ANNOUNCER:   On the left: James Carville and Paul Begala. On the right: Robert Novak and Tucker Carlson. In the CROSSFIRE tonight: the unemployment rate hits six percent and two members of the Bush administration. 
ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY:   I think it's fair to say that president looks at the economy as a matter that is bigger than any one person or any one expert. 
ANNOUNCER:   Or any one president? And can he fix things before the 2004 election? And speaking of elections, it's getting pretty rough down on the bayou. 
NARRATOR:   Mary Landrieu, Louisiana's most liberal senator, ever.    What do we really know about Suzie? A paid lobbyist for a foreign drug company while on the New Orleans City Council. 
ANNOUNCER:   A live update on a lively race. Plus, the strategists and spin doctors. Tonight on CROSSFIRE. From the George Washington University: James Carville and Tucker Carlson. 
CARVILLE:   Welcome to CROSSFIRE. Tonight, two members of the Bush economic team get thrown overboard. Suppose they'll get bonuses anyhow? We'll also head down to Louisiana, where the U.S. Senate race appears headed to a photo finish. But first, out of the starting gate, the best political briefing in television, our CROSSFIRE "Political Alert." Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill resigned today. About an hour later, so did the president's chief economic adviser and architect of his economic plan, Larry Lindsey. It wasn't a coincidence they were both shown the door. A White house source says O'Neill was too reticent about Mr. Bush's call up for an economic growth package. O'Neill also committed the sin of publicly expressing doubts about the wisdom of the president's tax cuts. Lindsey's departure, according to officials, is collateral damage from the shakeup. Treasury Secretary O'Neill is a genuine and nice man. He is also truthful and competent. After all, he used to run Alcoa Aluminum. But sometimes people like that just don't fit into Washington culture. His and Lindsey's departure, on top of SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt's resignation a few weeks ago, just goes to show you that Democrats have been right all along. George W. Bush doesn't have a clue about how to run the economy. 
CARLSON:   I guess it's obvious that that's not a serious critique. But no president runs the economy. At its best, he can preside over an economy. He can damage an economy. 
CARVILLE:   I'll tell you one thing, Bill Clinton and Bob (ph) O'Neill and   did a pretty good job. 
CARLSON:   That's ludicrous, James. 
CARVILLE:   If nobody can do anything, why is he admitting a colossal failure by firing the three top people there? 
CARLSON:   You can't even explain how they did it. 
CARVILLE:   I can.   deficits, greater investment, freer trades. 
CARLSON:   Whatever that means. 
CARVILLE:   Competent people. How about that? You want the answer? You got it. 
CARLSON:   More slogans. And speaking of slogans, in less than 24 hours Iraq will release documents formerly pretending that it does not have chemical or biological weapons. The Bush administration will catalog the lies. Iraq will come that much closer to regime change. But that is not Saddam Hussein's only problem. He may also get thrown out of the Olympics.  A London-based human rights group has filed a complaint with the International Olympic Committee, charging that Iraq is too barbaric to compete with other countries. In addition to standard weight and locker rooms, the Iraqi Olympic program also maintains a torture chamber and its own prison. Both are run by Saddam Hussein's oldest son, Ude (ph). Athletes who lose visit both. Not long ago, members of the unsuccessful Iraqi track team were forced to crawl on hot asphalt. At least one was thrown off a bridge. Even by liberal international standards, behavior like this is considered unsportsman-like. So Saddam Hussein may get bounced out of the Olympics, which means no Iraqi luge team. Get used to it. 
CARVILLE:   I'm devastated. You see, what they need to do is find some of these political dissidents. I bet you they can run real fast. 
CARLSON:   They are quick. They want the baton. 
CARVILLE:   I'm telling you. They'll be glad. Senator John McCain and the Bush administration don't seem to be getting along well these days,. According to "The Washington Post, " McCain yesterday accused the Bush administration of breaking a written promise -- they've broken all the oral promises, why shouldn't they break the written one -- to speedily appoint a Democrat to the Federal Election Commission. Ellen Weintraub's (ph) appointment was announced today, but the damage may be done. "The Post" said McCain blames the delay on what he sees as the administration's orchestrated and systematic effort to undermine campaign finance reform. McCain, who is going to be chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee soon, passed the word that he will assume all future assurances and promises by the administration will quite possibly be insincere. No, senator, they won't possibly be insincere, they will all be insincere. 
CARLSON:   So the charges that the Bush administration hasn't appointed a Democrat to the FEC, but they did appoint a Democrat to the FEC. So... 
CARVILLE:   They were foot dragging. The charge was that they were foot dragging. 
CARLSON:   So they didn't do it two days ago, they did it yesterday. So the day makes all the difference. I understand. 
CARVILLE:   They were foot dragging. 
CARLSON:   It's a pretty serious crime. 
CARVILLE:   It also goes to appointees that they were going to  . Senator McCain is a fine man. You sit here and be an honest man and say Senator McCain thinks that George Bush is a truth teller. You can't say that. 
CARLSON:   Actually, James, I am a fan of Senator McCain's. His personal feelings about George W. Bush are beyond my purview, as you know, and my interest. 
CARVILLE:   Right, but you know what they are. 
CARLSON:   OK. 
CARVILLE:   He, like a lot of people, knows it's the most lying administration in history. 
CARLSON:   Hush. Earlier this week, former President Bill Clinton gave a much- hailed speech in which he laid out a vision for the Democratic Party's foreign policy. "Iraq," he said, "is important, but eliminating terrorism must come first." Well it wasn't until this morning that anyone laughed. In a devastating editorial entitled "Mr. Clinton Forgets," "The Washington Post" described the former president's new position as not simply, "characteristically calculated and weasly (ph)," but also the precise opposite of what he used to claim to believe. Four years ago, only four years ago, Clinton called Iraq a rogue state allied with terrorists, and he warned of dire consequences if the U.S. failed to disarm Saddam. Of course, under Clinton, the United States failed to do anything at all about Iraq. Now that the Bush administration has decided to clean up the mess, he snipes from the sidelines, which is pretty bold even for Bill Clinton. 
CARVILLE:   You know, the truth of the matter is, Tucker, you might... 
CARLSON:   That's the truth of the matter, actually. 
CARVILLE:   ... be the only person that anywhere (ph) cares what "The Washington Post" says. 
CARLSON:   They make an excellent point. Attack the newspaper, but it's true. 
CARVILLE:   It turned into a third-rate newspaper with a mealy mouth editorial policy. 
CARLSON:   Actually, that's a true editorial and you know it. 
CARVILLE:   No, I don't. I know this, if Bill Clinton would have been president, al Qaeda would be in a lot more trouble then they are today. 
CARLSON:   U.N. inspections lasted for two years and they did nothing about it.  
CARVILLE:   Why did the Bush administration fight an investigation into this? Because they... 
CARLSON:   More conspiracies. Good luck, James. 
CARVILLE:   When Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina celebrated his 100th birthday yesterday, one of the party guests was Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi. According to ABC News, Lott told everyone, "I want to say this about when Strom Thurmond ran for president. We voted for him. We were proud of it, and if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have all these problems all over these years either." When Strom Thurmond ran for president it was 1948. It was because of a split within the Democratic Party on civil rights. President Harry Truman and the Democrats were for them; Strom Thurmond was against it. It was pretty ugly. But to his credit, Strom Thurmond grew in wisdom and changed his views. It sounds like the same can't be said for other folks, Trent Lott, who has ties to a segregation-based organization. And I just want to know one thing, what is it about segregation that so fascinates you conservatives? 
CARLSON:   I must say, James, as you know, segregation was created and maintained by Democrats, by your heroes in your state. 
CARVILLE:   Strom Thurmond -- what is it that makes -- why do all of you conservatives like segregation? Why do you want to return to it? 
CARLSON:   I must say, James, as someone who grew up in a segregated place, as you did, that's just about... 
CARVILLE:   What is it about it that Trent Lott likes about segregation? 
CARLSON:   That's so dumb that I'm not even going to respond to it. 
CARVILLE:   No it's not. Why do conservatives like racial segregation? 
CARLSON:   Look, pal, you're a little guilty because you grew up with segregation... 
CARVILLE:   I'm not guilty about the way I grew up. I don't feel guilty at all about the way I grew up. 
CARLSON:   You ought to be. All right. The world is a little grayer tonight, and not just because of the weather. Long time Providence mayor Vincent Buddy Cianci reported to prison today in New Jersey, where he'll serve the next five years in a cinderblock room with 11 other felons. Cianci first came to national prominence in the early 1980s, when he beat his estranged wife's boyfriend senseless with a fireplace log and then urinated on him. Convicted of assault, Cianci became a talk show host on the radio then ran again for mayor. He won and went on to transform Providence from an aging industrial hulk to an aging industrial hulk with excellent shopping and good restaurants. He also took bribes, hence the prison term. Cianci was said to be serene as he arrived at the federal correction institution at Fort Dix today. Guards there confiscated his last remaining possessions: a pack of cigarettes and a novel. Good lucky, Buddy. Join us on CROSSFIRE when you get out. 
CARVILLE:   Don't forget to bring the spaghetti sauce. He makes his own spaghetti sauce. Good spaghetti sauce. I feel sorry for him. I know him. He's a friend of mine. And I know it's a difficult time for him. And I'm not going to kick a man when he's down. 
CARLSON:   It usually is when you go to prison. Just don't fool with his estranged wife. Job openings on the president's economic team. Who will fill the void? We'll have some nominations. Then, it's a month late, but the Louisiana Senate race is shaping up like the rest of the midterm elections, a disaster for Democrats. We'll be back with gloating in a little bit.
