TRANSCRIPT FROM THE SITUATION ROOM
Aired March 5,2010
BLITZER: All right. Let's assess what's going on with our senior political analysts, Gloria Borger and David Gergen -- David, you know, the -- the Democrats regained the House and the Senate 2006 and 2008 because the Republicans were in a lot of trouble as a result of investigations and scandals. But now there are a whole bunch of Democrats finding themselves in -- in deep trouble, as well.
DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL ADVISER: That's absolutely right, Wolf. We saw that in 2006 of Jack Abramoff and others. The Democrats converted that into a firestorm and it helped to sweep them into control.
We saw it earlier, back in 1992 and '93, when the House of Representatives had what they -- an internal bank that -- that members were using, -- in this case, many Democrats. And they were using it like a piggybank. And they got chased out of power. That was Newt Gingrich and all the Republicans who took power then.
This has the potential to get there. I don't think it's there yet. This is more like a fire than a firestorm. It -- it's going to -- partly because it's restricted right now to New York. All the scandals have been around New York politics or politicians. And partly -- they have moved to get Charlie Rangel out of his seat. I think Gloria thinks they moved too slowly, but they did get him out of his seat.
BLITZER: But take a look at it. We put some picture up there. You've seen a lot of Democrats over the past year or so, not just Governor Paterson and Charlie Rangel...
GERGEN: Right.
BLITZER: -- Eric Massa, but you look at the lower list -- take a look behind you. You can see Eliot Spitzer, Rod Blagojevich, John Edwards. They're all Democrats, Gloria.
GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, right. It's a rogue's gallery. But, you know, the Democrats are in a bad spot when they're reduced to arguing that our corruption is not as bad as their corruption was. You know, and that's the case that you hear some Democrats making, which is essentially this isn't Tom DeLay, this isn't Mark Foley, you know, the page scandal. These are -- these are not as serious infractions.
But I think that's a weak argument to make, because when you're in power and when you promise the most ethical Congress in history, as Nancy Pelosi did promise, and then you have this creeping up on you, including the chairman of the tax-writing committee, I think it's a very difficult argument to make, which is that we're cleaner than they were, even though we have some problems.
GERGEN: Yes. I -- look, I think it does make life more difficult for the Democrats.
BORGER: Yes.
GERGEN: I just don't think that this alone it's going to is going to force them out. And that -- it's not this...
BORGER: There's plenty else.
GERGEN: It's not -- it's not of the...
BORGER: -- going on.
GERGEN: -- the magnitude is not yet that big. But a couple of others -- a couple more and they will be in trouble, because once you get a sense that power brings corruption...
BORGER: Sure.
GERGEN: -- and that you're out of touch with -- and you're not obeying the rules of every people, then you get in trouble.
BORGER: And -- and it adds to the anger...
GERGEN: Right. Absolutely.
BORGER: -- which you...
BLITZER: And there is anger. BORGER: -- which is already out there.
GERGEN: Yes.
BORGER: And there's already anger out there. And whether it's about health care, whether it's about jobs, this just adds to it.
BLITZER: It adds to this notion...
BORGER: And, you know, you blame the folks in power.
BLITZER: -- against incumbents...
GERGEN: Absolutely.
BLITZER: -- whether Democrats or Republicans, just get the bums out and get some good people in there -- David.
GERGEN: It does -- it does -- it certainly adds to that. And what we're seeing, of course, now, is that this is also affecting the state level. We have all sorts of states -- New York State, we were just talking about. There is -- we've had Spitzer and now Paterson -- two governors in a row. Illinois, I mean they -- they compete with each other to see which is more corrupt sometimes. Massachusetts, we've had three speakers of the House of Representatives in a row indicted in Massachusetts. And that helped to fuel the anti- incumbency and brought Scott Brown to Washington. It helped his campaign.
So this has the potential to certainly help Republicans. But at this point, Wolf, I don't think, at the national level, it's yet going to chase the Democrats out of office.
BORGER: You know, there -- there is this anti-incumbent feeling out there.
GERGEN: Right.
BORGER: I believe it always affects the party in power much more than it -- than it affects the folks who are not running things. And the Democrats happen to be running things.
And I think the big question here is, how will this affect the intensity of the Democratic turnout in the mid-term elections?
GERGEN: Yes.
BORGER: Because the folks who are angry are the folks who are going to come out and vote.
GERGEN: That's right.
BLITZER: Right.
BORGER: And Barack Obama, in 2008, changed the entire composition of the electorate. He brought out young voters. He brought out minority voters. And the question now is whether he's going to have the juice to get Democrats across the finish line that -- that voters are angry at.
BLITZER: Because a lot of the enthusiasm and the energy right now is on the conservative or Republican side...
BORGER: Absolutely.
GERGEN: Right.
BLITZER: -- as opposed to the Democratic side. But there's still plenty of time for the Democrats to regroup between now -- November.
BORGER: The good news is this happened early, right?
GERGEN: Yes, if they get -- if they get health care done, then that will help energize the Democratic base. On the other hand, it's also going to energize the Republican base.
BORGER: Right.
GERGEN: This is -- we're in the most interesting off year election period I think any of us can remember.
BLITZER: We'll...
GERGEN: This is in a very, very dramatic moment in time.
BLITZER: We'll watch every step of the way with both of you guys.
Thanks very much.
BORGER: Thank you.