Election `08 Already Getting Dirty
GLENN BECK, HOST: Coming up, even though the presidential election is 21 months away, the campaign is already getting dirty. I`ll tell you who and why. Plus, the latest on Anna Nicole Smith and Britney Spears. She`s checked back into rehab again. I`m not kidding.</s>ANNOUNCER: Tonight brought to you by Decision `08. Because it`s never too early to start getting sick of politicians.</s>BECK: Would you please check your calendar on the fridge? I checked mine. It says February 2007. I believe the first primaries won`t take place until next winter, and the election actually happens the fall after that. But in spite of all of this, mud is already being thrown between Hillary Clinton and her main Democratic rival, Barack Obama. At the center of this tiff is Hollywood mogul, David Geffen, the former Clinton pal turned Obama supporter. He was critical of Bill and Hillary in a new interview published in the "New York Times", and this has sparked a very annoying and hypocritical war of words. Here`s the point tonight. Would you ever want to be president? I mean, who in their right mind would ever want to run for president? Seriously, if you`re at all capable, wouldn`t you rather just run a big company or something and put your feet up at night? Here`s how I got there. For those of you who don`t know who David Geffen is, do you remember Dreamworks, SKG? He was the "G". He used to be a big supporter of the Clintons, to the tune of $18 million in donations and sleepovers in the Lincoln Bedroom. But he`s decided that Obama is his man now. And in Maureen Dowd`s column, he articulated why, and the Clintons are all upset about it and now demanding that Obama return any money that Geffen donated to them. But in looking at the remarks, I`m wondering if Geffen was wrong or if he was just brutally honest. Let me take a look at these remarks one by one. This is what he said. First, that Hillary was a polarizing figure. Uh, yes. That Bill is a reckless guy. You are correct, sir. And then he said, "Everybody in politics lies but the Clintons do it with such ease that it`s troubling." "I did not sleep with that woman." I think I`d have to say yes on that one, as well. Now, the next one is -- final one, is that Obama is not from the Bush royal family or the Clinton royal family. True and true. So what did he say that was so bad except for the truth? That being said, I have to tell you, Geffen is a little hacked off at the Clintons, because -- and I believe it`s a personal vendetta. In 2001, Geffen asked President Clinton to pardon a Native American friend of his. President Clinton turned down his request. Clinton did, however, pardon his billionaire buddy, Mark Rich, instead. By the way, Geffen`s friend murdered two FBI agents. Gee, I wonder why Bill Clinton wouldn`t pardon him? So instead he conversely pardoned his billionaire friend, Mark Rich. Geffen has now turned his attention and his wallet to Barack Obama. So now Hillary wants Obama to apologize. He`s done nothing to apologize. I mean, you got a problem, Hillary, take it up with Geffen not with Barack. But here is where it really gets interesting. This is not about the truth. It`s about politics. Bill and Hillary Clinton are great at moving people off of message. This is their go-to play. They know how to operate in the eye of the storm. Is there anything left to say about the Clintons that you think actually offends them? I mean, they`ve been called scumbags to killers by their political opponents. What could you possibly say about the Clintons that they haven`t already heard at least a dozen times? They`re not offended by Geffen`s remarks. They`re trying to move Obama off message and put him on the defensive, and it appears they may have succeeded. We are now witnessing the dark side of the force, the slime inside the beltway. The luster may soon start to come off of Barack Obama if he gets down and rolls in the mud with pigs. Here`s what I know tonight. We are a year and nine months away from the election, and it`s already getting nasty and ugly. Our long national nightmare is going to get even longer in the future, because now states are jockeying to have their primaries moved earlier, moving the whole process up. Here`s what I don`t know. How in the world can someone keep their character and their sanity and still run for president? Two years of this nonsense? John F. Harris, he is the author of "The Survivor: Bill Clinton in the White House". John, do you really think that Bill and Hillary were offended by these comments?</s>JOHN F. HARRIS, AUTHOR, "THE SURVIVOR": Sure. I don`t doubt it. They were -- Geffen has been a friend of theirs in the past, and I`m sure they were bothered by it. Clearly, they don`t like the uproar that it`s caused.</s>BECK: Come on. This is -- I mean, this is what they do. They go negative on somebody going negative.</s>HARRIS: Well, I think you`re right about how they decided to respond to that. Clearly, what they`re trying to do is get Obama, rough up his clean image by making it look like he`s a politician, as usual. But I don`t doubt that they were genuinely surprised and ticked off by this.</s>BECK: You know, I have to tell you. What I question is not Bill and Hillary question on this. I question David Geffen. How do you raise $18 million for somebody and then say these things about them?</s>HARRIS: Sure. Politics are rough business, isn`t it? The question is that I have, you know what he said about that Obama he likes because he`s not with the Clinton royal family and he`s not with the Bush royal family. How many people out there also are of that mind? That is, they don`t want to relive the 1990s era disputes about Mark Rich, about Lincoln Bedroom sleepovers. They want to turn the page. If there`s a lot of people out there who think like this, Glenn, that could be a problem for Hillary`s campaign.</s>BECK: Yes. I have to tell you, I think that goes deeper than just Mark Rich and Monica Lewinsky. I mean, earlier this week there was that Monica Lewinsky poll that came out. I was really uncomfortable talking about it, because I`m like, "Oh, geez. I don`t want to talk about this again." But I think it goes deeper than that. I think that it`s going to be really hard for anybody to win if you`re inside the beltway now, just because nobody really wants to talk about Iraq either. You are -- everybody in Washington has been slimed. I think it`s going to take an outsider. Or an outsider at least has a much better chance at winning this year.</s>HARRIS: Well, and just -- my question would be does Al Gore count as an outsider? You`ve been watching him sort of -- he`s hanging back. But a lot of people think that he might yet get in this race, especially if he sees Obama and Clinton rough it up. And people say, "Hey, I want somebody else." So I wouldn`t rule that out as a late entrance among the Democrats.</s>BECK: I`m going to tell you, I said in my office a couple weeks ago, I`m going to do a monologue on the radio on this here in a couple of days. I said -- and everybody was looking at me like I was crazy. I think Al Gore is building an army of young. I really do. I mean, I think this whole global climate change thing is really about him building a new base to move forward. I mean, look at -- he`s doing all of these concerts all around in key states. I mean, this guy is really quite sharp.</s>HARRIS: Well, I do -- don`t believe that it`s just about politics with Al Gore. He`s believed this for a long time, been talking about it for a good 20 years or so. But I think you`re right when you identify this as potentially being an issue with real political heat behind it.</s>BECK: Do you think that Rudy Giuliani is -- well, first of all, do you think that Hillary will get the nomination?</s>HARRIS: I think if Al Gore doesn`t get in we have to consider her the odds-on favorite, yes.</s>BECK: OK. So the best candidate for Rudy Giuliani to run against would be Hillary Clinton, because they`re the only ones that can`t play the private life card. Because Rudy Giuliani has problems in his private life, but I think a lot of people will have a problem. I mean, those two, they`re never going to sling mud at each other about their private life. Right?</s>HARRIS: Well, Glenn, but there`s a lot of voters. And we saw this in the Clinton years. You`re offended by the Clintons` private life, but a lot of people have decided that that`s not important to how they`re going to vote. You have to remember, this is not an electorate made up of, you know, 200 million Glenn Becks. There are a lot of people who are -- different views about that.</s>BECK: I understand that. I will tell you what I`m surprised at is how many people like me -- I was offended not by the private life -- well, yes, I am, but that wasn`t a reason to impeach him. But I`m offended by private life. I think character matters. What I`m really surprised at is how many conservatives will now call me up. Because I will say I`ve got a problem with Rudy Giuliani. I want to make sure we check into his character first. And how many people say, "Oh, character doesn`t matter here on this. His private life." Excuse me? Where were you in the Monica Lewinsky thing? A lot of people are still looking at not right-wrong but left-right.</s>HARRIS: Well, people measure character and gauge it in different ways. A lot of Giuliani supporters would say look, he showed his character in those days after 9/11. You know, look at just the journalists -- our journalists here at Politico.com, who honestly would love to see a race between two titans like Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton. That would be a fantastic race. I`m a little skeptical that Giuliani can get the nomination, although he`s ahead in the polls right now. This was the race we all expected to see in 2000 when Hillary ran for Senate, didn`t get it. Maybe in 2008 we will.</s>BECK: All right. John, thanks a lot.</s>HARRIS: Thank you.</s>BECK: Coming up, Britney`s third trip to rehab in a week. How is it that K. Fed is looking like the responsible parent? And speaking of train wrecks, the latest from the Anna Nicole courtroom chaos. Plus, Iran has failed to halt it`s uranium enrichment by the U.N. deadline and their weapon development continues. Does the U.N. have a backbone? I don`t think so. And Bank of America blaming the Patriot Act for illegal aliens to be able to use their service. We`ll explain as we continue our weeklong border series in tonight`s "Real Story".