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Sunday Morning News

Two Comedic Commentators Give Their Take on Campaign 2000

Aired March 12, 2000 - 9:15 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Now that Super Tuesday is in the rearview mirror, you get the sense the political fun season is over. Put a fork in the party races, they're done. It's just a matter of time before the turkeys will come out of the oven, so to speak.

And oh, and speaking of turkeys, we turn now to come birds of a comedic feather. Will Durst is the man behind the PBS series "Livelyhood," and has been called the Dark Prince of Doubt. And Lewis Black, of Comedy Central's "Daily Show," known for his corrosive commentary on modern times. Their aim, to offer us some unconventional wisdom on the bizarre war of attrition we call a presidential election.

Lewis, let's begin with you. You weren't at the Inner Circle dinner last night, as I understand it, because you have to work for a living.

LEWIS BLACK, COMEDY CENTRAL, "THE DAILY SHOW": Well, yes, but they won't allow me near these people.

O'BRIEN: Not in the Inner Circle. Tell -- let's talk about that race for a moment, because it is -- perhaps there's a little more grist for the comedic mill, don't you think?

BLACK: Oh, I just -- living in New York, it's -- to think that you have to either choose between Hillary or Rudy Giuliani, I just want to know where the lever is that says, Kill me now.

O'BRIEN: The Kevorkian lever, maybe. That's what you need.

BLACK: Yes, exactly.

O'BRIEN: Well, have you been following that one at all?

BLACK: No, I think the rest of the country is just glad that we don't have to make this decision. Let it up to the New Yorkers. They get to live in New York, they should have to make the hard decisions like this.

O'BRIEN: All right. Now, it was interesting, for a little while I think we all had the sense that this was going to be somehow a different year, the McCain phenomenon was something we all enjoyed watching. And now there's kind of this sense of, it's over, and now what? Do you have that -- it's almost a bit of ennui, isn't it, Lewis?

BLACK: It's more than ennui, it's complete, total exhaustion. I'm completely beat now, and I don't know how we're supposed to make it. Why are we going through the rest of it? Why?

O'BRIEN: It's a good question. What do you think, Will?

WILL DURST, PBS, "LIVELYHOOD": Well, I think it's great, because you got the sequel versus the spinoff, Gore versus Bush, one -- proving that anybody in America can be president as long as you're a white male Ivy League graduate whose father was once in a position to either confirm or nominate a Supreme Court justice.

O'BRIEN: It's a wide group, really. Yes.

DURST: Study hard, children.

O'BRIEN: Lewis, what do you think? Silver spoon club here? Is that what we're seeing? I mean, that's not good.

BLACK: Well, it's a silver spoon club in the sense that when you watch -- the problem with the elite in this country, at least the children of the elite, is, we kind of evolve. Apparently the genetic structure is breaking down, and I don't know what's going to be left. I mean, this -- I think we're seeing the beginning of the hydrocephalic leader.

O'BRIEN: So gene pool issues, maybe.

BLACK: Yes, exactly.

O'BRIEN: What are you going to be looking for, Will, as this race goes on? Is it -- you know, you want to make a prediction at this juncture, or is it -- it's -- in a way, it's over, but in a way it's just beginning.

DURST: Well, yes, it's just beginning. I mean, we have the prospect of Gore-Bush debates, which will be fascinating -- it'll be riveting television. And I wonder if Bush's support is that wide, because, you know, 11 percent of the people who support him still think he's his father running. And they always say not enough people vote. I think too many people vote.

O'BRIEN: Well, Lewis, how much of the Bush phenomenon do you think it is, a little bit of guilt that they voted the Bush Senior out of office?

BLACK: Oh, I think it's more the sense that it's like that -- it's like that date that you had, that you went out with this woman for about eight -- four, five, eight light-years ago you went out with this woman, and you thought, Boy, you know, and it didn't work out.

And then you meet her again eight years later and you think, Boy that -- oh, I made a mistake, this could work. And you'll be -- you know, and you'll be on the gate (ph), probably, for about four minutes before you realize, Uhh, we were wrong -- we were right the first time.

O'BRIEN: Sort of a short honeymoon. Let's talk about this process for a moment. I got to admit, the fact that here we are in mid-March, and, you know, the whole -- you know, essentially the nomination process is pretty much over except for the formality of it all. That's a little bit disappointing. I mean, the way this is all structured is -- doesn't seem very democratic, does it?

DURST: Well, only that, Miles, but they keep moving up, they keep leapfrogging each other to be part of the process earlier and earlier and earlier. In California, wanting to be so much part of the process, and they're going to be -- it wasn't really Super Tuesday, it was kind of the Usurper Tuesday, because Super Tuesday is coming up.

But then California's going to be part of the process, and what happens? Bill Bradley concedes, with two hours left in the polls. We were about as important as American Samoa.

O'BRIEN: Lewis, what do you think of the process? It seemed like, you know, what, probably a dozen or so states really made the call for all of us.

BLACK: Yes, exactly. And it -- the process doesn't seem to really work that well any more. And I think we should go to a different process. Well, this process would kind of work if -- we've narrowed it down to two. If we could then narrow it down to one and then get rid of the last one and start over, so that we actually participated on some level.

I think the -- you get the people who want to run for the presidency, you -- we get the names, we cross off the names we don't like. The ones that are left can run.

O'BRIEN: Not a bad idea.

BLACK: It's just a suggestion, it'll give you an idea that I actually spend time thinking.

O'BRIEN: What -- and I guess the people who want to be president should be immediately disqualified, maybe?

BLACK: Thank you very much, I rest my case.

O'BRIEN: What are you looking for, Will, as time goes on in this race?

DURST: Well, I agree with you, I think anybody who can be elected shouldn't be. I think the conventions will be a lot of fun. I also...

O'BRIEN: Really? Oh, come on. Really?

DURST: Yes, I do, I think McCain will exert a little bit of force. I think the Bradley people are just a little to the left of Fidel, so they're not going to give up. And what about the dog that hasn't barked? What about H. Ross Perot? O'BRIEN: Ah, yes.

DURST: I still think there's plenty of time for us to have grist for the mill.

O'BRIEN: Well, that Reform Party, you never know where they're going to crop up, right? It's a bit of a sideshow for them, isn't it?

BLACK: Did you see that Al Gore was dressed exactly like Jesse Ventura? Wasn't that a little frightening?

DURST: That was a little, you know -- ha-ha-ha.

O'BRIEN: Fortunately...

DURST: Very odd.

O'BRIEN: Fortunately there wasn't a boa involved. All right, gentlemen, so good to see you here on our program. Will Durst, who has visited a couple of times, we always enjoy your presence. And Lewis, come on back sometime, will you?

BLACK: I will do.

O'BRIEN: All right, we'll see you soon.

BLACK: Good to see you, Will.

O'BRIEN: All right, bye-bye.

DURST: Thank you, Mr. Black. See you, Lewis, Wednesday.

O'BRIEN: All right, bye-bye.

BLACK: You got it.

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