Fox News "Fox & Friends" - Transcript

Interview

Fox News "Fox & Friends" - Transcript

MR. KILMEADE: New polls show John McCain and Mitt Romney in a statistical tie in Florida. How can the candidates best separate themselves from the pack to win the Sunshine State? And that's coming up soon.

MR. DOOCY: Joining us right now from Deerfield Beach, Florida, is the senator himself, John McCain.

Good morning to you, sir.

SEN. MCCAIN: Good morning, guys. How are you?

MR. DOOCY: Doing fine. Tonight is the big debate amongst the Republicans -- the five still standing.

SEN. MCCAIN: Yep.

MR. DOOCY: You've got to realize that the other guys going to be on the stage with you -- they've probably got to figure, "This is our last chance to stop John McCain." Are you ready for that?

SEN. MCCAIN: I'm ready. I'm ready. (Laughter.)

No, sure. I've always enjoyed these debates. I like them all and I've gotten to know them all, and I'm sure it will be a spirited discussion and I'm looking forward to it.

And by the way, I've been paying attention to -- believe it or not -- to the Democrat debate the last couple of days, and I got to tell you, I am absolutely astonished that Senator Clinton, the leading candidate on the Democrat side, would want -- says she wants to surrender in Iraq -- she wants to wave the white flag. After all the sacrifice we've made in this surge, which everybody knows is succeeding, she wants to surrender and bring the troops home and set a date for withdrawal. That's going to be a big subject I hope tonight and throughout this discussion because if we do what she wants to do, al Qaeda will defeat us and al Qaeda will tell the world that they've defeated the United States of America. I have never, never in American history, heard of a leading candidate for president of the United States that wants to surrender to the enemy.

MR. CARLSON: And that would be an interesting debate, Senator -- your views on Iraq versus Hillary Clinton's. And some people say, "They're going to be the two nominees." And in fact in polls, you are the only Republican who beats Hillary Clinton in the national polls.

SEN. MCCAIN: Well, I'll be glad to have that debate on our nation's future and security and the struggle against radical Islamic extremism. You can believe Senator Clinton or you can believe General Petraeus. He says Iraq is the central battleground in the struggle against radical Islamic extremism, and if you're going to declare surrender, declare a date for withdrawal, my friends, all that sacrifice of those brave young Americans -- I can't tell you how incredible to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory that Senator Clinton wants to do. I'm astonished.

MR. KILMEADE: Well, Senator Barack Obama doesn't exactly want to dig in either, but unfortunately tonight's --

SEN. MCCAIN: Yeah. That's exactly the same. Yeah.

MR. KILMEADE: Right. Senator, what's going to happen in that debate -- I just really have a hard time with any candidate that really wants to challenge you on that and come out successful. But right now the country says it's the economy, and they might go, "Mitt Romney -- well, that's the business wiz; that's the guy that ran a state." How do you supposed to tell people that want to vote for Mitt Romney who would say -- because they think he's better on the economy. What do you say to that?

SEN. MCCAIN: Well, maybe look at his record as to how the state did when he was governor. But most importantly, I've been involved in all these issues. I know how to stop the irresponsible spending. I've always been for tax cuts. I have always -- although I voted against the first tax cuts, but these tax cuts have to be made permanent. We have to have -- reduce the corporate income tax. We are paying the highest corporate taxes in the world. We'll have to give people a chance to write off their investments, particularly in infrastructure. We need to get rid of this alternate minimum tax which is about to affect 25 million American families, and we've got to stop and reign in the out of control spending that I've been fighting against for a long time. I think I've got a good record on it.

MR. DOOCY: Senator, how often does your cell phone ring and you look down and you think, "Oh, I was hoping that was going to be Fred Thompson with an endorsement"? Are you waiting for that? (Laughter.)

SEN. MCCAIN: No. I -- Fred and I are very close friends and I certainly wouldn't presume to ask him. He has run an honorable campaign and he's a good friend, and I wish him every success, and I'm sure I'll be seeing him soon.

MS. CARLSON: Senator, what do you make of Rudy Giuliani going down in the polls? In the latest ones he's third place. A lot of people thought he had Florida wrapped up.

SEN. MCCAIN: Well, given my ups and downs, it's hard for me to comment on anybody else's. (Laughter.)

MS. CARLSON: Well, you are the comeback kid. I mean, that seems to be the talk amongst all the pundits.

SEN. MCCAIN: Well, you never -- you don't want to associate the word "kid" with me, do you? (Laughs.)

MR. KILMEADE: Right.

MS. CARLSON: I'm just waiting to see what you're going to call us today. (Laughs.)

SEN. MCCAIN: (Laughs.) There's a ways to go in this campaign.

MR. KILMEADE: Right.

SEN. MCCAIN: Rudy's still a very viable candidate, and I think there's a lot of undecided voters down here in Florida, so we've got a lot of hard campaigning to go.

MR. KILMEADE: Are you ready to -- and it will probably be decided in these -- in the next few days. It's all in your hands.

You think that you can come on the show and we can't surprise you. Is that correct? There's nothing that we can throw at you that you don't know already. Is that correct?

SEN. MCCAIN: It's -- well, it's easy for me to get mad at you guys. (Laughter.)

MR. KILMEADE: I'm about to -- we're about to surprise you right now, Senator McCain.

SEN. MCCAIN: Okay. Okay.

MR. KILMEADE: Do you have a monitor there?

MR. DOOCY: He can hear. He can hear.

SEN. MCCAIN: I'm sorry, I -- I can hear you.

MR. KILMEADE: Okay. I think you're recognize this voice. I talked to this famous actor. I asked him who he was endorsing, and here's what he had to say.

MR. SYLVESTER STALLONE: (From videotape.) I like McCain a lot -- a lot. And you know, things may change along the way, but there's something about matching the character with the script, and right now the script is being written and reality is pretty brutal and pretty hard-edged and like a rough action film, and you need somebody who's been in that to deal with it.

MR. DOOCY: Look at that. You got the endorsement of Sylvester Stallone. Congratulations!

SEN. MCCAIN: Da-dah! (Laughter.) I'm going to Philadelphia and run up the steps. (Laughter.)

MR. DOOCY: Yeah. Go punch a side of beef, Senator. (Laughter.)

SEN. MCCAIN: All righty!

MR. DOOCY: All right. Good luck tonight. We thank you very much for joining us live today from Deerfield Beach, Florida, Senator John McCain.

SEN. MCCAIN: Thanks for having me on. Thanks, guys.

MR. DOOCY: You bet.

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