ANNOUNCER:   CROSSFIRE. On the left, James Carville and Paul Begala; on the right, Robert Novak and Tucker Carlson. In the 
CROSSFIRE:   With just under six months until Election Day, is John Kerry having trouble coming up with a winning message? 
KERRY:   And I believe that it is critical that from the first days of a Kerry administration, the world understands that we are going to be prepared to hold people accountable for their actions. 
ANNOUNCER:   President Bush is taking his message on the road to the battleground states of Michigan and Ohio. 
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES:   What matters about tax relief is, it makes people more optimistic about their future. 
ANNOUNCER:   Is it the message voters want to hear? Today, on CROSSFIRE.    Live from the George Washington University, James Carville and Tucker Carlson. 
CARVILLE:   All right. Welcome to CROSSFIRE. Facing a steady attack from the Bush campaign, John Kerry is out with new television ads countering GOP distortions. The ad highlights Kerry's life as a veteran senator and his combat service in the Vietnam War. 
CARLSON:   Kerry's latest blitz merely underscores a campaign in trouble. One example, he has yet to open a campaign office in the battleground state of Ohio. That's one of the two key states President Bush is visiting over the next two days. We'll debate Kerry's lack of focus and what it means, if anything, right after the best political briefing in television, our CROSSFIRE "Political Alert."  Well, American contractor Thomas Hamill is reuniting with his wife in Germany today little more than 24 hours after boldly escaping from Iraq insurgents who kidnapped him April 9. Hamill is both usually brave and very lucky. Four of his co-workers were murdered on the same day he was captured. Like Hamill, the men who were killed work for a company called Halliburton. You may have heard of it. According to Democrats, Halliburton is part of an evil Dick Cheney-led conspiracy to steal from the American taxpayer and subvert democracy around the world. In fact, the 24,000 Halliburton employees in Iraq and Kuwait have a much more simpler, much more noble job, feeding and taking care of American troops. They deliver the mail. They cook the meal. They build the houses. So far, at least 34 of them have died doing that. Many dozens more have been wounded. None of them were rich right-wing oil barons. Most, like Thomas Hamill, were ordinary working-class Americans trying to feed their families and serve their country. Think of them next time you hear someone on the left call Halliburton evil. 
CARVILLE:   Well, I think... 
CARLSON:   You know what? It's so outrageous. It's got nothing to do with anything. 
CARVILLE:   I'm glad the man escaped. I'm all for it. His hometown in Mississippi prayed for him. One of the reasons he went is because his wife needs some heart surgery or something and the insurance she had, what they had now, she couldn't pay for it. 
CARLSON:   Exactly. 
CARVILLE:   So I'm glad he went. 
CARLSON:   Halliburton provided a service. 
CARVILLE:   Is it possible that the son of a rural Louisiana postmaster and encyclopedia salesman is ordained with the gift of prophecy. Is it possible that the mind of James Carville has been touched by the hand of God.    Or is it possible that I'm just simply exercising plain horse sense when, nearly one year ago, I had this to say on this very show -- quote -- "I think Wolfowitz ought to resign because he's the biggest idiot to serve in this government in my lifetime." 
CARLSON:   Now, Paul -- I mean, James, you're troubling me here. 
CARVILLE:   Why? 
CARLSON:   In the second paragraph of that "Political Alert," you refer to yourself, like Castro, in the third person. 
CARVILLE:   Yes. 
CARLSON:   And that is a sign, that is absolutely a sign that you are losing touch with reality. 
CARVILLE:   No, I think I'm touched by God. 
CARLSON:   Exactly. 
CARVILLE:   If I say a man ought to resign and he's the No. 2 person in the Defense Department, he don't know how much money we spent and many people died, then what the hell's his job? What's he doing there? 
CARLSON:   When you start referring to yourself in the third person...    Look, John Kerry voted for this war. 
CARVILLE:   Thank you for making me a prophet in a city of idiots. Thank you. Thank you, almighty. 
CARLSON:   It's hard to argue with someone who has been touched by the great spirit. Well, when you ask many of the people who came to the abortion rights march in Washington why they came, you got answers like these: to protect choice, for reproductive freedom, and, my personal favorite, to take a stands for women's lives, whatever that means. In other words, you didn't really get answers at all. Well, to her credit, Maxine Waters, congresswoman and resident bomb thrower of California, didn't bother to behind hide behind such euphemisms while asked why she was there. This is what Maxine Waters said -- quote -- "I have to march because my mother could not have an abortion." Well, think about that for a second.    It's one thing to support abortion. It's quite another to wish that your own mother had had an abortion. 
CARVILLE:   I think what Maxine was saying is, her mother didn't have a right to an abortion. I think the argument is between people who support abortion rights and people who don't. And because someone who supports abortion rights 
CARLSON:   You know what? It's about the act -- it's about the act of abortion itself. And people on the other side don't even want to discuss what the act is because they can't face it directly, so they cloak it in the language of civil rights. And it's a total lie. 
CARVILLE:   There are people that say that should -- what these women and these people were out there marching for were abortion rights.    I don't think she's wishes she... 
CARLSON:   Actually, I'll tell you why people ought to reelect President Bush. 
CARVILLE:   Why? Yes, give me a good reason. 
CARLSON:   Because, in contrast to the man who is running against him... 
CARVILLE:   Right. Right. 
CARLSON:   he puts America's -- he puts America's interests first.    He's not embarrassed of American power and authority and he's not afraid to impose it. 
CARVILLE:   We've seen it in Iraq. Boy, I'll tell you what. He really is 
CARLSON:   The idea of having a president who is intent on getting the permission of Western Europe before protecting his own country is a scary thing to most Americans, actually. 
CARVILLE:   Iraq was never a threat to the United States, hoss. I don't know how to tell you that.    We got the permission of Western Europe before we went into Afghanistan, like we should have. 
CARLSON:   All right. Well, here's an interesting question. What exactly is John Kerry trying to say? While Kerry seems to be in search of a message, President Bush is taking his message directly to voters. Which candidate is saying what voters want to hear? Who panders better? And it's a proud tradition, politicians falling down. Later, find out which candidate is the latest to take a tumble. We'll be right back.
