MONDAY
E-mail a friendJudy Woodruff
airdate January 9, 2006
Judy Woodruff is a veteran broadcast journalist who's reported on politics and breaking news for NBC, PBS and CNN. She's covered election campaigns from Carter to Clinton and, until last June, hosted CNN's Inside Politics. She continues as a consultant and occasional contributor to the net. Woodruff has won many awards, including an Emmy for coverage of the '96 Olympic Park bombing. She's founding co-chair of the International Women's Media Foundation and author of This Is Judy Woodruff at the White House.
Judy Woodruff
Tavis: As we kick off our third season here on PBS, I'm pleased tonight to be joined by a former member of the PBS family, Judy Woodruff. After serving as chief Washington correspondent for the 'MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour,' she went on to become the respected host of CNN's 'Inside Politics.' She joins us tonight from Washington. Judy Woodruff, happy New Year, glad to have you on.
Judy Woodruff: Happy New Year, Tavis. Thank you for having me on.
Tavis: I'm delighted to have you. Missing you on CNN, but delighted to see you in other places, and maybe you should come back to PBS one day.
Woodruff: Well, you know I'm working on a project that's gonna end up on PBS. So well, we can talk about that.
Tavis: I'm glad to hear that. You deserve to be on PBS, and we deserve you. Nice to talk to you, Judy. I want to spend a few minutes if I can just talking about what this year holds for us politically. Let me start, though, outside of the country.
I suspect there are all kinds of meetings in the White House with regard to what might happen. Or for that matter, what will happen, given the grave illness of Mr. Sharon. We're hearing that he's getting better at the moment. What's your sense of what's happening inside the White House where this issue is concerned?
Woodruff: Well Tavis, this really does throw a serious wrench, if you will, into White House policy. They had put all their eggs in the Ariel Sharon basket to use up all the metaphors I'm gonna use right now. Ariel Sharon was someone who emerged as a leader over the last many years in Israel. The United States came to view him, this administration, as a force for stability. He was a figure who had not only the experience, but the toughness, the credibility to take risks.
And that's what the US believes has got to be done in Israel. He not only took risks in his party, he left his party not very long ago, and created a new political party, the Kadima party. But you know, that was a party around Ariel Sharon. Now that he is felled by this very serious stroke, and you're right, he is getting somewhat better coming out of a coma.
But there's no way to know what his physical or his cognitive condition will be. Now that that is the case, the United States has got to look beyond Ariel Sharon to the other figures in that country. It's a time of a lot of puzzlement and worry.
Tavis: Let me leave the international scene for the moment and come back domestically. I'm gonna move all around the globe here in the few minutes that we have. But let me come back to the story that broke over the weekend. I was in Venezuela, talking to Hugo Chavez, believe it or not, over the weekend.
And so I missed the Tom DeLay story. But the minute I landed back in the country, looked at the cover of every newspaper, I was like, oh, my God. So tell me how you read this DeLay story of him, again, wanting to run for his seat again, but giving up his position as Majority Leader.
Woodruff: Tavis, this has enormous political implications for two reasons. Number one, under Tom DeLay for the last, what, 11 years, Republicans in the House of Representatives have had a pretty narrow margin, about a dozen seats or so, but even with that narrow margin, they have won one big vote after another. On taxes, on budget, on trade, and on other questions.
Why? Because Tom DeLay, whatever you think of him politically, whether you approve of him or not, has been a very effective leader. Now he is not gonna be in that position, they've got to think very hard about who's gonna replace him. Very quickly, the other reason this has enormous implications is the Jack Abramoff ethics scandal.
The Republicans are worried about that. That puts much of the House, or at least some of the House, in play in these November midterm elections, which was something the Democrats frankly were frozen out of. There were just so few safe seats. Now with Abramoff, the Democrats have a shot, and Republicans have got to decide, do we want to figure who's gonna represent continuity after Tom DeLay, or somebody who's gonna represent change.
Tavis: I say this in the nicest way, with all due respect and love for you Judy. You are a Washington insider. So tell me inside the beltway...
Woodruff: Am I supposed to apologize?
Tavis: No, not at all. (laughs) Not at all. I say it lovingly. So tell me, though, given that you are a Washington insider, what it is like in Washington these days. With this Abramoff story, I can only imagine that people are running for cover.
Woodruff: Well, you know, for many months, people just didn't want to talk about it. But as you've noticed, Tavis, just a few days ago, members of Congress started announcing that they were giving back whatever money, in the thousands of dollars, that Mr. Abramoff had given them.
And you now - today I saw a list in the hotline of something like maybe 100 members of Congress, mostly Republicans, but some Democrats, the Republicans are the ones who got the individual contributions. Even some Democrats were given contributions by these Indian tribes, Native American tribes that Jack Abramoff represented.
It is as if everything has been turned upside down in Washington. And you know, let me just say this again, Tavis. Every time something like this happens, people start talking about reform. There's no way to know if we're gonna see real reform in Washington. The city is clearly a wash in money. Money is rolling, and flooding up and down K Street. But whether you see real reform, I think that remains to be seen.
Tavis: I tell you what I find funniest about this, Judy, this is my own commentary for two seconds here. What I find funny is that this long list of folk who are giving back money now, with all the dark clouds floating around Abramoff for all these many months, nobody gave money back until after he cut a deal. So it's like if this guy doesn't get caught, I ain't giving the money back. But if he does, I'll give the money back.
Woodruff: But you're exactly right, and that's when the flood gates open. And they all announce, most of them. Now, there are some who are announcing they are not giving the money back. In particular, I noticed today a number of Democrats who got money from the tribes are saying, 'These tribes still have legitimate issues, they deserve representation, I don't have anything to be ashamed of.'
Tavis: Yeah. The big news in Washington today, though, is Mr. Alito, the hearings began earlier today. We haven't gotten into the meat of the matter as yet, but give me your sense of where we're headed with this nomination.
Woodruff: Well you know, people went into this nomination fight saying, okay, this is gonna be harder than it was for John Roberts, who as we know was confirmed for the Chief Justice position for the Supreme Court. But it's not gonna be as hard as it was for Mr. Bork, what, about 18 years ago. So it's somewhere in between.
Democrats are very hopeful but frankly I'm gonna cite my old employer, CNN, and tell you I saw they have a poll today. 49% of Americans are saying that Sam Alito should be confirmed to the court, only 30% say he shouldn't be. And it's only when you say to people, okay, if he were to overturn Roe v. Wade, that they flip against him.
But the problem is, frankly, that Democrats have a hard time making a case against somebody who looks so moderate. I don't know if you had a chance to look at the hearings today, but he looks, you know, he looks like a nice guy. He has his family sitting behind him, and unless he makes a big mistake, unless they can paint him out to be a big ogre. And by the way, Tavis, what they're trying to do is go after him on presidential executive power.
They are saying that he's always supported an expansion of presidential power. And they're saying at a time when you've got this NSA eavesdropping case going on, when the president authorized domestic spying, that that's something that shouldn't be condoned.
Tavis: It's only January, let me jump all the way to the end of the year in the minute and a half I have left here. The 2006 midterm elections, if ever there were an important mid-season election cycle, I would think with all that's going on domestically and internationally, these midterm elections are going to be huge. What says Judy Woodruff about what we can expect later this year?
Woodruff: They are going to be huge. Everything is riding on this election. Of course, we say that every time, Tavis. But it is true this time, because of what we mentioned a minute ago. And that is the Abramoff ethics scandal. What was considered not only a safe Senate for the Republicans, but a safe House, the House I think almost everyone agrees is now in question. At this point, on January the 9th, 2006, Democrats have a shot. I'm not saying they're gonna take advantage of that, because you look at the polls, people are angry. They're upset with Republicans. Democrats have yet I think to cross that threshold and prove that they deserve the majority. So they still have a lot of work to do. But they have a shot, which is something they didn't have before Jack Abramoff.
Tavis: Can you tell me in 30 seconds whether or not the president gains ground, or loses ground on Iraq?
Woodruff: That is the toughest question of all. If I were God almighty, Tavis, I could answer that question. So much depends on what goes on on the ground. The headlines every day are so depressing. Today, the helicopter that went down over the weekend. I will say this very quickly. The story in the 'New York Times' over the weekend about armor that was available to these Marines, and potentially to Army troops in Iraq, that was not provided to them. Even though it has been available since 2003, could have saved scores, maybe hundreds of lives, that's the kind of thing that will hurt this administration.
Tavis: Judy Woodruff, you're welcome back here any time. And believe me, I'll take advantage of it now that I can talk to you. Take care of yourself.
Woodruff: Thank you, Tavis.
Tavis: Have a great year, Judy.
Woodruff: I appreciate it. And you.
Tavis: Glad to have you. Up next on this program, from the new film 'Munich,' actor Eric Bana. And later, some thoughts about the passing of Lou Rawls. Stay with us.
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