James Carville Versus Sean Hannity

This is a partial transcript from "Hannity & Colmes," October 11, 2005, that has been edited for clarity.

SEAN HANNITY, HOST: I recently went down to my radio station down in Orlando, WDVO in Florida, to be part of a panel moderated by my good friend — and your friend — Neil Cavuto. Now, the event included a face off against former Clintonite James Carville on Iraq and other issues. Here's some highlights.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMES CARVILLE, FORMER CLINTON ADVISER: You know what that is? That's the No. 1. That is the number of Iraqi battalions that are combat-ready after two years. That is the No. 1. That was in yesterday General Casey testifying before the Armed Services Committee.

Now, that's incompetence. This is what you got. We will stand down when the Iraqis stand up. We have one battalion. The problem with this administration is, it's just incompetent.

HANNITY: This is a problem, I think, that goes very, very deep at the heart of why Democrats can't win any elections. I have a number too, James. It's zero. How many elections your party is winning because of all this hatred and all this undermining of a country that is at war, James Carville.

Now this is a very important point. John Kerry said that leaving Saddam unfettered with nuclear weapons or WMDs is a danger to America. Al Gore said it. The French said it. The U.N. said it, and your friend, Bill Clinton, even said it. Hang on.

CARVILLE: Go ahead.

HANNITY: We were hardly at war within five minutes and Ted Kennedy politicized the war. And Ted Kennedy said that George Bush concocted a war for political gain.

We had Kucinich out there saying that we were targeting civilians for assassination. We had every major Democrat almost every step of the way — your party has never given this president an opportunity to conduct this war, because internally you have been undermining the effort of a president. I have never seen it like this in the history of this country. It's a national disgrace what the Democratic Party has done.

CARVILLE: One. You see that? One. Digest it. One. O-N-E, uno.

Now, when we went to war in March, you quote back something somebody said in October. We went to war in March with 236 U.N. inspectors that had been in Iraq for 90 days. We kicked them out to go to war.

There were two stories in the Washington Post, two Walter Pincus stories, that said that the U.S. had come to doubt the original assessment. That's just — that's what happened.

They knew when they went to war, they were being told by the CIA, you know what? We've got a revised thing in this. They were sitting there, and the U.N. inspectors were saying, "Tell us where these weapons dumps are. Tell us where they are." And they couldn't find one. We kicked them out.

HANNITY: I want to add this point. Wait a minute. This is very key to the argument. John Kerry, James Carville, said Iraq's WMDs pose a real and — wait a minute — real and grave threat to America.

CARVILLE: When did he say that?

HANNITY: He said that in 2003. He also said, "If you don't believe Saddam is a threat with nuclear weapons, you shouldn't vote for me," Los Angeles Times, 1/31/03.

Bill Clinton, your mentor, the man you love said earlier...

CARVILLE: Sean?

HANNITY: Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Clinton said, "Earlier today I ordered America's armed forces to bomb and strike targets in Iraq. Their purpose, to bomb Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological capabilities."

CARVILLE: What year was that? What year was that?

HANNITY: December 16, 1998. Bill Clinton said that to America.

CARVILLE: We kicked out 236 U.N. inspectors in March to go to war. They said, "Tell us where they are." They can't find any. There were two stories in The Washington Post that said the CIA was doubting it. Why did we kick the U.N. inspectors out?

NEIL CAVUTO, MODERATOR: Guys, guys, you know what.

CARVILLE: One more point here.

CAVUTO: Looking back is not going to do anyone any good.

HANNITY: First of all, in three years, Uday and Qusay are dead-ay. Saddam is about to be tried, convicted and hung the way he deserves. We have 70 percent of Al Qaeda capture and on the run. We are winning the war on terror. It is a difficult job.

With that said, the problem with the Democrats — and I love James. He's a nice guy. I don't know what the hell Mary was thinking, but I love him. But the problem with James and the Democrats is this: If John Kerry says it, it's good. If John Kerry warns us about weapons of mass destruction, it's good. If Clinton says it, it's good. If Gore says it, it's good. We know they bow at the altar of the French and the U.N. If they say it, it's gold.

But if George Bush says it, they are instinctively, reactively, so full of hatred for this man that they cannot see the forest through the trees of their hypocrisy.

CAVUTO: But, Sean, would it be, as James said, if the direction of Iraq is that it's going to be a divided country, should we step back and let it?

HANNITY: We must finish the job. The world is a safer place now and will even be safer.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLMES: Cavuto won that debate.

HANNITY: Cavuto won.

COLMES: Cavuto won. He was good.

HANNITY: That was it. He was the winner. Anyway. That was a lot of fun. By the way, the other folks up there are my good friends, Clark Howard and Neil Boortz. And they did talk a lot. But we'll show that another night. We'll have them back on the program.

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