2008 Polls National Iowa New Hampshire General Election GOP | Dem GOP | Dem GOP | Dem Head-to-Head

---

October 12, 2006

Special Report Roundtable - October 12

FOX News Special Report With Brit Hume

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BOLTON, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: It's important that we send a very clear signal and we're still trying to persuade China of the -- what I think is the overwhelming sentiment of the other members of the council to support these provisions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUME: And, said Ambassador John Bolton, the new resolution that the United States is now about to circulate or has circulated, but is certainly drafted, is -- it's not quite as tough but still pretty tough on North Korea.

Some thoughts on all this now from Fred Barnes, executive editor of the "Weekly Standard"; Mort Kondracke, executive editor of "Roll Call"; and Mara Liasson, national political correspondent of National Public Radio -- FOX NEWS contributors all.

Well first, there was a resolution that was shopped around and now there's another one. What's going on -- Mort.

MORT KONDRACKE, "ROLL CALL": Well, the United States has been trying to get tough sanctions on the North Koreans including basically what amounts to an economic embargo and freezes on all kinds of economic activity and stuff like that, which the Chinese don't want to go along with.

The Chinese don't want to -- seem to want to go along with any broad gauge sanctions through the U.N. although they're telling Americans they're not exactly ruling out, although they're not ruling in either -- what they might do themselves against the North Koreans. But, what I'm told, what they apparently will agree to is a ban on nuclear imports and exports.

Now, the question is how do you enforce that? And this -- they are not in favor of the U.N., under chapter seven, which is the chapter that can lead to military activity if it's violated, they're not in favor of any kind of enforcement activity under that rubric.

But the united -- it does leave open the possibility that the United States could organize, as it did with the proliferation security initiative, a gang.

HUME: What's that?

KONDRACKE: Well, you remember, we got -- we found out about the Libyan nuclear facilities by boarding a German ship under this thing that - - actually it was John Bolton who worked it out with a lot of other countries and we tried -- we got the Spanish to board a North Korean ship on the grounds that they were violating U.N. missile regulations. It turned out that they weren't, but nonetheless, it is possible for us, if we're willing to do it, to do this boarding, to do this enforcement ourselves with a gang, with Japan maybe and NATO.

HUME: With a coalition of the willing.

KONDRACKE: We're back to that.

HUME: So, but the political question remains as well, is the U.S. being forced by weakness, or at least wobbliness, on the part of the Chinese and the South Koreans to settle for a much weakened resolution or a not much weakened resolution?

FRED BARNES, "WEEKLY STANDARD": I think it's not much weakened and besides, I mean, at least one of the things that the U.S. had in its original resolution was obviously there to be a concession to make the Chinese feel better, you know, (INAUDIBLE), well they dropped that. You know, this thing that would say all members states of the U.N. would have to join in this economic boycott.

Well, you know, in the first place, most of them wouldn't do it anyway, no matter what the -- whether the resolution were passed or not and it was something just easy to give away. I think so far, they've handled it pretty well. Now, they have to get the Chinese to sign on the dotted line, but -- or to vote in favor or it but, I think they're close to that and that will be a real achievement. The Chinese have moved.

MARA LIASSON, NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO: Yeah, this is a real test for China. China is a regional power in Asia, it is the most powerful country in Asia and also, I don't think the United States is asking China to do it a favor. It's asking something -- for China to do something that's clearly in its own interest. China wants us.

HUME: In fairness to China, I mean, the United States does not have to worry the North Korea -- if North Korea kind of implodes...

LIASSON: That's right.

HUME: we're not going to get refugees in California.

LIASSON: That's right. This is a real problem for China. China wants to keep the Korean peninsula stable, it also doesn't want South Korea, eventually, to take over the north, but it wants to keep the Korean peninsula stable, it also doesn't -- and certainly having North Korea being a nuclear armed power doesn't keep it stable, it also doesn't want it to implode, as you said, and send millions of starving people across its border. So, it's going to have to do something. It's going to finally calibrate its response to, A, stop it from having nuclear weapons and also keep from it imploding, and that's a tough call, but they're going to have to do it.

KONDRACKE: Yeah, it looks as thought they just want to kick the can down the road for as long as possible. And you know, the Japanese have said that they're not going nuclear. That.

HUME: The Japanese have said.

KONDRACKE: The Japanese have said that they are not going nuclear, so that takes a lot of the heat off the Chinese. If the Japanese were moving toward developing nuclear weapons, I think that would really motivate the Chinese to...

HUME: I wonder why the Chinese just decided to announce that? For domestic political reasons do you think?

KONDRACKE: That's all I can figure I mean...

BARNES: Yeah, I'm not sure about that either. That didn't make much sense to me because obviously, they are considering whether they do it now or not, they are considering nuclear weapons, it's something they talk about and they're not advocating it now, but they are moving in that direction.

Look, I think this refugee thing is vastly overrated. I mean look, some -- so what if a few hundred thousand refugees come across the border, the Chinese can handle them. They're not going to disrupt the Olympics in 2008 or anything like that. So, you know, tell the Chinese to build a 700 mile wall maybe that'll work.

HUME: Next up with the panel, Democratic presidential hopeful and the hope of many Democrats, Mark Warner, has backed out of the `08 race. Why'd he do that? We'll talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK WARNER (D), FMR. VA GOVERNOR: I decided that while this was appearing to be the right time politically for me to take the next step that it wasn't the right time personally. It came down after months of reflection and soul searching and more than a little prayer that, you know, if I'm not willing to put everything else in my life on the back burner, family, friends, everything, then I shouldn't take the next step.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUME: And he said he wasn't willing to do that and so he's not taking the next step and of course, whenever a politician says in effect that he wants to spend more time with his family, political journalists roll their eyes and start wondering what the real reason is. But that's what he said and so we'll see whether these political journalists are going to roll their eyes and say that. What about it?

LIASSON: Well, I tried to find out if there was something, you know? Divorce, some problem, sickness...

HUME: Cash in the freezer.

LIASSON: Yeah, and I couldn't find it. I mean, I think that his family was not enthusiastic, but what I'm told is they were ready to do it if he wanted to. He's been -- it sounds like he's been mulling over this decision or having second thoughts about it for quite a number of weeks. And this was the time to, if he was going to pull the plug to do it, because people were starting to put their lives on hold for him and sign up and raise money.

It is extraordinary, because he was emerging even at this early point in the race as the kind of centrist red state governor alternative to Hillary Clinton who is the early front-runner. And you know, but now he's not going to run. He certainly has a political future. He may run for the Virginia Senate when the seat comes open or even try again for the governorship, since that's a one four-year term job. But for now he's not going to run for president and not there are all sorts of other people trying to fill that vacuum.

KONDRACKE: Yeah, it sounds you talked to Larry Sabato, too.

LIASSON: No, I actually didn't talk to Larry Sabato.

KONDRACKE: Oh that's.

HUME: Tell everybody who Larry Sabato is now.

KONDRACKE: Larry Sabato is a.

LIASSON: I talked to Mark Warner people.

KONDRACKE: Is at the University of Virginia who knows Warner very well and said that he discussed this a lot with Warner. And what you just heard from Mara is what Warner told Sabato.

HUME: So the reason is the reason.

KONDRACKE: Yeah. And Larry concludes is that Mark Warner is saying that he doesn't want to give up his life for his ambition and that's as simple as that.

BARNES: You know, it's a horrible -- it would be a horrible experience running for president and the reward is great if you happen to be the person who become president, but it's a horrible way to live your life. This is not the first time someone has done this.

Remember Walter Mondale in 1976? Didn't run when he was expected to, said he didn't want to spend, you know, the next 300 nights a Holiday Inn and so he didn't. It's the same though with Mark Warner.

HUME: Yeah, but as vice president.

BARNES: But then -- and then ran for president. Warner hasn't ruled out a future career. I mean Democrats may not win the White House in 2008, but Brit, there are a couple of other things, one, it's going to be a foreign policy election in 2008. There are going to be people like Hillary Clinton who know a lot about that and he's not one of them being a governor from Virginia. And also, you know, there's not that much room on the right of Hillary Clinton in the Democratic Party I mean, particularly when you're running -- the people who vote in the primaries, there are not conservatives there. Now -- or even moderates. Now, Bill Clinton could pull it off because he has his overpowering personality and he could appeal as a moderate to liberals, but I don't think Mark Warner could do that.

KONDRACKE: I think this is a real -- this is a really sad for the Democratic Party...

HUME: Warner's out. Anybody who's running as a moderate or conservative is running to be the alternative to Hillary Clinton.

(CROSSTALK)

HUME: Well all right, Warner certainly was running to be the alternative to Hilary Clinton.

LIASSON: So was Evan Bayh, so was Tom Vilsack.

HUME: So who's left?

LIASSON: Bayh, Evan Bayh.

KONDRACKE: Evan Bayh -- Evan Bayh would have been in that spot a few years ago.

HUME: He's a Democratic senator from Indiana, some of the...

(CROSSTALK)

KONDRACKE: Use to be a red state governor, except that Evan Bayh has been basically moving toward the pack on practically everything, voting against Condi Rice, voting against all the Supreme Court justices, I mean, he's got the disease and he want to...

HUME: What disease is that? The presidential.

KONDRACKE: The presidential disease.

BARNES: The desire to lead the country, Mort.

KONDRACKE: But he ain't no new Democrat anymore. Bill Richardson, you know, is cutting tax and stuff like that and is sort of a moderate, but I don't know whether -- it's not a red state that he represents, it's a...

LIASSON: There's Tom Vilsack, and.

HUME: Tom Vilsack.

LIASSON: Governor of Iowa.

HUME: Governor of Iowa an attractive guy

KONDRACKE: Yeah.

LIASSON: Yeah.

HUME: But when you hear all these people -- hear all these names you think, in terms of name recognition and presence they're kind of dwarfed by Hillary Clinton aren't they?

BARNES: Yeah or else it's John Kerry and John Edwards. Retreads. And the problem with Edwards who's out there campaigning like crazy in Iowa and Mort say, what, he's leading in the polls. He's got the same shtick, you know, there's two Americas and I'm fighting poverty shtick that he had in 2004. Didn't work then, won't work now.

KONDRACKE: There will be an alternative to Hillary Clinton.

LIASSON: Sure.

---

Sponsored Links

About Us | Contact | Advertise | Privacy Policy         © RealClearPolitics 2006