Posted on 10/25/2004 8:38:27 AM PDT by mhking
NEW YORK -- October 24, 2004 -- Days away from the Presidential election, NBC News' Katie Couric sat down with Senator John Kerry. The interview will air Monday morning on "Today" (7-10 AM ET) with a preview on the interview airing Sunday evening on "Dateline NBC" (7-8 PM ET).
SOUNDBITES OF THE INTERVIEW FOLLOW - MUST GIVE CREDIT TO NBC NEWS' TODAY AND KATIE COURIC - MUST STATE INTERVIEW AIRS TOMORROW MORNING ON "TODAY."
KERRY: "Now let me just look you and America in the eye and tell you this. Unlike Dick Cheney and George Bush, I put my life on my line for my country when it counted. I fought for this nation and I defended it as a young man. And I will defend America as President of the United States."
COURIC: "Having said that, anecdotally some voters have said, "Hey, the United States has not been attacked since September 11th. George Bush must be doing something right. And we're too nervous to vote for a change at this point in time." You would say to them?"
KERRY: "I would say to them that this administration has told you, George Bush and Dick Cheney have said to you, it is not a matter of if we're gonna be attacked. It is a matter of when...do you know that the-- that the President just the other day in an interview with Hannity and Combs said-- do you know what he said? He said he doesn't know if America will ever be safe. Well, I do know that America will be safe. Under my leadership. Because we're gonna not allow 95 percent of American containers to come in un-inspected."
COURIC: "But can you really...Senator make that guarantee-"
KERRY: "You bet--because we--can win-"
COURIC: "--that America will be safe under all circumstances?"
KERRY: "Katie, let me say this to you. We won World War II. We won the-- the-- the Cold War. We know what we can do when we put our minds to it. We haven't done a-- a third of the things that we need to do to win the war on terror."
RE: TERESA HEINZ KERRY
COURIC: "Do you ever feel inclined to-- to say to your wife what Archie Bunker used to say in that-- "Stifle yourself, Theresa?"
KERRY: "No. I honestly, absolutely never do. I love her. I think she's outspoken. She speaks the truth. She misspoke, as-- as many of us do in life. And I've misspoken. How many times have I misspoken or the President or somebody else?
My wife did exactly what Laura Bush did. My wife raised her kids, her three boys. My wife stayed at home and-- and cooked and drove and was there for all the kids in the neighborhood and cooked for all of them. And-- she was -- I mean, she knows what it means to be at home raising kids and taking care of them when they're sick and everything else. She was really referring to outside work. And she caught herself instantly. And she knew what she'd said. And she had the-- you know, the-- both, I think, the sense of decency and appropriateness to make the call and say, "Look. You know, this was misinterpreted." I love her for our outspokenness. I think Americans love her. Because she's authentic. She speaks her mind. And she tells the truth. And Americans want the truth."
RE. KERRY'S RECENT HUNTING EXPEDITION
COURIC: "You-- sported a hunting outfit-- in Ohio and had goose blood on your-- on your fingers. Isn't it a rule of politics 101 not to dress up? It seems to me that every time a candidate goes down this road, whether it's President Bush in a flight suit or Michael Dukakis in a tank, or you at Cape Canaveral or-- or goose hunting, it backfires. It feels-"
KERRY: "Well, I disagree."
COURIC: "--well, manufactured and disingenuous."
KERRY: "Katie, I've hunted since I was 11 or 12 years old. That's me. Long before I was a Presidential candidate, I-- I'd go hunting. I'd go deer hunting with my family. I've been bird hunting through my life. Used to hunt woodchucks as a kid. Started with BB guns, shot with a 22. It's the Republicans who are trying to make it something. They can't stand the idea that a Democrat actually goes out and likes to hunt. They can't stand it....And they're trying to make a big deal."
COURIC: "Wasn't it politically motivated for you to do a photo-op hunting in a camouflage outfit?"
KERRY: "I've hunted all my life. I've done-- I've only done things in this campaign that have been authentic. That's why I suffered an advertisement about windsurfing. Because I told people. I said, "I'm not gonna stop doing what I do. I'm gonna be who I am." And so, people made fun. I don't care. But that's authentic. I've hunted. I own guns. I go out and hunt. And that's who I am.
RE. PRESIDENT BUSH
COURIC: "Is there anything about him you admire?"
KERRY: "I like him. He's a likeable fellow. I think he's a great family man. I know he loves Laura and his kids enormously. I respect-- I respect him as a father.
I just disagree with him in the choices he's made. Losing five million people's health insurance is not acceptable to me. It's been acceptable to him. Seeing people's income go down in middle class is not acceptable to me. It's been acceptable to him.
So-- you know I admire the way he stood up after 9/11 and brought the country together. But I disagree with the way he's divided the nation since then. It's been ideological. It's been excessively partisan and political. And we need a president to bring America together. We really do."
Just damn.
If you want on the list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...
Sorry I missed it. He's such a GINORMOUS tool.
Nothing brings a country together like "There are two Americas!"
Friggin' hypocrite.
How about the way YOU, Johnny Nam, helped to divide America with your treasonous acts during the Vietnam War?
Hellloooooo Johnny Nam? CAN'T HEAR YOU!
Go away you disgusting puke. A few weeks in a combat zone shooting Super-8 movies of yourself does not a war hero make.
Look at that negative body language on Katie. Arms crossed, wearing black.
Israel has long dealt with terrorists and would never believe that what Kerry has asserted is possible.
She seemed totally unimpressed.
Wonder what's up with that?
"It's been ideological. It's been excessively partisan and political. And we need a president to bring America together. We really do."
Too late bud, been there...done that. Kerry is the one doing the dividing in the last year and half of partisan, political assault on our President and our coalition allies.
Go Dubya!
WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT????????????
How many lies could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck lies?
He's bragging about us winning the cold war, when he voted against Reagan on most every issue? He can't even say it without stuttering. Unbelievable!
"But I disagree with the way he's divided the nation since then."
What baloney!!! The ONLY people dividing this nation are DemoncRATS!!!
Wouldn't watch Today if you paid me. I'm sure perky little Katie was doing her best to prop up the gigolo. No surprise there. I can only hope that the liberal media has so little credibility that it wont have much effect.
I really hope Karl Rove has an October Surprise planned for Friday. Kerry's dishonorable discharge, perhaps? His medical records showing that his "wounds" in Vietnam were a joke? I just want to nail his coffin shut.
thanks for posting this...I read a transcript earlier and it didn't have all this in it (ie stifle yourself and the hunting gig)...did the whole interview play this morning or is there more tomorrow?
sounds to me, from reading it, that she did a 'fairly' good job at asking tough questions.
What day is Bush on?
Oh... never mind.
If, heaven forbid, he's elected, this "guarantee" will be Kerry's "Read my lips; no new taxes."
Pathetic interview and Kerry really needs to stop repeating the "I" word so much...it is exposing his true inner self.
Weird, but relevant?
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