You are also taking heat from Republicans for challenging President Bush and for siding with the Democratic Senate supplemental bill that includes a timetable for troop withdrawal from Iraq. How do you see this affecting your future? And what about the future of the Republican Party?
First, as is always the case, when a political party has a president, that president is the leader of the party. And when that president is not doing well, with a very unpopular war -- two wars -- he drags the party along. The Republican Party is in great disarray. Conservatives are very upset that we built the biggest government in history since FDR ... That's not what most Republicans feel is the philosophy of their party. Deficits, big spending, more regulations, scandals, Libby, Foley -- so you've got a party in a lot of trouble.
How do you view the campaign for the presidency at this time?
No one is breaking out ... Look at how early they started. [Look at the] astounding amount of pressure, the astounding amount of money ... You've got more than 20 months before the actual election, a little less than a year before the actual primaries start. What's going to happen in this period is completely unpredictable.
McCain is now being shot down for his statements about Iraq being safer.
That's what happens when you're out there. You have all these cable and television shows. It's all about destruction ... It's all about destroy, destroy, destroy, bring the person down. I don't care if it's Hillary, Obama or John McCain. It's the fodder for the show. Keep bringin' 'em down, keep bringin' 'em down. Now if you're the front-runner out there, you're going to have to sustain all this for a long period of time.
You say, "This is the most fluid, unpredictable time in modern history." What do you mean?
Well, you've got this "Unity 2008," these independent things that are happening.
Does that interest you?
I don't know, that's something that's out there.
Would you run on a combined Democratic/Republican ticket, which is the Unity '08 concept?
Well, I haven't thought about it. I've been briefed on what it is ... I think that that could end up a very credible effort. It would be a ticket. The American people, whether Democrat or Republican, are so fed up with Washington. They think both parties are in the pockets of big labor, big government or some big entities and the little guy doesn't have as much of a voice. The lobbyists, the lawyers, the special interests are huge. This place is entangled with the web of special interest in both parties. It's gotten worse.
If you run you have to have money. How are you going to catch up?
I started raising money again. My focus was on my PAC. I give one of the highest percentages of my PAC money away. I raised over a million for other candidates. I started raising money and raised a quarter of a million in the last quarter for Hagel for Senate ... You can move that over to a presidential exploratory committee ... I'll make a decision later -- whether to seek a third term, whether to just get out or seek the presidential nomination.
Whom would you most want to run against?
i have admiration for all of them that are out there. Anyone who puts himself in that position deserves credit, whether you agree with them or not.
How and when are you going to decide?
It will have to be a family decision. It's too tough to do it otherwise ... We will make a decision when it's time to make a decision.
You once told me your manhood was not tied up in this job and it wasn't your last job.
I hope it's not my last job ... But it is a privilege beyond any I could ever imagine to be a part of our country in this way. Arrogance is part of the business. Power is what drives a great deal of this business ... but in all that there are a tremendous number of very committed people, both Republican and Democrat.
Does it bother you when people try to pigeonhole you ideologically?
I'm a conservative, no question about it.
What about the "conflict of interest" innuendoes that continue to surface on blogs about you having a percentage in a company that owns one of the largest voting machine makers in the country, ES&S? ES&S is owned in part by the McCarthy Group, in which you still have a small interest, and the chairman of the McCarthy Group was your campaign finance director in 2002. Do you think you have to justify having an interest in a company that owns a large voting machine company?
I never had anything to do with ES&S. Anyone can say anything about anybody, including dishonest things. All you can do is give the facts, which are this: I had been on the board and at one time was chairman of American Information Systems [AIS, founded by Todd Urosevich. As of the 2004 elections, Todd Urosevich and his brother Bob owned Diebold and ES&S, the nation's biggest electronic voting machine manufacturers]. It was on my bio, my financial disclosure reports, everything. I resigned from that company, from that board, as I did all other boards, more than a year before I ran for office and never had anything to do with that company again. It was an Omaha-owned company that had nothing to do with ES&S. McCarthy & Co. -- the company I was president of -- owned a percentage of AIS.
Do you believe in global warming?
The question has never been "Is there global warming?" It's how do you deal with it. Of course we have man-made greenhouse emissions. I -- and 95 of us (in the Senate) -- didn't agree with [the] Kyoto [Protocol]. How do you deal with it? Do you cap trade?
Did you read "An Inconvenient Truth"?
I read excerpts.
Did you see the film?
No. But I think Al Gore makes a significant contribution.
About the writer
Myra MacPherson is an author and former political reporter for the Washington Post.
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