MSNBC Hardball-Transcript
MSNBC January 29, 2004 Thursday
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Transcription Copyright 2004 FDCH e-Media
(f/k/a/ Federal Document Clearing House, Inc.)
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
MSNBC
SHOW: HARDBALL 20:30
January 29, 2004 Thursday
SECTION: NEWS; INTERNATIONAL
HEADLINE: HARDBALL For January 29, 2004
BYLINE: Pat Buchanan; Chris Matthews
GUESTS: James Clyburn; Al Sharpton; Howard Dean; Jacques DeGraff; Steve Murphy
HIGHLIGHT:
Who were the winners and losers in tonight's South Carolina Democratic presidential debate?
BODY:
CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: The presidential debate is over. The candidates gave it their best. But our special coverage continues tonight. Who won, who lost tonight?
Let's play HARDBALL.
Welcome to a special edition of HARDBALL, the battle for the White House. I'm Chris Matthews.
And I'm joined by MSNBC contributor Pat Buchanan, Democratic strategist Jacques DeGraff, and Steve Murphy, who was Dick Gephardt's campaign manager.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
MATTHEWS: Congressman James Clyburn is a South Carolina Democrat who today endorsed John Kerry.
Thank you. Congressman Clyburn, it is great to have you here tonight.
REP. JAMES CLYBURN (D), SOUTH CAROLINA: Thank you. Thank you, Chris.
MATTHEWS: Why did you endorse John-why-you wanted to have Dick Gephardt, apparently, and now you've endorsed John Kerry.
CLYBURN: Yes.
MATTHEWS: Why-why have you gone with Kerry now?
CLYBURN: Well, because Dick Gephardt is no longer in the race.
And I thought that, when looking among the seven people left, thinking about what we need to do as a party, looking at the platforms of everybody, I saw that jobs, health care, personal security, homeland security, education, all the Democrats are pretty much on the same page.
But I thought that John Kerry would bring to our ticket an added dimension that we have not had in a long time. He brings credibility in a community like mine, my district and my state, on military issues. He has the credentials, the resume, the-I think what I would call the good common sense to do things for us as a party that we need to have done.
Veterans benefits, the kind of interaction with the Vietnam survivors that I saw him make during Vietnam Survivor Day told me that he knows how to connect with the people that we need to bring back into our party. And I think that the Vietnam era and those wounds from it are still with us. I think that this man is uniquely qualified to help get that era behind us, so that we can all begin to move forward together, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
MATTHEWS: Pat Buchanan has a question, Congressman.
CLYBURN: Yes.
BUCHANAN: Congressman, in terms of bringing us together one nation under God, do you support the NAACP boycott of your own state of South Carolina? And does Senator Kerry support that boycott? And is he going to stay in the state of South Carolina?
I know the boycott is over the fact that a battle flag flies over a Confederate memorial on the grounds of the Capitol.
CLYBURN: Well, two things about that, Pat.
First of all, the NAACP issued a statement at the beginning of this campaign that they were suspending all of that during the duration of the presidential campaign. And I applaud them for that. Secondly, I have always said that, when the compromise was reached with every black legislator, moving the flag out of position of sovereignty, putting it on the statehouse grounds, I accepted that as an interim solution that could be revisited later.
And so, because of that, I do believe that it is time for to us move forward. And I believe that the day will come in our future when that flag will no longer be on the statehouse grounds. But I applaud the good work of the black legislators in getting it off the dome, out of its position of sovereignty, and bringing to us an interim solution.
MATTHEWS: OK, thank you very much.
BUCHANAN: Thank you.
CLYBURN: Thank you.
MATTHEWS: Congressman James Clyburn, I wish the whole Congress had your spirit and generosity.
CLYBURN: Thank you.