ANNOUNCER:   On the left: James Carville and Paul Begala. On the right: Robert Novak and Tucker Carlson. In the CROSSFIRE tonight: he goes to a NATO summit and talks Iraq. 
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES:   My expectation is, is that we can do this peacefully if Saddam Hussein disarms. 
ANNOUNCER:   Is the president too focused on the man in Baghdad? Al Gore thinks so. 
AL GORE, FMR. VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES:   And I think that was a serious mistake. 
ANNOUNER:   Are you listening to Rush Limbaugh? Tom Daschle says right wing talk radio is more than hot air. It's making America dangerous. 
DASCHLE:   The threats to those of us in public life go up dramatically. 
ANNOUNCER:   And, hold the pickles, hold the lettuce. A brand new lawsuit may upset us. The Big Mac legal attack. Ahead on CROSSFIRE. From the George Washington University: James Carville and Robert Novak. 
CARVILLE:   Welcome to CROSSFIRE. Tonight, Rush Limbaugh can dish it out. So why can't he take a little criticism?  And McDonald's been dishing out fat and calories for years. So why are they surprised that some overweight customers are upset? But first, the sweetest part of the day, and we guarantee it's non- fattening. Here comes our CROSSFIRE "Political Alert." 
NOVAK:   The U.S. government disclosed the capture of al Qaeda's chief of operations in the Persian Gulf, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, the suspected mastermind of the USS Cole bombing. He was taken in an undisclosed foreign country earlier this month. He is now in U.S. custody and is called a high-ranking al Qaeda operative. This good news for America is bad news for Democrats. With Democrats admitting they lost the midterm elections because they had no message, Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle, after the election, accused President Bush of losing the war against terrorism. With Al Gore lightly echoing that message. Now it's clear they just have no idea what's going on. 
CARVILLE:   No, Bob. Because you all don't have any idea what's going on. You think you catch one guy and you've destroyed al Qaeda, you're wrong. This homeland security thing, as Senator Rudman pointed out, is ill funded. And we're not making the progress we need to make on this war and we'll talk about it later. 
NOVAK:   Warren Rudman has been attacking (ph) his own Republicans for years. But I'll tell you... 
CARVILLE:   And George Schultz is on that committee and he's not a very good Republican either. 
NOVAK:   No he isn't a very good Republican. 
CARVILLE:   OK, fine. You know what, they're good Americans and that's the important thing here. And you're more interested in being a good Republican than in being a good American. 
NOVAK:   I'll tell you this. If you think that's the answer to getting back into the favor of the American people, to attack the president on terrorism, you're silly. 
CARVILLE:   Yeah, I do. I don't think we've done a very good job. Ebenezer Scrooge would love this. Three days after Christmas, nearly one million Americans stand to lose unemployment benefits. Their only hope is a one-day special session of the House of Representatives scheduled for tomorrow. But the benefits bill has been stalled. The "Wall Street Journal" reports that House and Senate Republicans can't agree on some extra goodies the House tacked onto it designed to protect the Bush administration from lawsuits over the way it pays doctors for Medicare. Unemployed people don't have the money for lawsuits and lobbyists, and if Congress can't get its act together they won't have money for food. Merry Christmas. 
NOVAK:   Wait a minute, James. Let me say a word. I want to say something the politicians of neither party will say is, you extend those unemployment benefits, and it discourages people from going out and looking for a job. 
CARVILLE:   You know what they need to do the unemployment people, they need to give these drug companies more benefits, we need to take on these   kids that are suffering for this. We need to take on the little people, because that's what you all love to do. You hate little people. You hate the unemployed. You hate poor children. You hate all the little people of the world. You love big people. 
NOVAK:   I'm not talking about little people. I'm talking about the trial lawyers. 
CARVILLE:   What are you talking about? 
NOVAK:   That's all the trial lawyers. 
CARVILLE:   What is it about -- why do you like the approval of power, Bob? Why is it so necessary to you? 
NOVAK:   At the NATO summit in Prague, the Canadian delegation viciously attacked President Bush. During a Canadian briefing for reporters, an official said of the American president, "What a moron." The Canadian press is not disclosing this official's identified, but I will. It was Prime Minister Jean Chretien's spokeswoman and communications director, Francine Ducros. No apology yet. The Canadians are in an uproar because the Americans are urging them to boost defense spending. Canada ranks third from the bottom among NATO countries in military spending. Ahead only of Luxembourg and of Iceland, which does not even have a military. Canada should be ashamed of itself. 
CARVILLE:   I think Canadians are pretty proud people. I actually like Canada, I like Canadians. Just like I like France and I like French people and everybody else. You right wingers, you all hate poor people, you hate children, you hate Canadians, you hate Frenchmen. You hate everything. What the hell do you like other than rich people? 
NOVAK:   I'll tell you what... 
CARVILLE:   Other than rich people, who do you like? 
NOVAK:   If you liked the weenie Canadians so much why don't you go there? Why don't you go there? 
CARVILLE:   I go there all the time. I love Canadians. I go to England. I like the British. 
NOVAK:   You'd probably like Iraq if you went there, too.  
CARVILLE:   No, I wouldn't like Iraq. But I sure -- I got an office in Britain. I've got an office in Tel Aviv. I love the Israelis, too. You don't like the Israelis. I do. They gave away office space in a lottery today for the incoming members of -- the 53 incoming members of the House of Representatives. But is this really a big deal? The difference between picking first and picking last can be an office five minutes away from the Capitol building as opposed to a 15-minute hike. And guess who's name was drawn first, none other than Florida's freshman Republican Katherine Harris. When asked her boss' reaction, Harris' chief of staff crowed, "No recount required, no chads involved." Katherine Harris got where she is today by pure dumb luck and by being against recounts. Well, nothing's changed. 
NOVAK:   Well, I'll tell you something. You remember on election night when you left wingers were pedaling this gossip, we're going to beat Katherine Harris. This is a big chad going against it. I'm going to tell you. You're going to have to live with her. She's going to be here for a long time. And she'll probably outlast you. 
CARVILLE:   But if they had a makeup lottery, I know she'd win that. I guarantee you that. 
NOVAK:   Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu running for re-election in Louisiana's December 7th runoff has a dilemma. She must do better with black voters while not diminishing her white support. So she does a dance. Being one of three democratic senators to support House Republican amendments to the homeland security bill, then voting against confirmation of Judge Dennis Shed (ph), a white conservative targeted by black pressure groups. Enough to appease Louisiana blacks? Not for many, such as state Senator Tom Cravens, who told "The Washington Times" he can't forget Senator Landrieu bragging how much she supports George W. Bush. James, it is just hard to be a southern Democrat these days. 
CARVILLE:   You know, it's hard for you to understand that there actually are people that would like to get white votes and black votes at the same time. And white folks and black folks can get together and vote for the same campaign. In the wedge issues that you right wingers like, you like to divide white people and black people and I like to bring them together. I think we all ought to be part of the same dumb bowl as we say in Louisiana. 
NOVAK:   But she's losing on both... 
CARVILLE:   Everybody knows that the Fox News Channel is merely a wing of the Republican Party, and its viewers use it the same way a drunk uses a lamp post, for support, not illumination. So I really don't understand why there's such a big uproar over the disclosure that Fox News President Roger Ailes sends advice to President Bush.  Who did you expect him to send notes to, Bill Clinton and Ted Kennedy? As for "The New York Times" editorial talking about it today, well the   is just showing naivete. Getting upset about a Republican network is the same about being shocked that there's gambling in Casablanca. 
NOVAK:   James, you've got a point. You know I didn't criticize when the president of CNN spent the night in the Lincoln bedroom at the White House under Bill Clinton. So I won't criticize Roger Ailes either. 
CARVILLE:   I'm just saying that I'm not criticizing. Of course it's a Republican network. And what's the big deal here? Why is everybody all bent out of shape about it? 
NOVAK:   Still to come, a whole lot of democratic whining. Something they're very good at. Al Gore doesn't think the president can handle more than one international bad guy at a time. And Senator Tom Daschle can't seem to handle Rush Limbaugh at all. But if you're good and sit through all of that, we promise to take you to McDonald's.
