Q: I'd like to welcome Mike Duncan. He is the chairman of the Republican Party. Welcome, Mr. Chairman.
Duncan: Linda, thank you very much. It's an honor to be with you.
Q: Well, thank you for being with us. And let's start right in on what has been a week of reports about concerns inside the Republican Party for the state of the party. You've heard statements from members of your party saying the brand is in the trash, it's below the floor -- there have been a lot of theories about what is to be blamed for, say, the last election races that you've lost, House races, and polling and so forth: President Bush's unpopularity, the war in Iraq, too much spending by the Republicans when they were in the majority. What's your theory?
Duncan: Well, first of all, I think everyone should take a deep breath. The sky is not falling, and this is a wake-up call, but we've got plenty of time. The fact is, we're getting up early; we're six months away from the election. And we can talk about the tactics of this and I could get into the geography and the media and the candidates and all that, but basically, we had the citizens of Mississippi and Louisiana elected what they thought were three conservatives to Congress. Only one of them was a Republican, and only one was a real Republican.
In both instances, particularly the last instance in Mississippi, the candidate on the Democrat side pretended to be a Republican. He was pro-gun, pro-life, lower taxes -- he was taking the conservative point of view, and this is a center-right country. So the message to our candidates is to make sure that we don't give up our issues, that we understand and we can enunciate and articulate to the voters of the district that we are the true Conservatives and that we represent the mainstream of the American people.
It was an interesting district, because the Democratic candidate ran away from Barack Obama. He denied that Barack Obama had actually endorsed him there, because the contrast is so sharp between the two parties and this fall, the congressional candidates aren't going to be able to run away from Obama, because he has a real liberal voting record.
Q: Well, you're talking about whether the Democrats are going to need to run away from Barack Obama, but some in your party have suggested that it would be wise if your candidates put some distance between themselves and President Bush, whose approval rating is so low. Should they?
Duncan: Well, Linda, every candidate has to run their own race. And when I took this job there weren't a lot of people wanting to be RNC chairman, and President Bush talked about the fact that the political spotlight would go off of him, and go onto the presumptive nominee, and that happened the first week of March. Elections are about the future, and this election, particularly, is about big ideas because it's what Sen. [John] McCain wants it to be about. And there will be some disagreements between the Republican candidates, and there is room for disagreement in the Republican Party, but we're moving the country forward.
We have a philosophy of lower taxes and less government, individual responsibility, strong national defense and a broad framework that allows us to have some disagreement but still offers a stark contrast with the Democrats. The Democrats are proposing the highest tax increase in history by not keeping the tax cuts that President Bush put into effect after 9/11 to help stimulate the economy. That's a real difference. They are also proposing a trillion dollars in new spending -- Sen. Obama has already. That's going to require higher taxes. This is a real election and very stark contrasts.
Q: You've talked about the specific races in Mississippi and Louisiana and, of course, Illinois -- three races that Democrats have won in Republican districts. But there are also some poll numbers, obviously, which show that the Republican Party is in trouble. The country, they think, is on the wrong track and Republicans don't appear to be particularly doing that well in these generic match-ups with Democrats. But John McCain seems to be doing better than the party at large, partly because he's taken some positions that are at odds with the party such as supporting a path to legalization for illegal immigrants, or government regulation of greenhouse gases, campaign finance reform. Would you recommend to your candidates that they get behind McCain on these issues to win?
Duncan: Well, each candidate has to run their own campaign. They have to understand what they are going to be marketing in their district, how they are going to emphasize the solutions that they have in their district. But let me talk about the mechanics that you are talking about here -- John McCain is doing extremely well. In West Virginia, 35 percent of the voters that voted for Hillary Clinton said that they would vote for John McCain in the exit interviews. We're seeing a 2:1 ratio all over the country of people that say on the Democrat side after the primaries that they will vote for John McCain. He reaches out. He goes beyond party labels, while at the same time, our polling indicates that he's getting almost nine out of 10 Republicans. That's why we are doing so well right now. He has a broad appeal.
Q: So when you talk about getting beyond party labels, that certainly seems to be what McCain is trying to do. So do you worry that McCain would try too hard to get along with people like [Nancy] Pelosi and [Harry] Reid?
Duncan: No, no, I don't worry about that. Sen. McCain has a history of working with all kinds of people over a period of time. If you've ever seen him at a town hall meeting, which is a great forum for him, you can see the empathy that he has with people. The way he is able to draw people out, bring people together in consensus. He's a strong, dedicated conservative. His positions are the orthodox Republican positions on life, and he's been a strong Second Amendment supporter. No one is stronger for national defense, which has kind of been the basis of the Republican Party since 1980. John McCain is a proven conservative, but he's also proven to offer reasonable solutions, common sense solutions, to the American people, and that's what you are seeing in this campaign.
Q: In a speech that President Bush made in Israel, which you've seen a lot of reporting on, he accused people who want to negotiate with Iran's leaders of being like the appeasers in World War II who let Hitler and the Nazis go unchecked, and several reporters who reported on that story quoted White House officials who said he was referring to Obama. Couple questions here: First of all, do you agree with the president that Obama may fit the category of an appeaser? And secondly, how do you react to the Democrats' outrage and objection to the president having said this while on foreign soil?
Duncan: Well, I saw that Howard Dean put out a statement and he denounced the president on this. And frankly, I would rather ask Howard Dean about my common cold than I would about national foreign policy issues. Let me go back and stand on the statement that the White House made: This is not about Barack Obama. This is a long-standing policy. I know when you are in a political campaign and you're vying for your nomination and you think the world centers around you. But we've been saying -- the president has been saying for seven years -- we do not negotiate with terrorists. This is not a new policy.
And whether I agree with what Obama said, I don't agree. Barack Obama said he would unilaterally meet with the leaders of Cuba, South Korea, Venezuela, Iran and Syria. He's made that statement himself. So I think this is just an attempt on a slow news day for Barack Obama to try to get some headlines.
Q: OK, well thank you so much Mr. Chairman -- chairman Mike Duncan of the Republican National Committee, and I do hope you'll join us again.
Duncan: Thank you, Linda.
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