ANNOUNCER:   On the left: James Carville and Paul Begala. On the right: Robert Novak and Tucker Carlson. In the CROSSFIRE tonight: 
BUSH:   You need to know I know we have needs here at home. 
ANNOUNCER:   But is Bushonomics the answer to the economy's problem? 
SEN. JOHN EDWARDS  , NORTH CAROLINA:   It's an enormous budget  . 
ANNOUNCER:   The president also has a message for one of the countries on the axis of evil. 
BUSH:   We have no   intent, no argument with the North Korean people. 
ANNOUNCER:   Tonight, we're asking is North Korea really that evil? And, CBS is still going after "Hillbillies." But is Hollywood just making fun of an American tragedy? Ahead on CROSSFIRE. From the George Washington University: James Carville and Robert Novak. 
CARVILLE:   Welcome to CROSSFIRE. Tonight, President Bush has finally discovered it's the economy. But is his new plan just plain stupid? Also, the people who know the real hillbillies tell Hollywood to back off. But we're not backing off. Just like every day, we're starting with the best briefing on television, our CROSSFIRE "Political Alert." President Bush claims he's found a cure for what's ailing the U.S. economy. But judging by his speech in Chicago today, what he's actually found is a cure for insomnia. He went on and on and on about a plan that can be summed up in only five words: tax cuts for the rich. The rule of holes applied here. Once you've dug yourself in a hole, you should stop digging. But this administration is too incompetent to see that. They're just going to keep digging the whole country into a deeper hole. New economists think this package would do anything to spur the economy, it's just another handout to the rich who will create deficits as far as the eye can see. 
NOVAK:   James, that's the class struggle. The fact of the matter is that John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan cut taxes, spurred the economy, and I think this is an exciting program that America will grasp and will prosper by. 
CARVILLE:   Well, it is certainly one that we're going to grasp and we're going to argue about here on CROSSFIRE a good deal tonight and many nights to come. 
NOVAK:   Democratic Senator Tom Daschle saved himself a lot of trouble today. Daschle announced he won't run for president in 2004, catching some of his closest aides by surprise. They planned for him to declare his presidency -- his candidacy Saturday. Also surprised was Senator Harry Reid, who just last night expected to succeed him as Democratic leader. Daschle says he decided he wanted to be in the Senate making a difference: to obstruct the president. Or is it no fire in the belly after failing to keep the Senate in Democratic hands last year? Incidentally, former House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt, who is running for president, said he isn't running for re-election to Congress. It's just Democratic dropouts all over the place. 
CARVILLE:   Well, I'll tell you one thing. I talked to Senator Daschle's staff today. He will not be dropping out from the struggle against this lunacy that the president's proposed. It's going to be a hell of a fight, and I'm glad he's going to be leading the cause. 
NOVAK:   Why did he drop out for president when he... 
CARVILLE:   Well because he really wanted to run for president, but he thought about his responsibilities to the country and he thought about his responsibility to the children of America, who are being dug into a deep deficit hole and will be paying for this for many years to come. And I think he decided that his obligation to the children of America was greater than his obligation to his ambition. And I congratulate him. 
NOVAK:   That's a nice spin. 
CARVILLE:   Now that the guys that never bothered to serve in Vietnam are sending America's children out to fight a possible war with Iraq, at least one congressman said all young people should share the risk and rewards of national service. New York Congressman Charlie Rangel introduced his bill to reinstate the draft today. Rangel said it might make Congress think about rushing off to war if members knew everybody's children would be doing the fighting. If war is really necessary, Rangel says the children of the affluent who historically avoid military service should have a part in pain and sacrifice. I think the draft bill is a good idea. It's a citizen army that makes this country great. It will make people responsible, and I believe it will make our leaders think about sacrifice involved before rushing off to war. 
NOVAK:   You know, James, I think military service is an honor and is something that really enriches my life. I think it enriched your life. And you may not know this, but Senator McCain got a bill through, it was signed by President Bush, that has a short-term voluntary service for Americans. And I think they ought to take advantage of that. 
CARVILLE:   Well, I think we had a -- you know right now our armed forces are disproportionately black; they're also disproportionately non-college educated. I think if you let everybody get a little skin in this game it would be good. And let everybody have the honor of serving their country. And then we'd see  . 
NOVAK:   James Carville's worst nightmare came true today. The 108th Congress was sworn in. And the Republican Party took over complete control of our government in Washington, D.C. In the House, the GOP has a 229-206 margin over the Democrats. A pickup of six seats. Anything the president proposes, I predict will pass the House. And the final piece of the Republican puzzle fell into place over in the Senate. Republicans have a 51-48 majority, with so-called independent turncoat Jim Jeffords probably feeling pretty lonely. And this means the president's tax cut can pass the Senate on a simple majority vote. James, where's your trashcan? 
CARVILLE:   Well, with all the tax breaks this president's going to give me, I could afford a whole roomful of trashcans. But that's not my worst nightmare. It's the worst nightmare for the children of America; it's the worst nightmare for the working people of America. It's the worst nightmare for the sick people of America. It's the worst nightmare for the people that want to have a country where everybody can grow and prosper. This is a sock to people like me and Bush's campaign contributors and supporters. 
NOVAK:   You know, I liked you better with the trashcan. 
CARVILLE:   Well I'll be able to afford a lot more when they start throwing the money at me. I came to this program last month and forgave Senator Trent Lott for comments that he described as racially insensitive. It turns out that Senator Lott might not be so forgiving. Back in the Senate today for the first time since the controversy Lott greeted Minority Leader Tom Daschle with a hearty handshake, a laugh and embrace. But Lott brushed by Senator Bill Frist without even making eye contact. Senator Frist, of course, is the new majority leader. The job Senator Lott would have had if his fellow Republicans hadn't  . I guess that here in D.C. forgiveness might be OK when it comes to inappropriate racial comments, but when it comes to power, that's a whole different ball game. 
NOVAK:   I guess that's so, and I think it applies to you, too, James. As I remember, you demanded a $1,000 contribution back from Senator Zell Miller because he voted for the Bush tax cut. Is that right? 
CARVILLE:   Yes, I sure did. 
NOVAK:   That's not very forgiving or very nice, is it? 
CARVILLE:   No, I want my money back. Damn right. 
NOVAK:   On this, the opening day of the 108th Congress, the Senate was supposed to routinely pass a five-month extension of unemployment benefits with bipartisan backing. Co-sponsored by none other than Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York. But when Mrs. Clinton was recognized to speak, she broke the deal by proposing the jobless pay be extended to one million more people. Democrats then tied the Senate in parliamentary knots. This was an ambush to deny newly installed Republican leader Bill Frist even one day in the sun. The original bill eventually passed, but Senate Democrats made clear that in the minority, they'll be even more nasty and partisan than they were in the majority. 
CARVILLE:   Let me get this straight. They've been proposing yearly tax cuts for people making over $1 million, but of $90,000 and they can't extend unemployment benefits? What a pathetic -- you know, it's immoral. They want to put a million more people -- the Republican Party has constituted today with this kind of thing. Somebody needs to look at the morality of this kind of thing, because that's wrong. They should be extending unemployment benefits to anybody that's unemployed at this time. 
NOVAK:   I'll tell you, when you extend unemployment benefits those people don't want to work. 
CARVILLE:   That's ludicrous. You think people out of work don't want to work? They got people standing in line waiting to work and have a job. You know? The Senate reconvened today, and at least two senators are still waiting for an answer to a burning question. On November 19, when the Senate passed the homeland security bill, Senator Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine were given a promise. They were told that somehow the Senate would get a chance to reconsider and modify many of the special interest provisions hidden in the homeland security bill. One of them, protecting drug maker Eli Lilly from lawsuits of vaccines. At the time, Senator Susan Collins -- she's on the right of your screen -- and Senator Snowe -- at the microphone -- said the process was so odious, the provision so unjustified, we don't feel we can go forward with the agreement to modify the bill. Only after getting an agreement to do that, Maine senators voted for passage. Now it's up to the new majority leader, Senator Bill Frist, to follow through that purpose. We're waiting, Mr. Leader. So when is the provision going to be removed? 
NOVAK:   You know I know you went on "Meet The Press" and put the heat on Senator Frist to do this. This is a perfectly reasonable provision. It says the people can get the money back from this fund if they have damage from their children from these things, but they cannot go and break -- just a minute -- they cannot break the bank with these trial lawyers. I know you're in cahoots with the rich trial lawyers, which is a basic support group of the Democratic Party. 
CARVILLE:   Let me just say this, they gave these two senators their word. And you know, if we had a press corps from Capitol Hill, which we don't, they would ask about it. And I'll tell you what this is. If they don't follow through on their word with these two senators, you women out there know what the Republican Party thinks of women. They tell them anything to get a bill passed, they lie to them, and then they say -- oh, they're just a couple of girl senators, let them off to the side. We don't have to keep our word to them. 
NOVAK:   The commitment was they would consider it and they are considering it. 
CARVILLE:   They said it was odious and they're not going to do a thing  . 
NOVAK:   When Republican Dennis Hastert was reelected Speaker of the House of Representatives today, all the Republicans voted for him. But not all Democrats voted for his Democratic opponent Nancy Pelosi. She lost the votes of four fellow Democrats. Modern Southerns -- moderate Southerners Ralph Hall and Charles Stenholm of Texas, Ken Lucas of Kentucky and Gene Taylor of Mississippi.  They just couldn't bring themselves to vote for Ms. Pelosi, who is a San Francisco liberal. All four of them may be the last Democrats ever to represent their districts. James, future prospects for Democratic control of the House are very dim, indeed. 
CARVILLE:   You know, the Republicans all voted for Tom DeLay, who said that Columbine was a result of birth control, the teaching of evolution, and day care. Three things that I support wholeheartedly. I think women ought to be able to take a birth control pill. I think there ought to be day care. And I absolutely think -- I know you don't like birth control. I know you don't like day care. And I know that you think that teaching evolution is some kind of hoax. 
NOVAK:   Well, I'll tell you what I do -- I'll tell you what I do like. I do like Tom DeLay, but he wasn't running for speaker today, it was Hastert.    They didn't vote anything (ph) today. You ought to read the papers sometime, James. 
CARVILLE:   Right. 
NOVAK:   In a minute... 
CARVILLE:   I'm for birth control. I'm for teaching evolution. And I'm for day care. All the way. 
NOVAK:   I'll tell you, when I see you James, I'm for birth control, too. In a minute, we'll put the Republican and Democratic tax plans side by side. And later we'll look at whether the president has proven to not desiring a second Korean War. And we have the latest in Hollywood reality programs.
