ANNOUNCER:   CROSSFIRE. On the left, James Carville and Paul Begala; on the right, Robert Novak and Tucker Carlson. In the 
CROSSFIRE:   John Kerry asks Wisconsin to move him on to the general election. 
SEN. JOHN KERRY  , PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE:   I look forward to this fight. 
ANNOUNCER:   Should Howard Dean and John Edwards keep fighting or does big labor have the right idea? 
UNIDENTIFIED MALE:   You know, John Kerry has one quality I think all of us know. He can beat George Bush! 
ANNOUNCER:   Today on CROSSFIRE.    Live from the George Washington University, James Carville and Robert Novak. 
CARVILLE:   Welcome to CROSSFIRE. Today, we've got our eyes on a Democratic presidential primary out in Wisconsin. 
NOVAK:   It looks like we'll have to endure another endless John Kerry victory speech and another round of calls for his opponents to give up. Should they give up? We'll get some answers right after the best political briefing in television, our CROSSFIRE "Political Alert." The Teamsters and 18 other labor unions who backed Dick Gephardt for president have shifted to John Kerry. Now, wait a minute. Didn't these unions, the so-called Alliance For Economic Justice, support Congressmen Gephardt over Senator Kerry because they were so different? Gephardt voted against NAFTA, Kerry for it. Gephardt voted against China trade, Kerry for it. Gephardt was against free trade, Kerry for it. But Senator Kerry invited Teamsters boss Jim Hoffa into his home and convinced him he would change his ways once he was in the White House. It looks like Hoffa is just like the union chiefs he once belittled. When the Democratic Party says jump, he asks, how high? 
CARVILLE:   You know, I think speaks a lot for John Kerry, that they came to his side. He's for them on many, many other things, worker safety. The first thing this administration did is this repetitive injury thing that hurt working people. There's been an assault on working people everywhere. They cut programs that help them. And I think it says a lot for the union movement , that it is mature enough to say, you know what? We disagree with this guy on a few things, but he's really good for our members and our country and a lot of other things, Bob. 
NOVAK:   Let me tell you a fact of life, is when...    It's, when union member goes into the polling booth, they don't care what Jim Hoffa says. A lot of them will vote for Bush. I guarantee it. 
CARVILLE:   Not very many. I guarantee    Recently, Republican Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie accused John Kerry of saying one thing and doing another. If that sounds familiar, it's -- like a familiar refrain -- that's because it is. This is what George W. Bush had to say about John McCain in the 2000 primaries -- quote -- "He's a man who says one thing and does another." And then running against Al Gore, he released an ad saying -- quote -- "Why does Al Gore say one thing when the truth is another?" Isn't -- this is all kind of ironic, because if there's anyone who has said one thing and done another, it's George W. Bush. 
NOVAK:   Well, you know -- you know, James, you've just written another commercial, another advertisement for the campaign.    I'm getting sick of it. And I'll tell you something else. The American people are going to get tired of eight months of just pounding on the president. You may love it, but people get sick and tired of it. 
CARVILLE:   It's Ed Gillespie attacking John Kerry. I'm going to tell you, the president's hypocrisy is going to be at issue. This man has said more things and done other things than any five politicians in American history.    And I think it's fair to call a man, his policies hypocrisy. 
NOVAK:   That's your theme. 
CARVILLE:   And that's what we're going to do...    ... throughout this campaign. We're not taking it. 
NOVAK:   Senator -- Senator John Kerry, nearing the Democratic presidential nomination, wants to signify he is traveling the high road. He says he will not pursue the canard that George W. Bush was AWOL with the Alabama National Guard 32 years ago. He has even asked nasty-mouthed Democratic National Chairman Terry McAuliffe stop slandering the president on this. But McAuliffe just won't take orders from the party's new leaders. Do Democrats really believe that anybody will take this seriously, this variation of the old bad cop/good cop game? If the Democrats play this game, they should have to revisit the days when young John Kerry was attacking flag and country with "Hanoi" Jane Fonda. 
CARVILLE:   Well, let me tell you this right now. I'll attack George Bush every day, contrasting what he did by not going to National Guard duty in Alabama, by John Kerry winning the Silver Star and the Bronze star. And John Kerry don't own me. And he -- and just like the thugs on the right ain't going to shut me up, nobody in the Democratic Party is going to shut me up.    I'm going to speak the truth. 
NOVAK:   Nobody -- nobody wants to shut you up, James. 
CARVILLE:   Good.    Because I was going to do it anyway. 
NOVAK:   Because you -- you cause more votes to go to the Republicans every time you open your mouth. 
CARVILLE:   And I'll keep opening it. Today, "The New York Times" writes about a little tempest in the town of Alpine, Texas. Recently, a professor at the local university wrote an article in which he said that the residents of the entire area are -- and I quote -- "appallingly ignorant, irrational, anti- intellectual, and, well, just plain stupid" -- unquote. He contended that he was -- quote -- "prepared to defend to death the proposition that this area of Texas is the proud home of some of the dumbest clods on the planet" -- end quote. Now, the residents are pretty upset about this. They have egged the professor's house, vandalized his car, even threatened his life. He says he never intended to consult them, but he's not going to apologize either.    I think he doesn't need to apologize. I did a little research and found out that George W. Bush carried the county where Alpine, Texas, is by nearly 15 points. It goes to show you, stupid is as stupid votes. 
NOVAK:   You know, James, you think that anybody who votes Republican is stupid. And that just shows... 
CARVILLE:   No, some of them are just greedy. 
NOVAK:   Just a minute. Wait a minute. Let me talk.    And that just shows how stupid you are, because that's -- that's arrogant. It is obstinate. 
CARVILLE:   Some are just greedy. They want more pollution. They want less patriotism. They want more troops stuck in Iraq. They want more debt. 
NOVAK:   You know what they want more? 
CARVILLE:   They want more of this garbage that they're getting from this administration.    And people that want Democratic want change, change, change, change. 
NOVAK:   They want more -- you know what the American...    You know what the American people want? They want freedom from professors like your hero down in Alpine, Texas. 
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