Does Daschle Deserve Apology?; Are Congressmen, Bush Playing Politics on Iraq Question?; Should Madelyne Toogood's Daughter be Returned to Her?
ARTHEL NEVILLE, HOST: Hello, everybody, and welcome to TALKBACK LIVE. I'm Arthel Neville. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle is demanding an apology from President Bush. We'll find out if Daschle deserves one. Plus, look at who's playing politics with Iraq as we close in on the midterm elections. Then stay tuned and see if Congressman Dick Armey's comments about Jews was out of line. And is there any reason to keep Madelyne Toogood away from her daughter? First, let's meet our panel. Yolanda Gaskins is an attorney and radio talk show host in Dallas, Texas. Steve Malzberg is a radio talk show host on WABC in New York and columnist for NewsMax.com. Gareth Schweitzer is a White House correspondent for the Talk Radio News Service. And Peter Blute is a radio talk show host on WRKO in Boston. He is a former congressman. And his morning show is called "Blute and Ozone." I want to thank all of you for being here.</s>NEVILLE: Good, good, good. OK, let's start with why Senator Daschle thinks President Bush owes Democrats an apology. Here's what Daschle said this morning on the Senate floor.</s>SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D-SD), MAJORITY LEADER: The president is quoted in "The Washington Post" this morning as saying that the Democratic-controlled Senate is not interested in the security of the American people. Not interested in the security of the American people? You tell Senator Inouye he is not interested in the security of the American people. You tell those who fought in Vietnam and in World War II they are not interested in the security of the American people. That is outrageous, outrageous. The president ought to apologize.</s>NEVILLE: CNN senior White House correspondent John King joins us to explain what the president and others said to get that response -- John,</s>JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Arthel, let me start by saying Senator Daschle is not going to get the apology he demands, White House aides saying they think the senator is out of line here. And they think this is evidence of the frustration many Democrats have, because we are five weeks from the election season. The Democrats want it to be about the economy and about health care and it is a campaign very much dominated -- at least the discussion here in Washington -- by the war on terrorism and now the confrontation with Iraq. The White House makes this distinction. You heard Senator Daschle quote from the newspaper, saying the president said the Democratic-controlled Senate does not have the security interests, does not care about the security interests of the United States of America. The president never used in his speech the word "Democratic- controlled." He said "the Senate." It is the newspaper that added the words "Democratic-controlled." Elsewhere in that same speech, the president said both Republicans and Democrats were helping him. This comment was directed specifically to the fight over the homeland security bill and the fight between the president, who wants broad powers to hire, fire, move people around, Democrats, who, at the request of labor unions, want some specific regulations about the workplace. So the White House thinks this is being blown out of proportion and they think it is a sign of frustration among the Democrats as the elections get closer.</s>NEVILLE: Now, John, Ari Fleischer is going to address reporters in about 25 minutes. What do you think he is going to say about all of this?</s>KING: Well, he will say, we are told, first and foremost, that there is no apology planned by the White House. And what you might hear him say publicly is what we are being told by other White House officials who are not on camera. So we will see if Ari Fleischer goes as far. They say if Senator Daschle wants to blame someone for politicizing the war this week, perhaps he should give Al Gore a call and refer to the speech the former vice president and former Bush rival gave earlier this week in which he was sharply critical of the president. Senator Tom Daschle also criticized Vice President Cheney, saying that Vice President Cheney said a Republican candidate in Kansas would be preferable to the Democrat when it came to waging the war effort and supporting the president on the war effort. The White House is saying a Kansas newspaper wrote a story that said that, but if you go back and look at what Mr. Cheney said, he never made that direct comparison. So the White House is saying here is that Senator Daschle should be more careful before he delivers these speeches. But let's be clear. There is a sentiment among Republicans that any debate that focuses on Iraq and homeland security helps the party heading into the election. The president said today that this is his job, that he is going to talk about it at every appearance. You have tensions between the Democrats and the Republicans, perhaps to be expected this close to the election. But the issues, of course, are of grave concern, because we are talking about war and the possibility of military action in Iraq.</s>NEVILLE: Absolutely. John King, thank you very much for that report. OK, panel, I want to bring you in on this discussion right now. Does Daschle have a point or is he way off base? I'm going to start with you, Yolanda.</s>YOLANDA GASKINS, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: This whole thing is very disheartening to me. And I'm sure a lot of the American people -- somehow, I think a lot of us thought that, after September 11, some of this political craziness would end, some of the name-calling, some of the jumping to conclusions. But, apparently, it is never going to end. And I think that it just really takes the focus off the real problems that we have in America right now.</s>NEVILLE: Which are?</s>GASKINS: Well, how long is this show? We are going to be going through a lot of them, but No. 1, the economy; No. 2, what is going on with the possibility of war; the stock market. I mean, there are a lot of things that are going on internally right now. And somehow I feel that this kind of bickering needs to be put to an end. And I was optimistic that, after September 11, that some of this would happen. But I think my optimism was a little bit too fast.</s>NEVILLE: Peter Blute, how do you see it?</s>PETER BLUTE, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: I think there is growing frustration in the White House that the Senate has not acted on this homeland security bill fully a year after 9/11. And it appears they are holding it up at the request of a special interest group, organized labor, who are very invested in the Democratic politicians. I think national security should come first. Bush is right that this is a different type of agency. It should not be just another regular agency. You should be able to hire and fire very quickly, depending on performance and depending on need.</s>NEVILLE: Steve?</s>STEVE MALZBERG, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Well, I agree with everything that was just stated. Obviously, they are playing politics in an effort to support the unions. When it comes to national security, you need to be able to move people around. But Tom Daschle, I would like somebody to talk about Tom Daschle playing politics. Four years ago, in 1998, Tom Daschle was one of the co-sponsors of a bill in the Senate that authorized President Clinton to take whatever action necessary against Iraq if they did not live up to all the U.N. resolutions. And also today, Tom Daschle said that George Bush's father had it right in 1991. He got international support and an international coalition. But guess what? In 1991, Tom Daschle voted no for the war. So who is playing politics here?</s>NEVILLE: Gareth, you answer that question.</s>GARETH SCHWEITZER, TALK RADIO NEWS SERVICE: Well, look, first of all, I would like to point out that they have now basically claimed that a special interest is anything that disagrees with the White House. These labor unions represent the workers who are going to work in this new department. So, in essence, what the Democrats are doing is, they're representing the people, the citizens of the United States who are going to work here. In terms of the apology, no, Tom Daschle does not deserve an apology. Neither does the administration. This is the politics of the Bush administration riding a winning horse. Nothing is more popular than a war before it's started, there's been any casualties, there's been any bloodshed. And nothing is more unpopular than an economy that's sinking. They are getting on the horse that is winning the race.</s>NEVILLE: OK, listen, I want to let the audience speak out right now, beginning with Dennis (ph).</s>DENNIS: Well, right now, the economy is in pretty bad shape. And the potential war that we are having with Iraq is acting as a convenient shield for the president. And it allows him to not focus on the economy and all the other things that are happening at home.</s>NEVILLE: So, are you saying there may be a little bit of politics at play here?</s>DENNIS: Yes.</s>NEVILLE: OK. Let's see what Diane (ph) has to say. She's joining us from Washington.</s>DIANE: Well, I think we have to use a lot of common sense here. If we don't keep a lid on our security and on the war on terror, we are not even going to have economy left to work on. It's just going to disappear.</s>NEVILLE: OK, thanks, Diane (ph), for that comment. Listen, we have to take a break right now, but I want to hear from you a little bit more on this. Who owes whom an apology? Of course, you can give me a call me at 1-800-310-4CNN or e-mail TALKBACK@CNN.com. Plus, you'll hear from a senator who accuses the president of trading soldiers' lives for votes. The talk continues after this.