DRUDGE REPORT FLASH 2002®

TRANSCRIPT: DRUDGE, MSNBC 'BUCHANAN & PRESS' Mon Jul 21 2003 18:15:25 PAT BUCHANAN: That's right. He hears it through the grapevine, and he brings it straight to us. Joining us exclusively is the one-man media machine, Matt Drudge of "The Drudge Report", six million view a day. Matt, I understand before we get into this question of the Lloyd Grove issue... MATT DRUDGE, "THE DRUDGE REPORT": Yes. BUCHANAN: ... before we get into that, I want to ask you, you apparently have gone to see this movie that Mel Gibson did called "The Passion" that is causing great controversy among some in the Jewish community and in the Catholic community. Is it anti-Semitic? It's about, frankly, the passion and death of Jesus Christ... DRUDGE: It's... BUCHANAN: ... and you have seen -- you got an early look at it. What is it like? DRUDGE: Well Mel Gibson is here, he's in town. He's two blocks away. He sends his regards. He'll be making the rounds on this one. This may be the last movie Mel Gibson makes, Pat Buchanan. This is the ultimate film. It's magical. Best picture I have seen in quite some time, and even people like Jack Valenti were in the audience in tears at this screening. There was about 30 of us. It depicts a clash between Jesus and those who crucified him, and speaking as a Jew, I thought it was a magical film that showed the perils of life on earth. BUCHANAN: Right. "The New Republic" -- today I read a long report in "The New Republic" said it is an anti-Semitic film, just about flat-out. What's your take? DRUDGE: They haven't seen the darn film and those of us, every single person in there, and I'm not talking about tears, I'm talking total tears. It is something Mel Gibson stood back at the end and took questions for about an hour, and he is -- he told me he's tired of Hollywood. That this is it. He's going to do it. He's going to do it his way, and this film, I tell you, is magic. It's a miracle. It's a miracle... BILL PRESS: All right... DRUDGE: ... and Pat Buchanan, you will be talking about this in -- when it comes out because it's something I haven't seen in quite some time. PRESS: Maybe it was another miracle. Last week Lloyd Grove devotes almost half a page in "The Washington Post", a reliable source, to talk about Matt Drudge, reporting that after the ABC News showed a report from Iraq by one of their journalists interviewed some American soldiers who were very critical about having to stay so long in Iraq, and they said -- one of them said Donald Rumsfeld ought to be fired. Lloyd Grove reports that the White House contacted you and informed you that that reporter happened to be Canadian, and he happened to be gay. DRUDGE: Well... PRESS: Do you feel you were being used by the White House and why did you let them... DRUDGE: Oh reporters... (CROSSTALK) DRUDGE: ... used in Washington, D.C., I don't know. That would be a new phenom that I don't think I would get credit for. I don't know how Lloyd Grove found this out. I certainly didn't tell him. He instant messaged me as we do, and he says, what's this, the White House tipping you off on the background on this reporter, who, again, you're correct, got the interview of the summer so far... (CROSSTALK) DRUDGE: ... to actually have enlisted men calling for the resignation of Rumsfeld on camera showing their face unprecedented... PRESS: And their badges. DRUDGE: And their badges unprecedented, but we're in a new media era where satellite television is going to change the dynamic of war. I'm not prepared to come on MSNBC and talk about my sources, as I don't -- I would never ask you about your sources. Do White House staffers of all ranks help me in research and tipping off stories, yes, they do. But if you're asking me, if White House... PRESS: Do you think... DRUDGE: ... staffers said do you know what, the ABC News guy is gay, go after him. That's not how it happened, and it's not my fault if people in this town conceive it as that... BUCHANAN: How deep of trouble is George Bush in? DRUDGE: Well, the "L.A. Times", cartoon, I don't know if you've seen it. BUCHANAN: Listen... PRESS: Yes. BUCHANAN: ... I was up at 3:00 in the morning. I've got to tell you, Matt, I was working on this huge piece on the death of manufacturing, very exciting piece, but I cut on your website and here was that... (CROSSTALK) BUCHANAN: ... cartoon and initially, of course, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) I started laughing, but at the same time I said, you know, that's a takeoff of that famous 1968 shot of the Tet (ph) offensive in Saigon where that police chief shot and executed the Vietcong terrorist. But I mean I said to myself that cartoon is over the top. But, do you have a problem putting it up there? DRUDGE: I do because it's probably copy written, but to me it's becoming news. Look, this man is human. The "L.A. Times" is depicting him about to get assassinated. Albeit, it's a comic or it's a news cartoon. This is getting brutal. This town is turning... BUCHANAN: It is. DRUDGE: ... very aggressive. I'm calling it the summer of everyone's discontent, and it is truly a town I am not recognizing from... BUCHANAN: It is a deep, deep, I think, something close to on the part of some people, just almost a hatred of George Bush. It really is. I mean it is... (CROSSTALK) BUCHANAN: ... I've seen (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Nixon. Frankly, there were people that hated Clinton. DRUDGE: Oh yes. Oh no, it is -- it feels very similar to Clinton. My inbox is full of the death threats and do this and eat that and swallow this and all the rest, and it has gotten to the point where this town is getting very partisan again. And you ask me, Bill Press, well, what happens if the White House staffers are alerting you to research material. Why shouldn't they? They're being... BUCHANAN: Exactly. DRUDGE: ... distinctive with their guy at gunpoint. They're fighting for their lives over there on Pennsylvania Avenue. PRESS: Do you agree with Dick Morris that George Bush is in free fall? DRUDGE: I don't know. Dick Morris, again, said Hillary wouldn't be elected. So, I would be careful on some of this. That's a long way to this election, a long way to go, of course. But they're on defense in the White House. They should fight back. This is a man who I believe is doing this for his country, whether we can argue if it's right or wrong. This isn't a guy who dislikes America or wants to, you know, bring harm to troops and put them in harm's way for no reason. This is getting very aggressive and again that "L.A. Times" comic of -- at gunpoint, which the Secret Service was concerned about, according... PRESS: OK. DRUDGE: ... to my sources is explosive. PRESS: All right. Matt Drudge, stick with us... (CROSSTALK) PRESS: ... because when we come back, I want to talk about the other side of the aisle on the way to the White House. Matt Drudge will give us his comments about can anybody stop Howard Dean in the Democratic primary? BUCHANAN & PRESS continue with Matt Drudge. Stay with us. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) PRESS: Still to come on BUCHANAN & PRESS, Matt Drudge gives his picks for the 2004 presidential primary. BUCHANAN: And the tables turn on Kobe Bryant's accuser. But could smearing a teen-age victim backfire on Kobe? But first, Christy Musumeci with the headlines. (NEWS BREAK) PRESS: OK, Christy, thank you. We're talking politics here on BUCHANAN & PRESS, talking politics with Matt Drudge, founder, publisher, editor, pooh-bah, whatever, of "The Drudge Report" where Pat and I both start and end each day, and you should, too. Matt Drudge, let's look at the Democratic side. You've got nine candidates. We all know not all nine are not serious. But when you look at the top, some people are reading it as a three-person race -- Kerry, Dean and Gephardt, or some say it's really down to two -- Kerry or Dean. How do you see it? (CROSSTALK) DRUDGE: Well yes. That would be a dirty fight, too with Chris LaHaye (ph), the Gore guy with Kerry already saying, we could take him out or an anonymous quote in "Newsweek" anytime we want to. Dean is mean in my opinion. He comes off negative. We're in a mess. It's the end of the world. It's gloom, it's doom. We've got to save our country. The sky is falling. Who wants to hear that? You know, if you notice Rove out there is tweaking optimism. PRESS: It seems a lot of Democrats want to hear it. I mean look at all the money that he raised... DRUDGE: You never win... PRESS: ... on the Internet. DRUDGE: ... you never win on doom and gloom, do you Bill Press? You never... (CROSSTALK) DRUDGE: ... win on doom and gloom. BUCHANAN: No, no it doesn't win. Reagan showed that. Let me ask you this, though. You went to this movie -- I'm very intrigued by this movie. Did -- Jack Valenti was there. Did he host it over at that 16th Street... DRUDGE: Yes. It was at his plush... BUCHANAN: Who all was there? DRUDGE: Well you had a lot of clergy. You had a lot of folks representing the Catholic intellectual community here. You also had a few media types. PRESS: The cardinal was there... DRUDGE: You had a cardinal. You had Valenti, but one person they did throw out was Lloyd Grove of "The Washington Post". They don't want "The Washington Post" to spoil their parade. They're being very specific who they show this to... (CROSSTALK) PRESS: You asked them to throw Lloyd Grove out... (CROSSTALK) BUCHANAN: Did they do this physically? (CROSSTALK) BUCHANAN: But, look, was he invited or did he crash it? DRUDGE: I'm not sure. You'd have to ask him. But to see a "Washington Post" reporter asked to leave a screening at Jack Valenti's house here in Washington in his office, is showing you a new breeze blowing of different sorts. The Republicans truly are controlling this town. (CROSSTALK) BUCHANAN: I've got to ask you something about your own Web site. Now, I'm like -- you know I go into it. I go in and get the columns. I go in and get the newspaper, "The Washington Times" and "The Washington Post", and I also see the A-10 (ph). How do you first -- how do you pick the 15 stories or so that you put up there, and you cannot do all of those, do all of that reading yourself, can you, and put those in there? I mean, it's updated constantly. How many guys are working for Matt Drudge now? DRUDGE: Well... BUCHANAN: Is it Drudge Industries? DRUDGE: Well it's what the Bush White House tells me to put on there. It's -- no... (CROSSTALK) DRUDGE: Yes. No, absolutely wrong. It is me and all my readers and advice and selections and priorities. I mean, what is a top story at any given day? That is the question, and we all get to make this decision now. What's also interesting about this is it's international immediately. When Kelly was killed or died over in the U.K. last week, we had it immediately. (CROSSTALK) DRUDGE: We see the British papers even before the sun goes down in London now. The immediacy of all of this, of a global news is changing it quite quick. PRESS: Honest question, honest answer, were your surprised -- are you willing to admit you were surprised at how many -- you don't have to eat your shoe, at how many books Hillary sold? DRUDGE: Eight hundred thousand, 900,000, yes because the Clintons keep telling me what a terrible economy this is. Hillary herself says it's a terrible depression, how can you afford a $30 book? How did almost a million people buy a book if the economy is so bad? PRESS: Because, you know why? They put it on their credit card and they want to read it... (CROSSTALK) PRESS: ... bad enough. That's why. (CROSSTALK) PRESS: All right. I want to go back to the Democrats for a second here. Joe Biden yesterday on "Meet The Press", I mean he looked to me like a guy who was just about ready to announce. He's getting crisper. He's getting stronger. He's getting more critical of George Bush. Do you think he jumps in? DRUDGE: Well he's putting his finger in the pie. Well he's welcome to jump in. It looks like the stage is getting quite full there. The next debate will be Stephanopoulos with nine people around him... (CROSSTALK) DRUDGE: ... and we won't even be able to see the little George Stephanopoulos there moderating. BUCHANAN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) you spent some time in California. Gray Davis, this is a tremendously interesting political story. What -- how do you think this thing is going to play out? DRUDGE: And now with the dark horse of Arianna Huffington possibly looming? If Arianna... BUCHANAN: She's going to put her name on the ballot? DRUDGE: This -- if I get one more whisper that Arianna Huffington is seriously plotting this... PRESS: Will she run as a Democrat or Republican? DRUDGE: This would be the question. What is Arianna Huffington? I guess it would be like Bloomberg... (CROSSTALK) DRUDGE: ... use what you need to use, maybe an "R" or a "D". BUCHANAN: NBC says if she goes, she goes as a Democrat. DRUDGE: Is that what they're saying? BUCHANAN: Yes... DRUDGE: Well, it's going to be progressive with her and Schwarzenegger. I vote for Mel Gibson, however, to run for the governor of California, and he will correct that state in a heartbeat. PRESS: There's... BUCHANAN: OK. PRESS: OK... BUCHANAN: Listen, you were taken by that film. You were taken by the guy, weren't you? DRUDGE: It's the best picture I have seen in a long time and just don't take my word for it. You will see it. Total tears by grown men and women in Washington, D.C. in the middle of a summer afternoon. PRESS: Can't let you go without asking you, is it true as you reported today or someone reported today, but it was carried on your Web site that Dennis Kucinich slept through Tony Blair's speech? DRUDGE: He claims he's keeping a diary. So, he might want to be careful in this town that loves subpoenas. I don't know. (CROSSTALK) DRUDGE: Do we have the clips... BUCHANAN: Keeping a diary... DRUDGE: ... of Kucinich sleeping? BUCHANAN: What about... PRESS: OK. All right... DRUDGE: You can't sleep through this summer. This is too exciting here. PRESS: It is, indeed. BUCHANAN: OK... PRESS: Always... BUCHANAN: Matt Drudge, thanks for coming over. Appreciate it very much. DRUDGE: Thank you. END