E-mail a friendJennifer Millerwise
original airdate August 31, 2004
As deputy communications director for the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign, Jennifer Millerwise coordinates the spokespeople who get the word out to news outlets outside of Washington, D.C. The Michigan native got her start in politics as an intern while still in high school. She previously served as press secretary for Vice President Cheney and has earned a solid reputation with the national media players.
Video of Jennifer Millerwise.
Jennifer Millerwise
Tavis: Jennifer Millerwise is a Deputy Communications Director for the Bush-Cheney campaign '04. Jennifer, nice to see you.
Jennifer Millerwise: hank you for having me.
Tavis: How are you feeling? It's day two for you guys. How are you?
Millerwise: Feeling great. It's good to be in New York.
Tavis: Laura Bush spoke earlier tonight on her speech tonight. Let me ask you whether it's just my sense or is there a deliberate plan here to put her out front more between now and November? For the most of this tenure in the White House, she's been pretty quiet. Stayed behind the scenes for the most part, but now she's out speaking about stem cell research, speaking at the convention and a variety of things she's been doing of late.
Millerwise: Well, obviously she has quite a stake in this election, and she's pretty close to the President and wants to make sure he's reelected. So, I think that's obviously the major motivator. And the fact is she's a very, very popular woman. Everywhere she goes we have amazing responses. We always have more people who want to get in to see her and listen to her events than we actually have room for. So, she's an amazing asset. She's probably, definitely, one of the most popular First Ladies we have ever had. And so we're just thrilled to have her out talking whenever she's available and willing to do it.
Tavis: peaking of her husband, let's talk about her husband for just a moment. In an interview yesterday, he seemed to suggest that he did not think the war on terror was necessarily winnable. Now, if I'm interpreting what I thought I heard him say to Matt Lauer on the 'Today' show yesterday, that is a bit of a departure from what we heard from him months ago, in fact in April, about this war on terror.
Millerwise: Well, you know, I think you have to look at the full context of what he was talking about, and he has always said, this is going to be a long, tough, battle that we have. We're really in a new era, things changed after September 11th. We're no longer in a post-Cold War world. And so that's why we're fighting things on a different front, by going after the terrorists where they live. And by going after the terrorists where they are actually breeding and where they're training. And so this is going to be a tough, long, war, but I think we have the right man in charge who has--clearly has the resolve to continue to fight this, and I think that's one of the most important reasons why we have to make sure we reelect President Bush in 2004, because I think it stands in clear contrast to John Kerry, who has continually politicized this war, who has continued vacillation on these key issues. There's many different positions, which obviously Mayor Giuliani really articulated, I think, very well last night. I think that is the exact wrong thing we need at this important time in our history.
Tavis: You mentioned two names I want to follow up on. John Kerry and Rudy Giuliani. Let me start with John Kerry. Yesterday in this hall, I noticed somebody started, I don't know who, but somebody started passing out these little purple Band Aids. It was a mockery, I suspect, meant as a mockery of John McCain. And some of the delegates, many of the delegates, were wearing these little purple Band Aids. I guess the sense was that I guess if you get nicked in Vietnam, you too can wear a purple medal. Not everybody, but a lot of people were wearing these little purple Band Aids. Did you notice this yesterday?
Millerwise: It's the first I've heard of it, but let me make something very clear. This President, and our campaign, has never, ever questioned Senator Kerry's military service. In fact, the President has repeatedly said, and our campaign has repeatedly said, we think his service is incredibly honorable. But this election is about the important issues, once he came back from Vietnam. And we want to talk about his record because quite frankly he isn't talking about it. If you look at his convention, he spoke for almost an hour and he only spent a very few words talking about his 20 year career in the Senate. So we are not the folks who've been making Vietnam a part of this campaign and we never will. We want to talk about his record in the Senate because we think it's the best blueprint for how he would lead in the future. And we want to talk about the President's vision. We want to talk about the President's leadership and that record of accomplishment he plans on building on.
Tavis: Speaking of John Kerry, I noted last night, as did the press, that Giuliani, the former Mayor of this city, mentioned Mr. Kerry by name about nine times last night. That's a lot for a speech to mention a guy by name nine times. As a communication person, strategically, is it a good thing to mention the opponents name that many times in a speech or something that you really want to avoid? I mean, it's water under the bridge at this point but, as a communications person, what's your sense of it?
Millerwise: Well, I thought it was a homerun. And I thought that Mayor Giuliani was able to talk about the important issues in a way that only he can. And I certainly plan on stealing a few of his lines, quite frankly, in the future. But I think that it's important for the American people to know about the clear choice that they have. We've been talking about John Kerry's record, and we've been talking about the President's record, and we're going to continue to do so. And I think that's really what you heard from Mayor Giuliani last night. He wants the American people to know about the clear choice, because I quite frankly don't think the American people have had this clear of a choice in a Presidential election, really in recent memory, where the two...the challengers have such different world views. And if you look at, you know, just the big issues, the economy and the war on terror. John Kerry has consistently supported higher taxes. That's just part of who he is. He's consistently now talking about more of isolationism when it comes to approaching our relationship in the world. President Bush is for lower taxes, he's for free trade, he's for lots of these issues. If you look at the war on terror, President Bush has made very clear that he plans to continue to fight and win this war on terror. John Kerry has taken a lot of different positions. I think there is some confusion of where he stands, and I think that that's what Mayor Giuliani articulated last night.
Tavis: You've got 15 seconds to give me some inside information on what the President is going to say on Thursday night.
Millerwise: Well, we're going to seize the moment. We're going to take advantage of this. The President is going to lay out his vision for the next four years. He's going to also touch on the accomplishments he's had over the past three-and-a-half, where he wants to lead this country on the important issues of securing and making sure that the world is safer and making sure that we live in a stronger America and a more hopeful place.
Tavis: That's exactly what I expected you to say. Anyway Jennifer, nice to meet you, glad to have you on the program.
Millerwise: Thank you and it's nice to meet you too.
Tavis: That's our show for tonight. We wrap now day two of this convention here at the garden, Madison Square Garden, in New York City, site of the 2004 Republican National Convention. We are back here tomorrow. As always, thanks for watching. Good night from New York and keep the faith.
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