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COPYRIGHT 2005 Voxant Inc.
Original Source: THE CHARLIE ROSE SHOW
CHARLIE ROSE, HOST: Welcome to the broadcast. Tonight, we talk with ABC chief White House correspondent Terry Moran about today`s indictment of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TERRY MORAN, CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, ABC NEWS: It`s got to be worrisome to Tom DeLay that some very staunch conservative set of politicians and - and opinion leaders, including "The Wall Street Journal`s" editorial page, essentially the daily digest for conservative America, have said that Tom DeLay`s ethical problems show that while he came to reform big government, he`s become an example in their - in their judgment, the conservatives` judgments, these conservatives, of its worst abuses. And when you start hemorrhaging support like that, you have to be worried.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHARLIE ROSE: And we conclude with a look at the political landscape today with editor of "The Weekly Standard," Bill Kristol.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL KRISTOL, EDITOR, WEEKLY STANDARD: The one thing I`ve been struck by in the last week is in both parties in 2008, I think given the way things are in Washington, I wonder whether a governor who won`t be - governors won`t be stronger candidates or out-of-Washington candidates. Giuliani would count in this respect, too .
CHARLIE ROSE: Yes, right, right.
BILL KRISTOL: . but governors, mayors, non-Washington types, non- senators I think will be stronger than we now expect. Because I`ve got to think if you`re a Republican, you like Bush. You`re conservative, you like his Supreme Court appointments, you might still think - you know what -- I`m not sure one of these senators, who has been involved in all this mess there, is the best nominee.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHARLIE ROSE: Terry Moran and Bill Kristol, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHARLIE ROSE: We begin this evening with an update on House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. Earlier today, Representative DeLay, the second ranking Republican of the House, was indicted by a Texas grand jury. He was charged with criminal conspiracy in connection with illegal corporate donations that helped Republicans take over the state legislature. Representative DeLay faces up to two years in prison. He was forced to temporarily step down as House majority leader, and was replaced by Representative Roy Blunt of Missouri.
Congressman DeLay denies any wrongdoing and says he will be cleared. Here is a part of what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. TOM DELAY (R), TEXAS: This morning, in an act of blatant political partisanship, a rogue district attorney in Travis County, Texas named Ronnie Earle, charged me with one count of criminal conspiracy, a reckless charge wholly unsupported by the facts. This is one of the weakest, most baseless indictments in American history.
Let me be very, very clear: I have done nothing wrong. I have violated no law. I have violated no law, no regulation, no rule of the House. I have done nothing unlawful, unethical or, I might add, unprecedented, even in the political campaigns of Mr. Earle himself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHARLIE ROSE: And here is a White House reaction from spokesman Scott McClellan, also earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Congressman DeLay is a good ally, a leader who we have worked closely with to get things done for the American people. The president`s view is that we need to let the legal process work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHARLIE ROSE: Joining me now from Washington, Terry Moran, chief White House correspondent for ABC News. I am pleased to have him on this broadcast. Terry, tell me how the White House is reacting to this. Do they think that if DeLay is not there as their point person in the House, it could damage their own legislative agenda?
TERRY MORAN: Well, their legislative, agenda, Charlie right now is in big trouble for a lot of reasons. The hurricanes have just literally blown away so much of the political energy out of the administration. The president`s poll ratings are - are really, really down. They`re at the lowest point in his - in his five-year presidency so far. Iraq is nagging away at the conscience of the country. Gas prices remain high. Home heating oil prices are going to go up in the winter.
So he`s behind the eight ball to begin with on that agenda.
Tom DeLay is the hammer, they call him in the Congress. He`s the guy who gets things done by hook, by crook, by arm-twisting, by whatever he has to do. And his absence will be felt.
However, while out front, as you heard Scott Mclellan there say, very forcefully that the president is standing four-square behind Tom DeLay, there is a sense in the White House and a sense around official Washington that this thing will have to play out, and that we may -- may-- be entering a post-DeLay era in Washington.
CHARLIE ROSE: Was there some concern that the president or his spokesman might be getting out too far than they wanted to be, not knowing what else might come out?
TERRY MORAN: Not really, for a couple of reasons. This is kind of a Texas family dispute. Ronnie Earle is right now the most powerful Democrat in Texas. He`s the prosecutor who is bringing this case. Tom DeLay one of the most powerful Texans, obviously as is George W. Bush. So the White House knows Ronnie Earle. They - they believe that he is a partisan. They think that this is an indictment fueled by Ronnie Earle`s Democratic fury over what Tom DeLay did in Texas, which is for the first time in a century engineer a Republican majority in the Texas State House of Representatives.
So they think this is all kind of part of a Texas family dispute. And they also say that in the long run, really, Americans have grown used to hearing about political scandals, back and forth, ethics charges in Washington, and that right now in this day and age, most Americans are focused on things they want Washington to do. The White House is confident if the president can get out in front on some of those issues, whatever happens with Tom DeLay won`t drag them down.
CHARLIE ROSE: But Republican political operatives clearly have to be worried about the congressional elections coming up in 2006.
TERRY MORAN: For a lot of reasons, no question about it. For all the reasons that are hurting the president; the Republicans are in trouble as well. And there`s also the fact that the Democrats have made clear they`re going to make what they call a culture of corruption around leading Republicans. Senator Frist, it now turns out, the Republican leader in the Senate, is under SEC investigation for activities in his blind trust. Karl Rove, of course, the president`s most trusted political adviser, has been under some investigation over the past year or more in the leak of the name of a CIA agent.
So the Democrats are trying to capitalize on all this, and also trying to capitalize on that cyclical thing that happens in American politics. American voters have shown before that long enough in power is long enough. In other words, they don`t like to see parties entrenched in power. And when they start hearing things about allegations of corruption, they may, the Democrats hope, feel that perhaps it`s time to change who is in power in Washington.
So the Republicans know this is coming at them. The Democrats are going to make it part of their campaign against them. And because of all the other real-world things that are happening that weaken the president`s standing and seem to be weakening Republicans` standing, they are very worried.
CHARLIE ROSE: What do Democrats say about Ronnie Earle?
TERRY MORAN: Well, they point out that Ronnie Earle has been, for many years, a crusading, populist district attorney, who has indicted more Democrats than Republicans. He`s gone after the former state attorney general. He went after the former speaker of the House in Texas, Mr. Bullock, who was one of George W. Bush`s close friends, actually, when he was governor.
What Republicans answer is that those were the days when Texas was essentially a one-party state. There were only Democrats to indict, essentially. And that they say if you take a close look at it, Ronnie Earle was indicting his political enemies then.
It is hard to say, however, whether or not Mr. Earle has a case here. This indictment is very sketchy that - that he got today. It meant - it does not mention a single act committed by Tom DeLay in furtherance of the conspiracy that the prosecutor says happened here, essentially to launder corporate contributions, which are prohibited from being given to candidates in Texas through the National Republican Committee back down to Texas candidates. That`s the allegation. There`s not one statement about what Tom DeLay did in that conspiracy. He`s just named.
CHARLIE ROSE: When -- what is the expectation of people who say DeLay may be able to escape this, for whatever reason, because of what you just said. It will be hard to get a conviction. What does it mean for his political career and the place that he was clearly wanting to be at some point, speaker of the House in a Republican Congress?
TERRY MORAN: Right. That certainly does cause a problem for DeLay`s ambitions to be speaker. Remember, he kind of took a step back when Newt Gingrich and Mr. Livingston had resigned, and Dennis Hastert became speaker of the House. Because Tom DeLay said he was too nuclear, too radioactive, essentially, for the caucus to elect him as speaker of the House.
He wants it, though. And this will be a problem for him.
He is certainly, along with Newt Gingrich and George W. Bush, one of the three Republicans who has -- who have made the Republican Party the power in the country they are today over the past 10 years. They`ve taken over the federal government. That they`ve taken over state houses like in Texas, that they have advanced their agenda as aggressively as they have. It`s Tom DeLay really, who in the trenches has pushed, has twisted arms, and has taken very aggressive stands. He was the leader in getting the Congress to intervene in the case of Terri Schiavo.
So he is really the point person for the most deeply conservative Republicans in the country. They adore him. They are deeply loyal to him. He`s going to fight this tooth and nail. He could beat it, but can he become speaker after it? Well, that`s tough.
CHARLIE ROSE: But this is also a time that the president, as you know much better than I do, needs his base. When a president is under attack and when a president is seeing some declining numbers and his judgment may be questioned or his reaction may be questioned, then that president wants to...
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