MrsSpringsteen
Blue Crack Addict
I'm posting the whole thing because you have to get a free registration, and because I know you are all riveted
From NYT.com
QUESTIONS FOR RICHARD A. GEPHARDT
House Proud
Interview by MATT BAI
Published: December 5, 2004
What's different about Washington, as you leave it, than when you arrived?
When I came here, we'd fight hard on the floor, in the old Tip O'Neill phrase, but then we'd go have a beer together and get along as human beings. And that just does not happen as much as it did. When it's my way or the highway every day, which is the way I think the Republicans run the place, I don't think it works very well.
Who was the most talented politician you ever saw?
Bill Clinton. Hands down. You can't just be up there giving numbers and facts. You've got to connect emotionally.
I was at the flea market the other day, and they were selling the edition of The New York Post with the famous headline that said you were the vice-presidential nominee.
I thought I could get enough of them that I could support myself in retirement. I could autograph them and sell them for a little more on eBay, and get $5 rather than $3.
That's as good a retirement plan as I've heard from Congress in a while. What else have you been buying?
I did get an iPod. Oh, I love it. It's the best thing that ever happened to me.
What are you listening to -- political speeches?
The collected speeches of Newt Gingrich. That would be NO. I like Josh Groban. I like Tony Bennett. I like Nelly. He's from St. Louis. He's a very good rapper. I like Eminem. I have his album.
Some of the lyrics are a little hard to take.
Oh, I don't listen to the lyrics. I just like the music. I like the beat.
Is the vice-presidential nomination something you really wanted?
What I told John Kerry was: ''If you really want me to do this, if you think I can help you, I will do it. But I'm 63 years old. I'm never going to be president, and so, you know, I'd just as soon do something else.''
What will you do next?
One thing I'll probably do is set up an institute for public service at Washington University in St. Louis to interest young people in what I got messed up in -- politics, public life, public service.
Do you buy the idea that the Democrats are on the verge of not being a national party?
I don't believe that. I do think we have to do two things to be successful. One, we've got to speak to values and people's faith. Secondly, I think we need to do grass-roots politics better than we've ever done.
I have this enduring image of you standing up there in a union jacket. Where do you keep all those jackets? Do you have an enormous warehouse somewhere?
I have the world's largest union jacket collection. I think I probably had more memberships in more unions, honorary memberships, than any living human being.
Is the situation for workers today better or worse than when you came to Washington?
It's probably a little worse, because when I came here, services were not in the world economy, just the manufacturing and industrial-type jobs. Now everything's part of the global economy.
If you could snap your fingers and amend the Constitution, what would you change?
The Electoral College. Get rid of it. You basically had an election in seven or eight states, not the whole country. And I don't think that's healthy. You did not have the level of activity in, say, California, Georgia, New York or Alabama that you had in Ohio and Michigan and Pennsylvania. I mean, what's that about? It's their president too.
From NYT.com
QUESTIONS FOR RICHARD A. GEPHARDT
House Proud
Interview by MATT BAI
Published: December 5, 2004
What's different about Washington, as you leave it, than when you arrived?
When I came here, we'd fight hard on the floor, in the old Tip O'Neill phrase, but then we'd go have a beer together and get along as human beings. And that just does not happen as much as it did. When it's my way or the highway every day, which is the way I think the Republicans run the place, I don't think it works very well.
Who was the most talented politician you ever saw?
Bill Clinton. Hands down. You can't just be up there giving numbers and facts. You've got to connect emotionally.
I was at the flea market the other day, and they were selling the edition of The New York Post with the famous headline that said you were the vice-presidential nominee.
I thought I could get enough of them that I could support myself in retirement. I could autograph them and sell them for a little more on eBay, and get $5 rather than $3.
That's as good a retirement plan as I've heard from Congress in a while. What else have you been buying?
I did get an iPod. Oh, I love it. It's the best thing that ever happened to me.
What are you listening to -- political speeches?
The collected speeches of Newt Gingrich. That would be NO. I like Josh Groban. I like Tony Bennett. I like Nelly. He's from St. Louis. He's a very good rapper. I like Eminem. I have his album.
Some of the lyrics are a little hard to take.
Oh, I don't listen to the lyrics. I just like the music. I like the beat.
Is the vice-presidential nomination something you really wanted?
What I told John Kerry was: ''If you really want me to do this, if you think I can help you, I will do it. But I'm 63 years old. I'm never going to be president, and so, you know, I'd just as soon do something else.''
What will you do next?
One thing I'll probably do is set up an institute for public service at Washington University in St. Louis to interest young people in what I got messed up in -- politics, public life, public service.
Do you buy the idea that the Democrats are on the verge of not being a national party?
I don't believe that. I do think we have to do two things to be successful. One, we've got to speak to values and people's faith. Secondly, I think we need to do grass-roots politics better than we've ever done.
I have this enduring image of you standing up there in a union jacket. Where do you keep all those jackets? Do you have an enormous warehouse somewhere?
I have the world's largest union jacket collection. I think I probably had more memberships in more unions, honorary memberships, than any living human being.
Is the situation for workers today better or worse than when you came to Washington?
It's probably a little worse, because when I came here, services were not in the world economy, just the manufacturing and industrial-type jobs. Now everything's part of the global economy.
If you could snap your fingers and amend the Constitution, what would you change?
The Electoral College. Get rid of it. You basically had an election in seven or eight states, not the whole country. And I don't think that's healthy. You did not have the level of activity in, say, California, Georgia, New York or Alabama that you had in Ohio and Michigan and Pennsylvania. I mean, what's that about? It's their president too.