tv Charlie Rose WHUT August 26, 2009 11:00pm-12:00am EDT
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on: welcome to the oat. edwho died latesd.e at his he hyni maachuses. 'ltait driwi arooinil fen dredeiahiri al jourli i washitoned wh vesenatokennedy and john meacham,he editor of ewsw magaze ich is cong wh a commerative issue. d we'll hr frenator kennedy h ow words in rviewst heiditme one i00 and e in he's an ex>> this is aplac tt ya isble.at the sutou
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ma peoplon bothsidesf the cobuti tth f is ser inhesetehat can tick off gislatn d evythinge, you as greatas if you had r foesen a hadtwo terms inhe presiden. placanbout bei a sator and e gacy thatoure il. it's an enormous honor. mean, it's the greest pubc nor u uld ssibly have. an reahat and prte the tst thahepeople of mase gito me. to be able teprent them e nate. and we' tried to... i've alwaerceived by ros try toetso in pe. 's beenrustrating in the o seone th's psione t nation hlt iurce and s en fighting that over0 snd istil.. we see tse.very singl day ma tragedies h
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captioningpoor by se communitis >> rose: lookso mple rng and led thets keedwho dd la yoward gh i ewelp the h re tisble wre we ha taed a his hievenndmany mes remaleife. 's lif t ll kwn many pplbeof mi, becausof htrmp, cae h tge a causas forfead h of theat storthe unedtas talabout ttlife beginninithdos gowin, a filendand talk wit u b carndell phone on ray fm
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anspt to bton. yo bn hisrt da ve m ns t pce thla--ndnkt'mangbo whso my mes heom down ao nyeople e rlly whe miho.sha 's we nnysame intriuh aft f.'s eleio rorisicri a whe eyamn sne. d u reayave a elg athiasha bndha falyher. e rall or e rl l or t couny a eylway ce bk he. so it'so ttgn a rtn alwayse fev inouimage tamily. >> rose:he knew thend wa ar and inceains yno i w him last ge the rex ga wn reut thfi bl a w tsi hithoaordiny it
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paiarch of theamy enhe othersie don't ow aasy t rk in the sena. itoesn't mak gre si toee cpr with har but wh you tnkabou wh h was ab tdonterms t lesliothve hhe mimuwas r op, ilen hlt immian, notiting aesto le op's right cting ionsf , at real lacan th iceis o not en ecd tohe brotrs f whe always com him. >> roso y ink t sow was fatalisti and unders t perhi is desnys toe a d s e na had seen ratrthanoe prid yw, ata ns i ink onhe di ke tt cioto runor t esnymo aer0 h selein rea cfo wh ents
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down there say "don't need to be presi, t me jusdo the of decracy ghhere i the nate." >>ose: wl, whelook at the imct he's.is legiat trere 500 significant eces o legislatn. wh you t about t impt lives,t's aing,owering ement farbeyond pridts. >> aolel fard my i an tt'th t soal jtice ate sabtowas to bring aut t gislatatempne al aected t y pee, yhe le th he, cncth heobs bwithheamiehe somebodyetsi this mecalee inthrehu iactson people'saily ves. >> rose: to see himwalk dn
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anncdibly the g when wldstumin afr esigswo tithecof ilathoan o pape ouocen ufe had togo ov for t sena and he ff wld deimnds on you ca o hwaedoal rious uf ay wveot tlkut e niwa,ow gng g is rough? hielanyet wkat tam setth n ten found, tnk so, leuln bo dimens. >>os bend tragy,which nt toeak t a moment, know t famil wh... how wahe shad faro u son joeennend ros.. theon of r kennedy, e broer of hn and bert d joe euniceat >>elhe'soquesti he ay tyai t anthen hecameth einf theamy ter hibr
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buinmo iornt stf ia rt nsis it did,ndeed,nd hichanceo siut it bug h bk to that me chappaidcke cko3 member reangike mafid idweome ho, dd ts wreouelg." son a funny y found thk erhe wasos coortabl maybe wldavbeen aoo presidt. sete and he woulhave hadthe that same aff t ho but nonetheleshe fndhere belonged, ihink. >> rose:e also l rectly hisieunice shrer t famy a h ace lationipo th bthers. >>elune o ma ways, asoe kne, s, onc sd, hashbe a b e woul caolic pdentf e it at. enorusri anormous will. ershcos the fil.. me,everyby'ple in that fil s impoan unrsnd. soouavthe thegold deembe,,jrac, romary, cou in the midd othat. but cae er iss wit
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her meal ste east pt tsmbitiouspl. enouet eic,ortfth meor for the whole yng raonncdi rosemary, even tugh rory w aea de and eeeme en as litt glensitive t the s of h young slis anofroma. it wasai theparents wod have to ll t o ks uld yomakeur remy lensowo ayens wld yota h to town shopping oner ownc ul just it and mehow thatonctn ben hereliohito is extna fusnhatroce couldbe de forally rerded peopl the ial olpics. d she willave hewn pce history for heein some ws eear of a mont and soti lde of impa politianr a movento veeoe hadifficultenlrobls a acinocietyan g tm
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tt possibilitiesnd pouniean cpetiti d thas areat ing. tsamy reall hn imctn riminive lives d ourctlai ve in waprobab nod sinth am fil wbain94 lord bverote tt j kne,r. in wch he sa... he pdied at val thda.ywould somay erwanoaye cldha seen ith. >> rose:ow anyove mh, dis you'rost wee,harl. >> re:t'.. wefounate toave u. th much havefe trav bk toon. >> thank you, i' t to so. e. >>ose:oris krn goodwin. contie a rbrcend preciationf ddy knedy. st wh rose:contue ection senatorendy
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th alunoflobeew whwaa filennd w cored ser kne cr in senate an meaam, edor of "newswe magazi which is coming a cmemorave i begin with ho dhe last interview that setor kennedy did on telision. i wa simply t set that up, and en wl go to a be th ier , lle autheas teie crl w y 00 cpl.. igus ou wk tda borseto keedwaiaos whth drdf bin nc d t hi s he inasngn. amhain een wpp u thomat lly s il aanda d erwa binngo a loofal ou oba/inn eatiet an aedenorendy w s e cse tnghe w to kg mer t decric ptyndthw ldatll erha ia ansanowa ct lly inn. whh thk w ect wt
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ra oma wtehio ansethrecafo scsionin the nexew wes. roseres ptf that convtion. al hunt, senatorennedy at nator keedy'shome. wld he tt heuld alsoive conderati somebo tha has. is in tune wi his aea thenobler asratis of themerican pe. i mean ithinthis ... he has struc a ton amicans are epared as th ve in t p, freeny, not always, to deal withe challengeshat we're fac and americans are thirsty to do it. d i k ie h real leer a dith rack obama in tr-two spo as well it woubeenorus heful. >>ouave think aut crtials. nionalsecuty well, ihi that.. 's uful a rtant t whit fnk bacs unrsndg in foreignolic an lteningmtalk aut naity he s
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e urth camig think he'seen eloquen, ins yive and i think he'seen right. >> rose: aooing m j me cch. this is th cover o "newsweek's"pecial brher, ward. kenneth last 1932-200" in hry w d we put thi rson? >> one o t or three senators who wil rembed forever. henry clay, daniel webster, ted kenn i think that it gets. e' fallg there hamletite a would an my min, it's great amican lifean it great and intesting because it's so mplex. this ist sry of tend camelo and tkind of gr mortaradg into t sunset. is i story of a very troublednd yet timaly triuhant m who faced
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incredible demonsand setes th w tate a sotimes he did. anhe s to mindas strangelynspir tionale because see his life, anyway, as a search foredemion as opposed the uomicated unfolding a desny. >> ros twohis begin th:umbe o, the family hwas th cr,e was e core of this family r so manyears. secondlyhe was a js center. having said that,l me ories,eleedendy wl,haieha ctures . algr whoh tte lle e throrfo grt nars iry anhi sryas jt ts exaoiny rilnc a meckro sh rrle tred se ot se-iuc. fothamythwa re w tceer
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tishvetomeod at teddcod alwa metee alt,atr at the agy s. cfoin pseeor a erne wh hbrgh t licsas al maab ahi rehaitr o h broer bug tsradiry coinioof mmme a ssn angithncdie uban. teendy al..eot on ledheuses h kepele heik ppl ofifri inofie. hehoht.hiridchs ddol meeough everodhaan ierti sty d meinto ntbu.henderstd colethings iai a a,e led pele heasheardestorr i' ereen. nonead btesete encovereim i e na diarcoite,haie hithe stafemrs sff mbs-we kfirg w sci mteofan wetming ecuve mpsaonn shgt. vibos,hefaedawr n yk w psete
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miost d felw ned stenbrer atast ad sff upat tbeupme c ste,es >> acy. head. n o er h a afli teddy noneord rd. buhis sre w ndd e ulli. ledeoe,he kwhe t mpmi, he kextl w faheould g h r ulgethotruyo . ryeweoe ve tt tant eneoe o me i a sclay yor q. way hter, ahoh hewas quite brht. >> rose:l meore about edward knedy the pician, edrd knedy'salen, edwd kennedy's place. well,e was, as al issaying as rm and grious i y ttneithe of his brothers were. j.k.'s liberalism waser cool. his favorite... one of his political idols was melbourne. fafs kind of detachme.
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bobby... genal kennedy was ry hot in those j.f.k.'s liberalism was very cool. his favorite... one of his political idols was melbourne. fafs kind of detachment. bobby... general kennedy was very hot in those last days but had... was famously ruthless and tough up until that last 1968.gn in it seems to me that ted kennedy actually enjoyed politics for the people. and he grew up in the senate. he was someone who had a work ethic that is quite at odds with the caricature of a very rich man sailing around and probablyu drinking a little too much and not being the... he does not have the reputation for the workhorse qualities that i think he deserves. there are very few examples, it seems to me, in american politics ever of the distance e between the caricature of someone and the reality. he was seen as an
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unreconstructed unflinching new deal liberal.be he was, as al was just saying,st one of the great compromisers. always wanted to get something and then try to make it better later, which belies thats caricature. and was someone who saw past the traditional ideological labels that people wore.or i think and like churchill in a way i think because he always understood that this morning's enemy might be tonight's ally. and if you grew up in the legislative body, you build coalitions from issue to issue. so you really can't afford if you are going to be a master legislator to cut people off on one issue because you're probably going to need them in two hours on something else. >> rose: republicans, al. in some cases there were deep friendships. orrin hatch being one. >> yeah. john mccain being another. b when john mccain got the profile in courage award ten or so year ago, he never forgot that ted
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kennedy threw a surprisew birthday party for john's then 11-year-old son. lindseyen graham came to congree thinking that ted kennedy was the incarnation of everything, of every liberal evil and grew to have enormous respect for him. some of it was his legislative talent and what john just described. he was honey fitz's grandson w much more than either of his brothers. and some of it was this extraordinary personal touch. one of the most touching stories i've ever heard, gordon smith, the senator from oregon, a centrist mormon republican had a bipolar son who committed suicide. and he told me the first person in his office was ted kennedy who he said "became my comforting presence for months and became a central figure in my life." he had an ability to do a maybe in part because he underwent such trial and such tragedy himself. but he was able to fashion personal relationships that no one would have expected in
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keeping with what john said about how different he was than the caricature. george w. bush, who had very few relationships be w any democrats in this town for eight years, would in private talk... would regale people with what a great legislator and what a great ally he thought edward m. kennedy was. i don't know of any other democratic senator that he spoke in those terms. >> rose: there's a wonderful phrase of franklin roosevelt's that doesn't get picked up much which is that great politician, a great country masters the science of human relationships. master it is science of human relationships. >> rose: that defines him, doesn't it? >> that's it. that's it. >> rose: there is this on his wall in his senate office.n i asked him to talk about it and he did in one of two interviewsf i did, one in wife the and one in 2007. t it is trent lott wrote him a letter basically said "dear ted, if they only knew you the way w do." what did he mean by that, al?
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>> well, that he was... he was delightful company, everyone loved to be around him. he's a guy that as we discussed the last few minutes of this show who could compromise. he was not unreasonable. he didn't demonize people at all. he demonized positions but not people. bob bourque might have been a rare exception of that. and almost every senator that i ever talked to really liked ted kennedy. charlie, we on the outside just... you know, we observe and we hear from other reporters... or excuse me, hear from other of his colleagues but when i was on that profile in courage committee and have been for them last seven years, i had sort of an inside glimpse. it was a number of quite a impressive people, present company excluded, on that company.ed senatored that cochran and olympia snowe, great historians and his beloved niece caroline. sometimes we would be deadlocks because there were lots of great nominations and ted kennedy
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would then weigh in. in the beginning it was confusing where he was going. in a couple minutes you knew exactly where he was going and a consensus immediately formed an we went for ted's choice. and i mention this process one time toed that congress cochran and he said "now you know how 99 senators feel." he had that touch. >> wid where did that come from, this deep, a, understanding, and b, visceral feeling about beinge able to do things for those who could not do for themselves? clearly robert kennedy had a kind of epiphany when he beganhe to go to appalachia and see a things, and mississippi. >> one theory of the case is that as the runt of the family,m he understood what it was likest to get picked on. >> rose: as the youngest? >> as the youngest. the youngest of those powerful formidable sons.
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and he clearly had a kind of rooseveltian nobless oblige, i think far more so than robert kennedy and certainly more than president kennedy. president kennedy's greatest fear was to be called a liberal. hated it. you know, his relationship with adelaide steven son is one of the great tension and didn't want to be seen as soft. and i think you would never havn heard, i think, as the politicst of the last 40 years unfolded, you would not have heard president kennedy speak of liberalism in the defiant tones in which senator ted kennedy did because he believed and came from a generation in whichat government was not a dirty word. and to some extent, the reagan years and the george w. bush years were a reaction to... remember the phrase "tip o'neill
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and ted kennedy liberalism"? and so he came... he was a... he was an interesting product of a time and an intellectual time when government had a larger role to play int people's live. >> rose: there is this also, al. and he said this to me in a conversation that i did, we'll see in a few minutes. his proudest vote in the senate was against the iraq war. when he stood up and all of the people that his fellow senators... not all of them, but most of them, most of them, senator clinton and senator edwards and so many others voted yes and he stood up in a resounding speech and said no. al? >> and he later got into quite i i have the with bill clinton in the 2008 campaign behind the scenes when former president clinton insisted it was not a vote for the war and he said "you're damn right it was a vote for the war, that's what i said
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at the time." which senator kennedy did. i slightly... i don't disagreen' with john, but i'm not quite sure that this sense of championing as passionate as he did the rights of the underprivileged was there as the youngest child. i think in the early years that he was a much more cautious and, if you will, centrist democrat. i talked to one of his oldest h friends who was with him in '62 today and i said "if we had been sitting around in boston in 1967--" which is when i first covered senator kennedy" "and we said 47 years from now he'll die and be thought of as one of the great liberal lions of all time and one of the most effective senators ever, what would we have said?iv and we would have said you're drunk, go get another drink. requests that's not what he wast cast as then. i think he grew. i think he really grew. i think he grew in a sense of having these much more... much m greater commitments. i think he learned. he was affected by his brothers last campaign a great deal.
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but i think he grew as much asre any politician i've ever seen, because he had, as john mentioned earlier, some dreadful low points.ea >> rose: well, was there a moment in which he changed or was it an evolutionary change? >> i think it was an... thereas were some key... there were some key junctures in that. i think one was post-chappaquiddick after he was defeated for senate leadership. another was after his ill-fated presidential run which i thought he did out of a sense of family obligation rather than that's genuinely what he wanted. i think he then returned to the senate far more comfortably. and the third would be his marriage to vicki kennedy in 1992 where i think for the first time he found genuine personal happiness. >> rose: family.rs we always come back and talking about this man to family because he had to play a role that almost no one a else has ever hd to h play. because there was so much m tragedy. and you had to be the strong core. and he had to go and talk too
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that convention after he lost,nt which was not about family butno it was about a personal loss. he gave the eulogies at robert kennedy's funeral. he gave the eulogy for john kennedy's son. >> he gave away caroline kennedy in marriage.in i sometimes think of him as the unlikely patriarch. these responsibilities fell to him. history and fate dealt him in hand and by all accounts he executed it beautifully. and i think there's... there's some poetic justice, i think, in the idea that the yule gist who had to be the patriarch of this vast clan, who went to the weddings, who went to the wakes and was at the christmases, was
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at the easters, he was given a, gift his brothers were not given which was the gift of years. >> rose: that was clearly in evidence when they had theid birthday party in kennedy center al. >> oh, it was one of the most magical fights i've ever seen. it's also fittingly irish. but that night senator kennedy was there, it was in march, he got a profile in courage award, a special award that night. every major brdway entertainer performed. and he was sitting in the president's box with michelle obama, the vice president, senator kerry and his wife and his wife vicki and then at the end everybody came out, all the broadway ensemble came out to sing happy birthday and they introduced the president of the united states who led the singing. it was really an incredible moment. >> rose: he did not like to be or was not inchruned to be introspective, was he, al? >> it will be interesting to sel his back because i think with, i
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assume, bob slum and others on this before he passed and it will be interesting to see how introspective he is. he didn't like that. >> rose: his memoir are out in, i think, october. >> september 14. >> rose: september 14? >> is that it?>> >> edited by the great jonathan carp.na and the book is... i've sents. throughout manhattan to do a second story m job on every publisher's office i could get to find it. >> rose: there's no word in terms of what's in there that he says as his own summer of hisr life? >> no, it's called "true compass." so that gives you some sense. it was very much, obviously, a view in twilight and the life in completion. and i think as we all know from books that john has done, i think it will be a remarkable memoir. >> rose: his happiest moments,
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al? and his... not saddest moment n which is have been public for all of us but his regrets. and i suspect he would not put not winning the president i on his list of regrets. >> i think you're right. i think his biggest regret was not getting the health careth overhaul through congress in his last years.is his happiest moments i think were with family, particularly vicki these last 17 years. he also had 1 a... he had a gre relationship with his kids. he had a magical relationship with caroline kennedy. to see the two of them together, they would almost look at each other and they could see herot father and his brother in the other. and that was a very, very special relationship which he would... obviously brought great joy to his life. >> rose: this is a tough summer for you, al hunt.u, bob novak was a friend. a senator kennedy a friend. >> it has. i lost my mentor allen otten and jack kemp died a few months ago. a lot of people who i consideree among the greatest people i've ever known. and it's been sad.ee
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that's what happens, charlie, i guess when you get w older. >> rose: al, thank you for sharing this.r i know this has been a difficult time. what can you tell us about the funeral service? >> charlie, all i know is what s read on the wires which is it's going to be in boston i believes at 10:00 saturday morning at ang catholic church that he went to when his daughter was in for cancer in boston and he prayed for her recovery. and then the... he's going to be buried at arlington cemetery next to his brothers. and i am... i feel reasonably certain-- as a matter of fact i'm totally certain barack obama will speak at the funeral. >> rose: we often say this and perhaps i should say it here ant not so much in other cases, we shall not see his like again. >> no.. taken all and all, we shall not see his s like again is the old line. if youhe had written... if youf went off and wrote a novel about a family that had this number of children, using only the sons,nl
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not the formidable women of thea family, one would die in the second word war, two one shot down in the service of their country and a third would livehi this incredible life of highs and lows, but ultimately winning out and winning the war, there was a war in him i think between light and dark. and some battles went to thees dark side. but the war went to the light. and.... >> rose: and the war... and the light triumphed, clearly.ri >> the light triumphed. >> rose: jon meacham, thank you. "newsweek" here."n here it is, special s commemorative edition "the last brother, edward m. kennedy, 1932-2009." and my thanks to my friend al hunt on the loss of his friend, ted kennedy. we'll be right back and see two interviews with ted kennedy, one in 2005 and one in 2007 which n which you will see his passion for health care, you will seeal
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how that humor is there and you will see him slightlyig introspective but not much but what is more important sr. that passion for the things that heat believed in and that is what people are remembering today. not only the causes but also the deepness of family. back in a moment.ba stay with us. stay witus >> rose: do you think where you are on important issues of our day is where the country is or where you'd like to see the country be? >> where i'd like to see theo country be. i believe that individuals and the nation does best when it'sen challenged. i think this country has demonstrated it over itstr history. i mean, look how this nation came out of the depression.he look how we responded in termsre of world war ii.of look how we've even... finally
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when we were confronted the issues of segregation by dr. king really facing us, even though we'd written slavery into the constitution and we had the civil war, finally when dr. king confronted us, we responded. we've made important progress in knocking down walls ofll discrimination. this country has always done well when it's been challenged. i don't feel that it's being challenged. you can't have the b tax cuts we've had and be still involvedt in wars on this and asking ain small group of people to takeal the burden and everybody else enjoy themselves. i think we have to understand now that we're facing a very different challenge, and this is the issue of globalization, and we're either going to get runin out of town with the rush towards lower wages and outsourcing, or we're going to embrace it and say we are goinga to equip every citizen in this nation with the ability to be able to deal with the problems ofal globalization. and in that way ensure we're going to have the strongest
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economy in the next 20 and 30 years and we will have a national security that will be second to none. and we..., i think, are pretty, much dead in the water. the administration's policies are catching up with them, that's another issue. but i think just generally speaking, this country does best individuals do best, and we welcomed these challenges.ed americans like this, but we'rehi not... that's not part of the whole political discussion at this time. and i think it's both... i thin. that's where we ought to be as a political party and where we ought to be as individuals. i think the whole issues in terms of what's happening to our cities and poverty are moralov issues. we could talk about that. but i think beyond that we need to look at what the centralat challenge is for us as individuals and for our country. and i think most of us understand and the great philosophers pointed out, i mean, the great struggle between good and evil, between challenge
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and response. toynbee coined it, the world is challenge and response. and this country has always done better in c terms of challenge. and what we're just doing now is just sort of responding to theof tides that are coming our way. and i think that it's not what this country really is about. >> rose: this is a place that you have spent more than 40 years.úh to read what they say about you is remarkable. many people on both sides of the aisle believe that your contribution to the country from this service in the senate-- and they can take off legislation and everything else-- is asel great as if you had run for president and had two terms ind the presidency.re tell me how you feel about this place and about being a senator and the legacy that you are building. >> well, it's... first of all, it's an enormous honor. it's the greatest public honor you could possibly have. and i realize that and appreciate the kind of trust that the people of massachusetts
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have given to me to be able to represent them in the senate. and we've tried to... i've always perceived my role as to try to get some things done. it's been frustrating in the one sense, someone that's passionate about national health insurance and i've been fighting for that over 0 years and still we sees these every single day the human tragedies of human families that have not been ablema to do to i. but we've made some progress over it. and i always feel that as long as i can keep making some progress and the people will keeppr me it's wonderful to ser. >> rose: and you'll run for reelection? >> i expect so.on >> rose: (laughs) will >> let you let me make an announcement on your show? arnold does it. >> rose: why not you? there you go. i think it's an appropriate choice for you. politics is about coalitions, it's about also about judgment. you had the judgment in 2002 to
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say this was the wrong war and i don't think thisro administrati' is doing the right thing and you voted no for the reasons you f said. how should that test be applied to people who want to receive the nomination of if democraticf party in 2008?8? what ought to be the test for ar democratic nominee? >> well, historically it's been... their particular positions on particular issues. and that has been... that's enormously important. but if you gos and listen to these conferences, from a historian's point of view about who the great presidents were,gr they will inevitably come to the conclusion that the... what matters most is character, judgment, how they're going to... how they involve themselves with people, friends and family, the internal kinds of makeup of individuals. there's a much more powerful
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lesson about how it's going to be sources of inspiration, gathering together. >> rose: but the courage to make the vote that you made it, t and most of the democrats who want to be president didn't have thet same courage or were misled in their own mind. >> all right. but i think... i put that out as a start out. so within that, they have to be able to justify or tell theif american people why they made that judgment at that particular time, the reasons for it, and what their views of that vote is at the... at the time....e >> rose: but there seems to be a difference between former senator edwards and former senator clinton. >> well, that's for others, people are going to have o to mv a judgment which way they'reju satisfied with those kinds off explanations. that's what elections are about. we'll find out the results of that in new hampshire andut iowa pretty soon. fairly soon. >> rose: just one more question about iraq. what is our moral responsibiliti there to the iraqis? >> well, certainly one that
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we've treated very harshly andy very, very poorly to date. i think we've treated very... particularly the human aspects and the human conditions.e let me just give you a rough example, and that is we've got iraqis that have worked for thed american military, have been their translators, have workedra with them, and they cannot escape. their lives are in danger. their names are put on the mosques for being killed. and we refuse... our embassies have closed to these people in offering them any kind of waym out or any kind of resettlement. not just here in the united states but in any other place. that's absolutely immoral. >> rose: there are those who sat the following: that this is you: moment in congress. after 40 plus years. >> (laughs) >> rose: bear with me. bear with me. >> i haven't had mitch mcconnelt say that. >> rose: you've never heard mitch say that? >> the republican leader. >> rose: well, despite a histori of accomplishments in i legislation, many have said...
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some have speculated that what you have been able to do in the legislative career is perhapsiv more important than what youre could have done as president.de leave that to others to settle, i just put it on the table. tell me what you hope to accomplish now in terms of health care, in terms of other o important social issues. >> well, i think this election is for change. i think it's primarily a changep with regards to iraq. that's... ought to be the numbe. one issue that we in the congress should address.ho secondly it was changed because of a public/private perception. people wanted the congress to address the kinds of concernsad that are affecting working families, middle-class families- rather than special interests.sp i think the average family are concerned about it... without getting into a long... trying to keep this answer short, in areas where i can be most act is in the areas of health and the areas of education, the areas of employment and the areas of
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research, the pitch that research. we're in the life science century. naich.nt we've seen opportunity there is with.... >> rose: what... >> so i want stem cell progress in terms of the life sciences.. i want to try and make sure that we are going to equip everyo child in this country to be able to deal individually with the challenges of globalization. every child. every one not just states, not communities, every child. every person to be able to deal with that individually. that's what our education process, ongoing, continuing, starting very early, continuingr all the way through. >> rose: but let me ask you.e no child left behind. you supported the president, yo negotiated with the president. >> that's... we have to work that out. i'm disappointed that... that was reform in funding, we didn't get the funding. the one aspect of the ledge station that still rings, thats is we mean every child. it should be every child.d the administration still leaves
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out 3.7 million out of it. but we want to troy and make sure that no one's left behind t in terms of the educationth system. that's what we're going to try to do. we get a lot of burps with that. but an educational system thatti really is the second to none and then obviously the health care. i've supported ten differentup bills. single player going back 35oi years. i'm hopeful that finally in 2008 we're going to elect someone that's going to actually get the universal health care. and i hope i'll be around long enough to be able tope be as a strong supporter and help getr him through theening co. >> rose: you seem in pretty good shape to me. universal health care is where we ought to be? t that's where john edwards says we ought to be. paul krugman.we >> i like that, medicare for all.or i think that does it. but the point about it is if you
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ask me to sit down with john in a room on this thing and our different proposals, we wouldn's have any problem working it ultr out. that's the test, isn't it?th he has bitten the bullet in terms of a proposal that's very, very real. and i think it's very productive proposal. >> rose: can you say that it's no longer a third rail inhi american politics to be supportive of universal health care?rs >> i think it's true. i think... i think we're there. i think in terms of the debate and discussion. we're not quite there in termsqu of the politics still st. put is on the floor this afternoon....t >> rose: it would not... >> we still couldn't get that through. people would have pretty goodop reasons, they'd want to review it or study it. i won't give you much on it, but medicare is an institution whicn people have reliance on. it applies to the populations. a number of the elderly obviously and the number of the disabled. no reason if you had the chip
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program, the children's health insurance going up and theup medicaid coverage of all thedi children and then we took the medicare, it covers the seniors on that.e then you have to group in the middle, try to squeeze that down into a benefit that's given to every member of congress has, o that would be a way of doing it and it's manageable. and depending on the kind of president we have, we'll do in the a shorter period of time. >> rose: eight million childrene don't have health care. >> yes. >> rose: eight million children. i mean, beyond the educational issues:. >> it is the... i think certainly the first health issue for the congress. what we call children's health insurance and i worked on it with a number of our other colleagues, worked very closely on it. we had a very similar program in my own state of massachusetts that was the inspiration. we had the surplus of the tobacco money. and this program ought to beam extended in terms of the authorization, but we ought to w reach out to these children.
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we have a real opportunity to do it.l it would be over a five-year period to do all of theod children. we're talking about $35, $40 million on it. but we ought to be able to as a nation. you're looking at a $two trillion seven hundred billion dollar budget.ll not to be able to get $5 billion just this year over the next five years to cover children would be absolutely irresponsible. and i think we're going to... we're working on that. i think senator baucus, chairman of the finance committee and budget committee, kent conrad, others, harry reid, others on our side, republicans as well. >> rose: are you taking some lead from the government of california on health care. >> arnold.th i wonder if he's watching me. i have to be very careful. listen, i wrote him a littlett note. you bet i did. >> rose: you're looking like a democrat or what? >> he's working it through out
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there. he's got some very ambitious aspects. >> rose: as hemb consulted with you?on >> he doesn't ask me about.... >> rose: you've had no phone conversations about health care with the governor of californiav >> we see each other usually upy at cape cod. maybe on opposite sides of the senate floor. if i get marie on my side.... >> rose: you win. (laughs) >> just quickly, i think he's got a good proposal out there and i think we've got 13 states that are trying to do something. i think fact that the president's budget cuts back on the medicaid, cuts back on medicare. you know, the budget is a moral document about a nation's prior's the and it's going to make it very, very difficult for the states... the president wants to states to do somethings about health care and insurance. but you don't cover the chip program on if states and you'rea cutting back on medicaid and medicare, the states aren't abls to.... >> rose: as you know, onear ofe greatest things in this countryt over the next couple decades is whether we are going to be able
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to fund the existing commitment we have to entitlement unless there's an agonizing reappraisal whereof the money is coming fro and what to do. >> well, that's true. in terms of social security, o we're what is it, 2040 on that.t we've got to take another lookt at it with regard to... on the medicare, 14, 16, 18. let me give you something, s though. you've got 75%, 8 20% of the medicare expenditures are basically for people in theirba last six or eight months alive and also for those that have significant disabilities. 17% or 18% of the elderly.he if you move that 17% down to 15% you extend the life of medicare for another ten years. what are wefo going to be able t do with the break throughs? if you have a break through in h alzehimer's disease on that, we' empty two-thirds of the nursing home beds in my state of massachusetts.
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what about nano technology. >> rose: so you're saying fund the n.i.h.... >> this idea of just saying this is a zero-sum game is crazy. the republicans believe it, they think it, they're wrong. for those that really believe, understand about health care>> d what is necessary in terms of doing this is making technologyh preventative care, case management, best case practices, encouraging the breakthroughs in terms of prescription drugs, new kinds of technologies. we can deal with this and if we ever got universal coverage, we can meet these kinds of needs.in but the naysayers just say "wels let's look at the bottom line on this thing" and just say we're headed for disaster. >> rose: people are saying therl is too much disparity in americp between the wealthy and the middle-class. t-c >> i think they want... they want... american people want to know who's on their side, who's on their side in educating their kids. who's on their side on healthhe care. who's on their side on jobs. who's on their side t in terms f the environment. and that is o the opportunity
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given to the democrats. that's the opportunity given to democrats. you said are they their yet? that's our opportunity. and we ought to be there and wet ought to have them there and i believe we'll have a candidate hopefully that will get us there. >> rose: you're notpefu going tr tell me who that is? >> (laughs) >> rose: let me just close with this. trent lott has this thing on your wall in which he said... now back in power as the number-two man in the senate ino which he says "if they onlynl knew." what did he mean? >> well, it's that there are people here, trent lott, a number of very fine republicans, colleagues as well, that really want to make the institution work and find ways to try and work together. i've tried that in the uniteded states senate, i'm trying it now i'm very port gnat to have a good colleague, senator enzi is our ranking member, he was the chairman.as and we're working very closely together and we're hopefully'r
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getting things done. we'll be down just below the surface but we'll be gettinge' some things done. and i think that's the way it will be. we'll be up at the top, too, to sound off. but in the meantime, hopefully we'll get some things done in these areas: education, health, others.he >> rose: there have been many eloquent things said about teddy kennedy and more will comeke certainly between now and the time of his funeral and for a long time because it is the arc of a life that found meaning and expression in the united states senate where he changed not only the country but individual lives with his work in the senate. so we republican and appreciated that service in this program this evening. thank you for joining us.oi see you next time. e yo
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