MSNBC Scarborough Country - Transcript

MSNBC
SHOW: SCARBOROUGH COUNTRY 22:00

September 8, 2004 Wednesday

HEADLINE: SCARBOROUGH COUNTRY For September 8, 2004

BYLINE: Jack Jacobs; Mike Barnicle; Joe Scarborough

GUESTS: Mike Pence; Anthony Weiner; Terry Jeffrey; Kellyanne Conway; John Avlon; Martha Zoller; Ed Schultz

BODY:

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

SCARBOROUGH: I am.

Anthony Weiner, Republicans sure do look like hypocrites, don't they?

REP. ANTHONY WEINER (D), NEW YORK: Well, if you are a true conservative and a true fiscal conservative, you are voting Democratic this year.

Despite what my good friend Mike says, frankly, the spending in the years when the Republicans controlled the House, Senate, and the presidency is three times faster than it was when Clinton was in the White House. The simple fact of the matter is this has been a fiscally irresponsible Congress. And time and time again, we Democrats have said, let's do it as a pay-as-you-go basis. If we can afford to do the tax cut, we do it. We have to make dollar-to-dollar cuts in services if you want to do the tax cuts.

And let's remember something else. Let's remember who is funding these deficits and that debt clock. It's the Saudis. It's the Germans. It's the Japanese. We are essentially mortgaging our government by selling T-bills to foreign governments that are controlling more and more of our economy.

(CROSSTALK)

SCARBOROUGH: Well, I will tell you what we are going to do more-say more after the break.

What scares me, though, is that what we are hearing is, pretty soon, they may not even buy our T-bills, because our credit is going down so much because of these debts.

Listen, we'll be right back talking more about the problems that we have with our national debt when SCARBOROUGH COUNTRY returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCARBOROUGH: Mike, spending under George Bush has grown at three times the rate as under Bill Clinton, as Congressman Weiner said. Respond to that.

PENCE: Well, I just respond by saying that I think Anthony voted against the Medicare drug bill, like I did.

The only difference is that House conservatives opposed the Medicare bill because it was too big and irresponsible. Democrats thought it wasn't big enough. Even today on the House floor, we were fighting more Democratic amendments to increase spending.

Joe, despite the struggle that we face as Republicans, we are still holding the line far well and above what a Democratic majority in Congress would ever intend to do.

SCARBOROUGH: Anthony.

WEINER: Well, the bottom line is, who do you blame now? You got a Republican House, Republican Senate, a Republican president. We have gone from a $2.6 trillion projected surplus to an almost $4 trillion projected deficit.

Your book hits it right on, Joe. There is something wrong in Republicanville. No longer are Republicans the party of fiscal responsibility. That is now clearly the Clinton legacy and the Democratic way to go. And, frankly, I think voters this year who are going to vote fiscally responsibly, like I said, are going to vote Democratic.

SCARBOROUGH: Gentlemen, let's continue this conversation tomorrow night, if you can. We are going to be in Washington, D.C., talking about the issue. I would love to have you on again tomorrow night.

Thanks for being with us. Greatly appreciate it.

And, remember, you can check out excerpts of "Rome Wasn't Burnt in a Day" at our Web site, Joe.MSNBC.com. And make sure to tune into "Imus" tomorrow morning. He's got some great guests, including Donald Trump.

Thanks a lot for watching. We'll see you tomorrow night from Washington.