http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5818684/Transcript - Scarborough Country' for August 24 - 11:48 a.m. ET Aug. 25, 2004
Joe Scarborough interviews Merrie Spaeth in her first public appearanceJOE SCARBOROUGH, HOST: Tonight‘s Lineup...Then, is veteran media consultant Merrie Spaeth at the center of a vast right-wing conspiracy to use vets‘ ads to sink John Kerry? “The New York Times” says she is. Tonight, we‘re going to get the “Real Deal” from Spaeth herself.
SCARBOROUGH: Tonight, we have a SCARBOROUGH COUNTRY exclusive with Merrie Spaeth, who “The New York Times” says has a link between the Bush campaign and the Swift Vets For Truth. Her side of the story. And we‘ll check whether there is a link when SCARBOROUGH COUNTRY returns.
Public relations executive Merrie Spaeth joins me now.
Merrie, thanks a lot for being with us tonight.
MERRIE SPAETH, CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS SPECIALIST: Well, my pleasure.
SCARBOROUGH: Obviously, you have been at the center of discussion and debate over the past several weeks regarding your connections between the Bush campaign and this swift boat group. Are you the conduit through which information passes from George Bush‘s campaign and goes to the swift boat ad vets?
SPAETH: Well, first of all, the premise is wrong. There is no connection with the Bush campaign.
Neither I nor anybody else talks to them or coordinates with them. The swiftees are entirely independent. They are unique in my experience in how they formed themselves spontaneously. There are Republicans and Democrats in the book. And I think it is insulting to them, to these honorable men, to say that they are somehow connected with a political campaign.
If you listen to their words, Admiral Hoffman, who is their chairman, really said it best. He said, this is not a political issue. It‘s about John Kerry‘s integrity, loyalty, trustworthiness, all fundamental tenets of command.
SCARBOROUGH: So, Merrie, what is your connection with the swift boat vets?
SPAETH: Well, I was privileged to meet them last winter as they formed themselves spontaneously when Senator Kerry became the presumptive nominee. I was happily running my corporate communications training and strategy company.
And several of them asked me, because this is what I‘m known for, what does our story sound like? How can we effectively get our message to the American public? And I told them what I tell all my clients. Be truthful. Simplify your message. Only tell the truth. I say, you always tell the truth, because, in a pinch, you can remember it. But I think that the swiftees have been very effective in helping the American public understand what‘s really a very complex issue and why it‘s important today.
SCARBOROUGH: Now, your husband, your late husband, ran on the ticket with George W. Bush in the 1994 Texas gubernatorial race. And I understand he was also a partner, a law partner, of John O‘Neill‘s. That‘s an awfully tight connection. Can you understand how “The New York Times” and how Democrats and the Kerry campaign might think that something has been going on there?
SPAETH: No.
SCARBOROUGH: Between you and the swift boat vets and also George W.
Bush?
SPAETH: Absolutely not. I mean, my late husband was also a partner of Steve Sussmate (ph), one of the world‘s best and wealthiest trial lawyers. That doesn‘t mean the trial lawyers are directing this.
And, in Texas—this shows you a bunch of New Yorkers are writing about Texas politics. In Texas, the lieutenant governor runs separately from the governor. And the sitting lieutenant governor, Bob Bullock, was a very good friend and sponsor of then Governor Bush. And we ran our own—our own campaign. I like to say you don‘t know true debt until you run a losing statewide campaign in Texas.
But this is typical of the Kerry campaign. They pick out these little things and they twist them around, so they sound plausible to people who don‘t take the time to learn the truth. It‘s really not that hard.
SCARBOROUGH: Let‘s talk about the John McCain campaign in 2000.
SPAETH: Yes, let‘s talk about it.
(CROSSTALK)
SCARBOROUGH: OK.
Well, John McCain, as you know, was visibly upset about the smear tactics that he felt he was a victim of during the South Carolina primary in 2000. And this is what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN ®, ARIZONA: Really went over the line. Governor Bush had an event. And he paid for it and standing—he stood next to a spokesman for a fringe veterans group. That fringe veteran said that John McCain had abandoned the veterans. I don‘t know how—if you can understand this, George, but that really hurts. That really hurts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCARBOROUGH: “The New York Times” says that you‘ve been involved with the swift boat vets. “The New York Times” also said that you were the spokesperson for that fringe veteran group that also smeared John McCain. Is that true?
SPAETH: No, absolutely, positively not. I run a corporate firm. We‘ve been in business for 17 years. I am—I‘m astounded that they would say things like that and even more astounded that journalists wouldn‘t take the time to go check it out.
SCARBOROUGH: What‘s the real story, then?
SPAETH: Well, you have to go ask the people who put on the ads in South Carolina. The guy who put on the ads in New York has come forward, sent a letter to “The Times,” and tried to clarify the record. But the idea that the Kerry campaign can repeat things that aren‘t true, it‘s very disturbing to me.
(CROSSTALK)
SCARBOROUGH: Did you have no connection with the McCain ads in South Carolina in 2000?
SPAETH: None. None. Zero. What‘s lower than zero? Nothing.
SCARBOROUGH: You didn‘t act as a spokesperson for one day, for one minute, for one second?
SPAETH: No. No.
I‘ll give you an example, though, of how the Kerry-Edwards campaign twists things. When the swift boat vets had their first press conference, very important, because they were presenting themselves to the American public for the first time, and the Kerry people tried to discredit anybody who was associated with them. And for me to be associated with the swift boat vets is an enormous privilege, because they have served their country so well.
SCARBOROUGH: All right.
SPAETH: So they told “The Post” that I was on the White House Web site. And they printed that. “The Post” printed that. And I called them up and said I‘m on the White House Web site? And the reporter said, yes, that‘s what they told me. Well, it‘s the White House Fellows Web site. The White House Fellows program is a scholarship program. It‘s the difference, as Mark Twain said, between lightning and lightning bug.
SCARBOROUGH: All right. Merrie, we are going to have to leave it there.
SPAETH: Thank you.
SCARBOROUGH: Thank you so much for being with us tonight.
SPAETH: Thank you so much. Thanks for giving me the chance.
SCARBOROUGH: We greatly appreciate it.
SPAETH: OK.
SCARBOROUGH: OK. Thanks. Bye.
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* Beltway and Texas Republicans Against Bush-Cheney ’04, Inc. *
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BRaBC04,Inc. – 08.25.04, MSNBC Copyright release in file
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