WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR:   I'm Wolf Blitzer in Boston. Coming up at the top of the hour, the Democratic National Convention is now under way. We'll tell you what's happening right now. Iraqi captors free an Egyptian diplomat. We'll discuss hostage- taking as a weapon of war with the former Defense Secretary William Cohen. And he lost his own bid for reelection. Now he's trying to get John Kerry elected president. We'll talk with former Senator Max Cleland. Those stories, much more, from the convention floor only minutes away on "WOLF BLITZER REPORTS." Now back to CROSSFIRE. 
CARVILLE:   It's time for "Rapid Fire," where we ask questions even faster than the   dumped tea in the Boston Harbor. Our guests, the Illinois Democratic congressman, my dear friend Rahm Emanuel, in Texas, Republican Congressman Henry Bonilla. 
NOVAK:   Congressman Emanuel, much in evidence at this convention has been Jerry Springer, the shock jock talk show host from Ohio, a major figure in the Ohio Democratic Party. Good idea or bad idea to have him much in evidence at this convention? 
EMANUEL:   The big evidence is going to be John Kerry. And that's what people are tuned into. 
CARVILLE:   Yes, Congressman Bonilla, Jerry Falwell is big evidence at Republican Conventions. I'm sure he'll be there big at this convention. Do you think Jerry Falwell is a positive for the Republican Party? 
BONILLA:   This election is going to be close. We'll take all the help we can get. 
CARVILLE:   So you want to put Jerry Falwell -- will he be 
BONILLA:   We want anyone who wants to help elect George W. Bush to help us. 
CARVILLE:   Congressman Emanuel, most of the people around here, including John Kerry, don't want to be called a liberal. Are you a liberal? 
EMANUEL:   Yes. 
NOVAK:   Congratulations. 
EMANUEL:   OK. Fine. 
NOVAK:   An honest man. 
EMANUEL:   That's fine. You know what I think it is? You have got to decide, do you have a sense that, with all the benefits that are going up in the boardroom, when it comes to health care security, retirement security, educational opportunity can also up on in employees' wage stubs? And if that's liberal, fine. 
CARVILLE:   What's more important, Congressman Bonilla, that we keep the tax cut for the top 1 percent or we fund the military adequately? 
BONILLA:   Both are important. 
CARVILLE:   But which one is more? 
BONILLA:   Both will happen, because, if you feed tax cuts to the economy, it produces more revenue long term and we'll have a stronger military. 
NOVAK:   Congressman Emanuel, if you were running the show, would you have taken John Kerry to Fenway Park last night to get booed? 
EMANUEL:   I would take him to the game. 
NOVAK:   To get booed? 
EMANUEL:   It's fine to go to the game. It's a good game. It's a Red Sox-Yankee game. Who doesn't love that, Bob? Maybe -- if people don't like that, you can just kind of tell them to just shove it. You know what I mean? 
NOVAK:   Shove it? 
CARVILLE:   You didn't say shove it? 
EMANUEL:   I'm not going to say what the vice president said, but shove it seems within the bounds of legal. 
CARVILLE:   Is the Republican high command concerned that the president has his opponent going into his convention tied or maybe slightly ahead in the polls? Is that bothering them? 
BONILLA:   Not at all. Your former boss Bill Clinton had numbers about like this right before his reelection. So did Ronald Reagan way back. So we're in perfect position now to even have a bigger margin than you probably think. 
CARVILLE:   So you all are very satisfied with your position? 
BONILLA:   We're very happy, because, in historic comparable times, the president in office wins with a significant margin. 
EMANUEL:   They should be satisfied with where Bush is. I'm not satisfied with where America is.  
NOVAK:   Congressmen Rahm Emanuel, thank you very much. 
EMANUEL:   Thank you, Bob. 
NOVAK:   Congressman Henry Bonilla, thank you. Lesson No. 1 in organizing a convention, don't make the reporters mad. Don't tell them to shove it. Next, I'll tell you about the big stink planners unleashed before this convention even got started.
