's doing in regards to vice president. But I'll tell you what, this is a popular parlor game, especially around these parts. If I were a betting person, I wouldn't bet on me.
MR. BROKAW: But have you been asked to give up certain documents? Have you been interviewed...
SEN. McCASKILL: I'm not going to discuss about the process, because the campaign, frankly, has asked us not to. I think that Barack Obama is going to--I trust his judgment. He's got--he's a very wise man and he has great judgment. He will find the right partner to change America, and that's what he's got to focus on.
MR. BROKAW: Thank you both for being here.
MS. FIORINA: Thank you.
MR. BROKAW: We think that this is a historic MEET THE PRESS moment, the first time that we've had two women who are acting as surrogates for the two national campaigns. And...
SEN. McCASKILL: Well, it's been great.
MS. FIORINA: It's been great.
SEN. McCASKILL: Yeah.
MR. BROKAW: And, and we hope to see you again along the way.
SEN. McCASKILL: Thank you.
MS. FIORINA: Thanks, Tom.
MR. BROKAW: Thank you very much Senator McCaskill, Carly Fiorina.
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Coming up next, our political roundtable puts a busy week into perspective, Harold Ford, Mike Murphy and Andrea Mitchell. And our "Meet the Press Minute," remembering former White House Press Secretary, the elegant, Tony Snow.
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MR. BROKAW: Our political roundtable after this brief station break.
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