Andrew Card

JIM LEHRER:

Now, some reaction from President Bush's chief of staff, Andrew Card.

Mr. Card, welcome.

ANDREW CARD:

Good to be with you, Jim.

JIM LEHRER:

The Republican National Committeemen from Vermont said this afternoon that Jim Jeffords was a modern day Benedict Arnold, a traitor; do you agree with that?

ANDREW CARD:

Senator Jeffords is a noble person. I have great respect for him. I've known him for a long time. He is a man of principles. I think he made a mistake today. But I'm not going to question why he did it. We are going to move forward.

The president has an important agenda for America. It is an agenda that he campaigned on. It is an agenda that is well received by the American people. After all this was also a great time because the president won significant votes to provide tax relief to real Americans across every walk of life. That tax relief will come thanks to the support of Senator Jeffords and others. We also know that education reform will become reality. And that was done on a hugely bipartisan vote in the House of Representatives.

We will be talking about the agenda for America that President Bush campaigned on and what he believes in and he will work with people on both sides of the aisle, in both branches of the House and the Senate, to get things down.

JIM LEHRER:

So you believe Senator Jeffords is wrong when he says there isn't a place for a man with his views in the Republican Party?

ANDREW CARD:

Oh, Senator Jeffords is wrong about that. There is plenty of room in the Republican Party for people with lots of different views. Senator Jeffords has made a choice. I think most Republicans are proud to be with their party and proud of the leadership that the president provides.

JIM LEHRER:

Is your political conscious clear that you and others at the White House didn't push him into this by the way he was treated?

ANDREW CARD:

First of all he was treated with great respect. I think Senator Jeffords would say that. There was no effort by the White House to abuse him or cajole him in an inappropriate way. We have had a wonderful dialogue. I certainly have had a good relationship with the Senator over the years. I know the president has as well.

JIM LEHRER:

What about the alleged phone calls that you made to people in the Vermont media about Senator Jeffords and his positions on the tax cut bill. Is that correct. Did you make those?

ANDREW CARD:

I spoke to a number of states I spoke to reporters in New Hampshire and in Vermont and Rhode Island and Illinois, Michigan, so news media outlets looking to talk to me I actually spoke about the tax relief plan and interestingly and thankfully Senator Jeffords voted for the tax relief that is likely to become reality.

JIM LEHRER:

So you don't feel that you did anything to push him out by making those calls to the media in Vermont?

ANDREW CARD:

Well, I meet with you and I meet with other reporters, that is part of the job of being a chief of staff. And I conveyed the interest that we have in the president's agenda and how important it was for the voters of New York – of Vermont to understand how important the tax relief was and I'm glad that tax relief will become a reality and it enjoyed the support of Senator Jeffords.

JIM LEHRER:

What would you say to conservative Republicans who are saying now okay it's too bad about the control of the Senate, but that in many ways it's good riddance because Jeffords really is too liberal for the Republican Party? Let the Democrats have the liberals. We'll take the conservatives.

ANDREW CARD:

Well, we're going to take people who believe in making a difference for America. We have a wonderful opportunity now to work forward with an agenda and new leadership in the Senate. It's a leadership that we wish had been Republican but if it's going to be Democrat, we'll work with them. This is not about looking back. We're going to look forward.

The president's agenda hasn't changed. The good news is that significant parts of the president's interests have already been addressed by Congress. We will have tax relief, we will have education reform. Those are the two primary concerns that he brought to the country when he campaigned. We delivered on those promises in record time.

JIM LEHRER:

What about say missile defense, Jim Jeffords mentioned that himself — his opposition to that in terms of what the positions of the president and the Republican Party are, that was one of the reasons he said, hey, I'm going.

ANDREW CARD:

I don't think that he knows enough about the program to have a knowledgeable disagreement with it because we are just now consulting with our allies around the world. The president will be putting forth the specifics of a missile defense program. Clearly, the paradigm of the past is not realistic when it comes to defense for our country.

We have to get away from the old Cold War thinking that was there when the Soviet Union was in power and the United States was in power. We have a different world today. And the president has said look at the reality of the world today and see what we should do for America's interests and to defend the world not just for our borders about you for other allies around the world. The missile defense program is a good program; it's one that is important and I'm sure Senator Jeffords will recognize that as well.

JIM LEHRER:

As a practical matter how has the change in the Senate going to change the way you deal in the Senate?

ANDREW CARD:

Well, you know with the 50/50 split we had to deal very gingerly with the Senate anyway. I suspect they'll now set the agenda for the Senate. That will be a challenge because we were able to have some influence working with Senator Lott as to what issues were called up for votes before the floor of the Senate or what committee hearings were scheduled. It will be a little bit more of a challenge but we will still have to work to gets the votes on every single issue that the president cares about.

We may not set the agenda but I think the president will set the tone for a constructive dialogue. He has already changed the tone in Washington with the new sense of civility and we generated bipartisan support for many of the initiatives the president talked about.

JIM LEHRER:

So you don't think it's going to affect the outcome of any of these votes on these major issues involved in the president's agenda because there is now a Democratic controlled Senate?

ANDREW CARD:

Well, I would still point out that the president has been enjoying support from Republicans and Democrats in the Senate to get his initiatives passed. Witness what has happened on tax relief and witness what is likely to happen on education reform. We worked very closely with Senator Ted Kennedy for example to get an education reform package out of the committee.

I think we'll have bipartisan support for that education package on the floor of the Senate. We had wonderful bipartisan support getting a vote of 385-45 on the floor of the House so bipartisan support is something the president will work toward but he will work from an agenda that he campaigned on, as a candidate.

JIM LEHRER:

Now Jim Jeffords was not the only moderate Republican in the United States Senate. Are you all working on them in any way, not working on them — I don't mean that in a difficult sense but are you alert to their needs as a result of what happened to Jim Jeffords?

ANDREW CARD:

Well, as you know, I come from New England so I've a good working relationship with the Senators from New England who are Republicans, as well of those who are Democrats. And with regard to Senator Olympia Snowe and Senator Susan Collins, I work very well had them. I think we'll work constructively to bring the president's agenda to a reality.

JIM LEHRER:

What about Senator Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island – you mentioned Rhode Island you'd made some calls.

ANDREW CARD:

Right.

JIM LEHRER:

He is considered — He also voted against — or he did vote against the tax cut bill.

ANDREW CARD:

He voted finally for the tax relief package that went to the conference committee.

JIM LEHRER:

He was opposed at the original proposal that the president made —

ANDREW CARD:

It's a giant sausage machine up there on Capitol Hill. We gave them the right ingredients, they come out with the right product at the end. Tax relief will be a reality. And it did finally enjoy the support of Senator Chafee.

JIM LEHRER:

Well, let me put the question more generally, more precisely. Are you concerned that Jeffords could be one of second or a third or many who might say hey, wait a minute — if Jim Jeffords don't think he is a Republican maybe I'm not either.

ANDREW CARD:

Well, you said Jeffords; I think you meant Chafee.

JIM LEHRER:

I did.

ANDREW CARD:

I'm confident that Senator Chafee will remain a Republican. He comes from a long history of Republican activism. I knew his dad very, very well. In fact, his father supported me what I ran for governor of Massachusetts. After all the Republican Party is a party that is an inclusive party. It's one that will work hard to change America in a constructive way, and the president will work closely with members of the Senate especially the Republican members of the Senate to get things down.

JIM LEHRER:

Jim Jeffords is an aberration, he is not part of a trend.

ANDREW CARD:

Well, there certainly haven't been many people like Jim Jeffords. There has never been a situation where we changed control of the Senate at this time in the Senate session so I would call that an aberration.

JIM LEHRER:

Do you think it's unfair what he did?

ANDREW CARD:

Oh, I won't question what he did. Again, we look forward. Senator Jeffords is a man that I still respect. I have great respect for him; I just disagree with him.

JIM LEHRER:

Are you going to — did you know he was going to — when did you know he was going to do this?

ANDREW CARD:

I received a call Monday night late but did not return the call until very, very early Tuesday morning.

JIM LEHRER:

Call from him?

ANDREW CARD:

I received a call from Republican member of the Senate who said that there was some speculation this was going to happen. I then jumped into action and talked to others and learned that in fact there were rumors and that the rumors were likely to be true. So it wasn't until Tuesday morning that I really had any real concern that these rumors were real. They were.

JIM LEHRER:

What would you say to those who are suggesting that you and the others at the White House should have known this earlier and should have been on it earlier, maybe you could have headed it off?

ANDREW CARD:

I wish that I had known it earlier. I didn't. I didn't know many people who knew about it earlier. The rumor mill even on Capitol Hill wasn't like it normally is, generating these kinds of responses.

JIM LEHRER:

Having listened to what Senator Jeffords said today and what other people have said, do you believe that you could have stopped it if you had known earlier?

ANDREW CARD:

It doesn't appear that anything that — I don't think that he made the decision based on any single action. It sound sounds to me that there was a deeper concern that he had and he addressed his concern personally.

JIM LEHRER:

There was no deal you could have offered him; no way you could have talked him out of it.

ANDREW CARD:

He will have to talk about deals. I'm not going to. I think a decision is made and now it's time to move on.

JIM LEHRER:

Mr. Card, thank you very much.

ANDREW CARD:

Thank you very much.