Can Bush Turn More of America Red?

This is a partial transcript from "Hannity & Colmes," Nov. 5, 2004, that has been edited for clarity.

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ALAN COLMES, CO-HOST: Our top story tonight: There was lots more speculation today about what America will look like in the next four years. Can the president successfully turn more of America red?

Joining us now is former Republican Vice Presidential nominee Jack Kemp.

You know, we keep showing that map, Jack, but the population centers I don't think are accurately reflected. I mean, there's lots of landmass there, but you know, there's a cartograph of where the population is and it makes the blues look a little bigger than that.

JACK KEMP, FORMER VICE-PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Well, that may be true, Alan. I looked at "USA Today," the day after the election, and they had that red and blue map.

COLMES: Right.

KEMP: And actually blue was the far left corner of California, and the other blue was way northeast.

SEAN HANNITY, CO-HOST: Give it to him, Jack.

COLMES: As you can tell -- blue is my favorite color, as you can tell. It's a very good color, Jack. The question is, what do Democrats need to do to get a few more blues in there?

KEMP: I don't know that Jack Kemp is going to be able to give the Democratic -- I think they're in trouble. Class warfare doesn't work. Traditional values does work. And they're on the wrong side of both issues.

It's not that Democrats don't have values. I'm not being disrespectful. And it's not they want to bring down the wealthy. But the soak the rich, class warfare rhetoric -- I remember John Edwards saying, Alan, and you must have heard him, too, and you must have winced when you heard this. He said, "Bush only cares about wealth. He doesn't care about work."

What nonsense. How could a president only care about the wealthy?

COLMES: Well, there was a lot of overblown rhetoric on both sides.

Speaking of rhetoric, let me show you something Arnold Schwarzenegger said in the last 24 hours and see if you think if this is the way to reach out to the other side. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIFORNIA: Why would I listen to losers? I mean, let's be honest. I mean, do you think that this is the same thing as like -- let me just make it simple to you. They have lost every single ballot in the Bay Area. Everything. The big spenders wanted to go with increased taxes, many different taxes and fees and all kinds of things.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLMES: He's talking about Democrats and taxes and, you know, why should I listen to losers? Is that the way to bring us together after an election, Jack?

KEMP: He didn't call them economic "girlie men."

COLMES: That's a little bit, too. I guess he could have said that.

KEMP: Look, Alan, raising taxes was Mondale; raising taxes was McGovern. It doesn't work. The American people are overtaxed.

COLMES: John Kerry didn't lose on the tax issue.

KEMP: He lost on -- no, he lost on soak the rich, class warfare, and the traditional values issues.

COLMES: You don't believe that's true.

KEMP: He also lost on the war on terror. He also lost on the war on terror. Bush came across as much stronger, much more principled, and he didn't talk about his plan to wage war on terrorism. He's waging war on terrorism.

COLMES: But he didn't lose on -- I don't think he lost on taxes. There may be a values issue. He didn't lose on the issue of Iraq.

There are a number of issues where, indeed, the country is evenly divided, if not where the Democrats actually outscore Republicans. So I don't think the Democrats did a good enough job wrapping it all together, perhaps under the heading of values. But I don't think that many issues upon which he did not lose.

KEMP: Well, all I read is in "The New York Times" and "The Washington Post" and "Slate" magazine and other liberal magazines of what they're going to do. They're going through an unbelievable post-mortem on the campaign.

Should we go left? Should we go right? Should we wait till the minority community overtakes the demographics of the country? Bush did well among Hispanics and Latinos and Asians, increased his black vote marginally from nine to 11.

But I'm convinced that if they sit and wait for the demographics of the country to overwhelm Republicans, they're making a big mistake.

COLMES: Nobody's talking about sitting and waiting. But you know what? I keep hearing the word mandate.

KEMP: But there were people who did.

COLMES: I keep hearing the word mandate. And 51 percent, it's a majority, which has not happened for a number of years. But don't forget, more people voted against George W. Bush, given the number of votes John Kerry got, 55.5 million or 55.7 million votes is nothing to sneeze at.

He lost but he still had a huge number of Americans who voted for him. Correct?

KEMP: Look, I have no anger in my heart towards the Democratic Party. They got 55 million votes. George Bush got 59 million plus.

"The Daily Mirror" of London called 59 -- how can 59 million Americans all be dumb enough to vote for Bush? That stuff isn't going to cut with the American people, A...

B: he does have a mandate. He was very clear about private retirement accounts, about tax reform, about tort reform, about liberalizing our trade. So Bush -- nobody can confuse Bush with John Kerry's plan to create 10 million jobs, John Kerry's plan to wage war on terror. Plans don't cut it, Alan.

HANNITY: Good to see you, Jack. Good to see you. Thanks for being with us.

KEMP: Hi, Sean.

HANNITY: I don't know. Should I call you former congressman or quarterback? Probably quarterback.

KEMP: Very old quarterback.

HANNITY: By the way, Arnold was kidding; he was joking. Some people have got -- they have no sense of humor anymore. But...

KEMP: He probably was tongue-in-cheek.

HANNITY: He's funny. Liberals have no sense of humor.

Michael Moore is using the word impeachment already.

Paul Krugman's piece in "The New York Times" today was as vicious as any I've seen, calling the president a radical who wants to tear down the legacy of FDR, eviscerate Social Security, eviscerate Medicare.

Jesse Jackson says the party is not liberal enough.

There's a Democratic dot-com web site out that basically is comparing America to fascists and 1930s Germany.

There was a lot of anger. There was a lot of anger from the leaders. Al Gore screeching George Bush betrayed his country. I don't think they get it, Jack.

KEMP: I don't think so either. And plus, when Alan was talking about the 55 million votes, and that's certainly true. But Tom Daschle got defeated, picked up four seats in the Senate, control of the Senate. The House picked up seats.

This is an overwhelming victory for the Republican Party, which is now the majority party of America.

HANNITY: Well, it's 44 percent, and this is something you were looking for for the Republican Party to do for some time. The increased Hispanic vote from 35 percent to 44 percent. They increased the African- American vote by a couple of percentage points. The Jewish vote in America went up six points in favor of the president. Women up dramatically, six points.

KEMP: Asians. Asian vote was up.

HANNITY: That's right.

KEMP: Immigrant American vote was up.

HANNITY: I mean, what is this telling you about the party? That the caricature painted by the left isn't sticking anymore. People see George W. Bush reaching out to the minority community and reaching out to all Americans and creating an opportunity society for everybody.

KEMP: Well, he wants to create an ownership society. He wants to allow people to have individual retirement accounts. He wants them to own their own homes.

African-Americans and Latino and Hispanic Americans now own almost 50 percent of -- 50 percent of the homeownership is by African-Americans. It's not good enough, but we can do better. But Bush is now talking about expanding ownership in our society and what I call democratization of capitalism.

HANNITY: But not only did the president also win Iowa, those results came in. There was a report out that the numbers went up from 51 to 52 percent of the vote he got now, popular vote, to Kerry's 47 percent.

And nearly 60 million votes, nearly five million more than any president in the history of this country, including Ronald Reagan's re- election. It's incredible.

KEMP: Well, and I see -- my friends, and our friends on the left, and you and I both have a lot of friends on the left, they're talking that this isn't a mandate. Even Alan brought up the fact it's not a mandate.

It really is a mandate when you pick up this many Senate seats, House seats and win 51-48, that is a mandate, because Bush was very clear and transparent about what it is he wanted to do in America the next four years, not only fighting terrorism but expanding ownership throughout our society.

HANNITY: Well, we had the greatest rate of economic growth, Jack, in 20 years. The greatest rate in 20 years -- greatest rate in 20 years because of 109 million Americans got tax cuts. Two million jobs created in the last year, including another 337,000 jobs created in October. This is a great economy.

KEMP: Well, it's a good economy. We can do better. Unemployment is still too high. Too many people are still looking for jobs. The growth is 3.7 percentage GDP. That's good, but we can do better.

He has been -- he came out of a horrible problem, 9/11, and the scandals. So I think Bush deserves a second term, and he will rule.

COLMES: I thought we can do better was the Democratic phrase. Anyway, we're going to come back with Jack Kemp after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

We continue now with former vice presidential nominee, our good friend Jack Kemp is with us.

Speaking of which, Jacques -- Jacques Chirac sends a letter to the president and on the surface he's being nice. But it couldn't be more obvious in the other comments that he's making. Europe today now more than ever needs to strengthen itself, reinforce its unity, they're not going up against the big old United States of America.

How should we deal with Jacques Chirac and the obvious contempt that he has for this president and our country, frankly? Especially in light of their corruption, too.

KEMP: Yes. You know, there's a lot of envy and covetousness in Europe of the United States. Unemployment in Germany is 10.6 percent or 10.7 percent. Unemployment in France is as high or higher. The economies are not well. East Germany has never been given a chance, I should say, to join in the economic miracle that we call West Germany.

So there's a lot of envy. How do we do it? How did Reagan do it? How did these cowboys come out of the west or out of Texas and get elected and re-elected? It really bothers them.

And frankly, they have a tax system. They have a horrible welfare state. And the fastest growing member of the E.U. is Ireland, which sharply cut their tax rates. I know Alan doesn't want to hear that...

HANNITY: That's right.

KEMP: ... but lower tax rates fosters economic growth.

HANNITY: Well, and by the way, years ago you wrote a book that said that very thing, a rising tide lifting all boats. You quote JFK.

But more specifically I think this is really important, inasmuch as they had contempt for President Reagan, too. When he was modernizing our weaponry in Europe and deploying those Persians II, there were allies. And an anti-American sentiment that we're seeing now. I mean, when you have a British newspaper asking the question, "How can 59 million people be so dumb?" And having then to be lectured by Tony Blair that these leaders and Europe in general is in a state of denial and they'd better deal with this president.

KEMP: We'll get over this. One thing that exacerbates the tensions and problems is not just Iraq. It's trade policies. There's -- they have heavily subsidized agriculture, heavily subsidized airbus industry.

In my opinion we should pursue that policy that Reagan and Bush have pursued, which is liberalization of trade, because nations that trade freely and openly with each other, whether they're from Latin America, Africa, Asia, or Europe, basically will do things to get along.

And I think Bush has taken exactly the right tone in his acceptance press conference the other day. He was very gracious towards Kerry and very gracious towards some of our adversaries in Europe.

COLMES: I -- I know you mentioned contempt that Europe may have. Look, I see a lot of contempt from us toward them, and I look at some of the comments Jacques Chirac...

KEMP: I hope not.

COLMES: Go ahead.

KEMP: I said I hope not. I don't have contempt for them. I...

COLMES: Well, look, Jacques Chirac congratulated Bush on his victory, and he said he hoped the election would breathe new life into Franco-U.S. relations.

Gerhard Schroeder of Germany said the world's challenges can only be met together.

If you ask me this is an olive branch from France and Germany. We ought to be magnanimous, and I think the president should be magnanimous in victory and reach out to these people.

KEMP: I think he's been magnanimous. He was terribly -- not terribly. He was awfully magnanimous to Kerry. He called Kerry campaign an honorable campaign.

Churchill said something during World War II that I've never forgotten. He said, "In defeat, courage, and in victory, magnanimity."

And I hope, and I think George W. Bush is going to be magnanimous towards some of our adversaries. Their actions in the U.N. during the buildup towards Iraq was just contemptible. If you look at that (ph).

COLMES: But rather than using this time -- rather than using this moment in history upon the re-election of George W. Bush to condemn our allies like France and Germany, why not use this opportunity to be magnanimous, not take shots at them?

KEMP: Alan...

COLMES: And the same thing with the Democrats. Rather than say, "I've got political capital and I'm going to spend it," be magnanimous about it.

KEMP: Well, that was magnanimous. He was magnanimous in that pres conference. There's nothing wrong in saying, "I've got some political capital that I want to invest in providing retirement accounts, reforming the tax code, passing tort law reform."

You can't blame the president for suggesting that this his victory and the victory in the House and the Senate is an opportunity for him to help shape public policy.

And as Sean pointed out, Paul Krugman went absolutely ballistic and suggested that Bush wants to eviscerate Social Security. Nonsense. No way Social Security will be eviscerated.

HANNITY: All right, Jack, good to see you. Thank you so much for taking the time.

KEMP: Thanks, Sean. Thanks, Alan.

HANNITY: We'll see you soon.

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