CNN Transcript: Governor Warner on Paula Zahn Now

CNN
SHOW: PAULA ZAHN NOW

August 3, 2004 Tuesday

SECTION: News; International

HEADLINE: Private 1st Class Lynndie England in Court; Family Values and the Election

GUESTS: Guy Womack, William Webster, J.D. Hayworth, Mark Warner

BYLINE: Michael Holmes, Jamie McIntyre, Susan Candiotti, Tom Foreman, Heidi Collins

HIGHLIGHT:
Private 1st Class Lynndie England appears in court on charges of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib in Iraq. Which political party has the upper hand in the family values debate?

BODY:

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HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR:Joining us now are representatives from both campaigns. Congressman J.D. Hayworth is a Republican from Arizona. He's speaking on behalf of the Bush/Cheney campaign, and he joins from us tonight from Phoenix.

Thanks, sir, for being with us.

REP. J.D. HAYWORTH ®, ARIZONA: Thank you, Heidi.

COLLINS: And representing the Kerry/Edwards campaign is Virginia Governor Mark Warner, who is a Democrat. He is in Richmond tonight.

Hello to you, as well, Governor.

GOV. MARK WARNER (D), VIRGINIA: Hi, Heidi.

COLLINS: Thanks so much.

Congressman Hayworth, I'd like to begin with you. You know, Republicans have always called themselves the party of family values. In fact, today we heard President Bush talking with the Knights of Columbus in Dallas about his faith-based initiatives and his conservative stands on a number of social issues.

But I want you to look at these poll numbers for just a moment, if you would, on this issue, that show that people actually give Democrats a slight edge, 50 -- excuse me, 50 percent to 45 percent, that is, on values and what they mean to them.

Does it surprise you that the Republicans don't have more of an edge here?

HAYWORTH: Heidi, I thank you for raising this issue with the poll, because it gives me a chance to amplify what Tom Foreman spoke about in that report.

Let's understand, when you take a look at the folks they sampled, it really didn't talk about likely voters. And usually there is a skewing of more self-identified Democrats in the polling, especially for major urban areas. So I believe you have to take a look not so much at the polling but at the performance of the two candidates.

And the real problem here, Heidi, is that John Kerry says one thing, then acts in completely a different way.

For example, just a few weeks ago on a bus tour up in Minnesota, he said he represents conservative values, yet the non-partisan "National Journal" ranked John Kerry the most liberal member of the United States Senate.

He says he supports-or he opposes gay marriage. Yet when it comes to the Defense of Marriage Act, an act signed into law by President Clinton back in 1996, he was one of only 14 senators to vote against it.

COLLINS: All right.

HAYWORTH: And he consistently opposes the constitutional amendment that says marriage in the United States shall consist of one man and one woman.

COLLINS: All right, Governor Warner, your thought on that?

WARNER: Well, my thought is very simple. Like John Kerry, I oppose gay marriage. But I think it ought to be left to the states to make that decision. I don't think we ought to elevate this to a constitutional amendment.

If that is the most important issue, then-then perhaps the folks should vote for George Bush. If you believe the most important issue is how you are going to make sure you're going to have good quality jobs, how you're going to make sure our kids have health care, how you're going to make sure our streets are safe.

I mean, tonight I was in a very tough neighborhood in Richmond, where we were part of a national-national night out, where communities come out of their neighborhoods, leave the lights on, get out with neighbors in tough areas and get with the police forces.

HAYWORTH: Heidi, our concern...

(CROSSTALK)

WARNER: Let me just please finish.

HAYWORTH: Sure, go ahead. He's trying to filibuster.

WARNER: I mean, what we-the folks I was talking about tonight were, you know, are we going to get health care, are we going to get education?

These are the values that I think are common shared American values. That's what I think John Kerry's talking about. That's what I honestly hope both candidates will talk about between now and November.

COLLINS: Let's define this, then, just for a moment, if we could.

Congressman Hayworth, back to you now. What is the-what does the word mean to the Republican Party when we talk about family values here? And then how does it differ from what the Democrats are defining it as?

HAYWORTH: Well, perhaps the best way to answer that, Heidi, is to go back to something Mark said, well-meaning but ultimately disingenuous.

The fact is, this issue was thrust upon the scene by five judges of the Massachusetts Supreme Court. And now with so many activist judges at the federal level, those who legislate from the bench, it isn't so far fetched to see the full faith and credit clause of the Constitution being utilized to spread gay marriage across the country.

Indeed, we saw it with the actions of Mayor Gavin Newsom in San Francisco, with several justices of the peace in New York. And that is why...

COLLINS: But Congressman Hayworth, you're not defining the term for the Republicans.

HAYWORTH: Oh, no, I'll be very happy to define the term.

COLLINS: Is it just about gay marriage for the Republicans?

HAYWORTH: No, it isn't. It's about the notion of making sure that people preserve the sanctity of life, that we quit a culture of shouting and incivility, that we understand that the-that the family unit is most important, just as the best social program is a job, and just as it's good that Mark has been out tonight, dealing with getting crime off the streets, that we have to take action to protect our families.

We don't do that with judges who are soft on crime, and we don't do it through technicalities and clever arguments where we try to reprioritize and thrust upon the scene seismic social shifts such as the issue of gay marriage.

COLLINS: Thank you. Mark, go ahead.

WARNER: Heidi, let me try to address your question, which is, what does it mean for values?

Well, I've got to tell you what I think is the most basic and actually the most unique American value. And that's our ultimate sense of fairness, our sense of fair play.

And I believe that reflects how we address a whole series of issues, how it reflects the fact of whether we care about folks who are being left behind. Whether it's left behind in education, left behind in health care, whether it's our sense that if you can have a God-given right to work hard, you're going to succeed. That's all about fairness.

And I've got to tell you, I don't believe it's a Democratic value. I don't believe it's a Republican value. I believe it's an American value.

I think this whole values debate has become, you know, kind of political gobbledygook about, you know, throwing mud back and forth. I think we ought to get back to what our president, whether it is President Bush reelected or...

COLLINS: All right.

WARNER: ... John Kerry elected...

COLLINS: Thank you, Governor.

WARNER: ... about jobs, education, health care, our role in the world. And I think John Kerry, for a change, finally, the Democrats are not retreating on this issue of value. We're talking about a strong America both at home and abroad. And I think he's going to lay out what is that sense of American values.

COLLINS: All right. To the two of you tonight, we're going to have to leave it there, gentlemen. Congressman J.D. Hayworth, Governor Mark Warner, thanks again very much tonight.

HAYWORTH: Thank you.

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