CNN "Late Edition" - Transcript

CNN "Late Edition" - Transcript

Joining us now, from Philadelphia, the Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Arlen Specter, and in New York, Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer. As the head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, he's getting a lot of credit for the Democrats winning control of the U.S. Senate.

Senators, welcome back to "Late Edition." And Senator Schumer, I'll start with you. First of all, congratulations. I'm not even sure you were convinced the Democrats would get those six seats you needed to become the majority. But you did it.

And I assume Senator Specter is going to congratulate you as well. Go ahead, Senator Specter.

(LAUGHTER)

SEN. ARLEN SPECTER (R), PENNSYLVANIA: Well, I've already congratulated Senator Schumer as the leader of that group. He deserves congratulations. And now let's move on to tomorrow.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

BLITZER: All right, Senator Specter, what do you think?

SPECTER: Well, I think it's a good sign that the Iraqi foreign minister is going to shake up his cabinet. There's been a lot of disunity there, and I think, before any significant progress can be made, the Iraqis have to come to terms. They have got to quell the infighting between the Shiites and the Sunnis and make some very serious political adjustments.

With respect to withdrawal, listen, had we known that Saddam did not have weapons of mass destruction, I don't think we would have gone on, in the first place.

And being there, we don't want to withdraw if we're going to leave chaos. Troop withdrawals are definitely in the offing, but it's a military decision to determine when there's sufficient military force in the Iraqi army and in their police to maintain stability.

But the election is not only a clarion call to the administration, but it's also notice to the Iraqi government that we're not going to be there forever.

BLITZER: Are you comfortable, Senator Specter, with the United States, assuming the Baker-Hamilton Iraq Study Group Commission recommends a regional conference with Iraq's neighbors, including Syria and Iran, to bring them in to try to work something out?

Are you comfortable with that kind of dialogue? SPECTER: Yes. I think that would be a good starting point. I have always thought that we ought to be talking to Syria -- the United States should be. And I think we ought to be talking to Iran.

I have made efforts and have talked to the Iranian ambassador to the U.N. and the Syrian minister. And, of course, I'm not in charge of foreign policy, but I think talking is always good.

And if you have to structure it in a regional context, if that's what makes President Bush comfortable, let's start there.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

BLITZER: Senator Specter, are you happy the president dumped Donald Rumsfeld as his defense secretary?

SPECTER: Yes.

BLITZER: And what does that signal, as far as you're concerned?

SPECTER: Well, there's no doubt that it signals that our policies have not been working. I said, some time ago, that the decision as to a change in policy ought not to wait on an election, that we ought to do it as soon as it was evident and we had something better to say.

Jim Baker had said, weeks ago, that there were alternatives between staying the course, on one side, and cutting and running, on the other. And I think that change should have come some time ago.

And I was not about to call for secretary Rumsfeld's ouster because I think the president is the commander in chief. And look, it's the president's policies. He's really the one in charge. But once he had said Rumsfeld's going, he had my wholehearted support.

BLITZER: You think he should have done this before the election?

And if he would have, would it have made a difference?

SPECTER: He should have done it as soon as he had made up his mind. And that's a hard thing to calculate. But it's highly doubtful that he made up his mind between the time the election returns came in on Tuesday and Wednesday when Rumsfeld was out.

And if Rumsfeld had been out, you bet it would have made a difference. I'd still be chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

(LAUGHTER)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

BLITZER: We're going to take a break, but Senator Specter, are you going to vote to confirm the nominee for the defense secretary?

SPECTER: I would. I know Bob Gates. I was on the intelligence committee when he was head of CIA. I like what Senator Schumer just said about giving the president latitude on foreign policy matters. Chuck, let's apply that to Ambassador Bolton. John Bolton had some problems in the past, but he's done a first-rate job as ambassador to the U.N. Got 15 to nothing on sanctions on Iran.

I'm going to adopt the Schumer approach of giving the president latitude on foreign policy.

(CROSSTALK)

SPECTER: That means Ambassador Bolton's confirmed.

SCHUMER: (inaudible).

BLITZER: Hold on, don't answer that, Senator Schumer. Don't answer that question. We're going to pick up on John Bolton when we come back. We're going to take a quick break. Lots more with Senator Schumer, Senator Specter. We'll also talk about the new incoming Democratic leadership on Capitol Hill. Will it really be ready to work with President Bush now that there's been this enormous power shift here in Washington?

"Late Edition" continues right after this.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

BLITZER: Let's move on. Senator Specter, let me read to you three Newsweek polls that are just out. This question, can President Bush be effective during his last two years in office? Thirty percent said yes, 66 percent said no. How is President Bush handling his job as president? Thirty-one percent approve, 63 percent disapprove. And are you satisfied with the way things are going in the United States? Twenty-nine percent say yes, 63 percent say no. In your opinion, Senator Specter, was this election and the Democratic victory in the House and Senate and the gubernatorial races out there across the country a referendum, a vote of no confidence in the president?

SPECTER: I don't think so. On your first question, can he succeed in his last two years? Yes, but he's going to have to be open. He's going to have to carry out what he's already started.

The election against the Republican Congress turned on a lot of factors. We couldn't pass an immigration reform bill, which was inexcusable. We had the White House and both houses of Congress. We cut out habeas corpus. Only three Republicans in the United States Senate voted to retain habeas corpus, which is a very fundamental constitutional right.

We were against stem cells on the Republican side, by and large. We got into a fight, Republicans got into a fight with Michael J. Fox, who has Parkinson's. There were a lot of reasons why the Republicans were out of kilter with what the American people wanted.

Not only was there gridlock between Republicans and Democrats -- and that doesn't have to be. Leahy and I have worked together, Harkin and I have worked together. But we Republicans couldn't even agree among ourselves. So the American people were really fed up with what we were doing in Congress. Totally separate from the president. And of course, the war in Iraq was a very, very heavy negative overhang.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

BLITZER: We heard Josh Bolten, the White House chief of staff, Senator Specter, say one of the first priorities on the president's legislative calendar with the new Congress will be comprehensive immigration reform, including a guest worker program, and some sort of path toward citizenship for the 12 million or so illegal immigrants in this country right now. You've supported the president on this. Senator Schumer, I believe you've supported the president on this. Is this likely to be the first major piece of new legislation that both parties will work on and get through? Senator Specter, first to you.

SPECTER: Let's not wait. We're going back into session tomorrow. We've passed a comprehensive bill in the Senate. The House passed one on border control, and border control is indispensable, but it's not the end of the process.

I have a call in to Chairman Sensenbrenner. He's still the chairman. I'm still the chairman. We'll be in for at least a couple of weeks. Let's get it done now. No reason not to move ahead with guest worker. Conservative Speaker Hastert is for the it. The president is for it.

We have to deal with the 11 million undocumented immigrants. No amnesty. But we can work it out, and we ought to do it now. If we wait until next year, January will turn into February, and February will turn into March. And it will be midyear at best before anything is done.

BLITZER: All right, we unfortunately have to leave it right there. Senator Specter, thanks very much. Senator Schumer...

SPECTER: Nice being with you.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0611/12/le.01.html