Pataki on ‘Anchor Babies’ Term: ‘We’re Arguing Back and Forth About Utter Nonsense’

‘Donald Trump is not part of the solution; he’s part of the problem’

RUSH TRANSRIPT:
[clip starts]
BUSH: |We are a diverse country. That's a virtue, a strength of our country. I'm proud our children have a Mexican-American mom, as American as anybody else. Loves this country as much or as much as anybody else, believes in the shared values of this great country. My children are blessed to have that heritage. And so –“ [Crosstalk]
UNKNOWN REPORTER: What led her to come in America?” 
BUSH: “She wanted to vote for my dad and she loves this country. She wanted to share the experience with me. This is what families do all the time. It shouldn't be such a novel thing, to be honest with you. This is pretty regular in the places where I grew up and where I live now. This whole immigration debate is hurtful for a lot of people, really hurtful. I'm talking about in general when you just huge tidal wave of accusations or bombastic talk. There's a lot of people that share the immigrant experience and what they hear is you don't think I'm part of this, part of this country. I know that for a fact because I have hundreds of people that tell me that. We need to turn down the rhetoric a little bit, talk about solutions and get on with fixing things in this country and turn this into a driver for success rather than this defeatist attitude we now have.” 
UNKNOWN REPORTER: “Do you regret using the term ‘anchor babies’ yesterday on the radio? 
BUSH: “No, I didn't. -- [Crosstalk] -- I don't regret it.” 
UNKNOWN REPORTER: “You don't regret it?”
BUSH: “No. Do you have a better term?” 
UNKNOWN REPORTER: “I am not. I'm asking you.” 
BUSH: “You give me a better term and I'll use it. I'm serious. Don't yell at me behind my ear, though.” 
UNKNOWN REPORTER: “Sorry about that.” [Crosstalk]
BUSH: “No, it isn't. Give me another word.” 
UNKNOWN REPORTER: “[indecipherable]”
BUSH: “That's not another word. That's a seven -- look –“ [Crosstalk] -- here's the deal, what I said was it's commonly referred to that. I didn't use it as my own language. You want to get to the policy. I think people born in this country ought to be American citizens. OK, now we've got that over with.” [Crosstalk]
UNKNOWN REPORTER: “I notice your brother sent out an e-mail today.” 
BUSH: “Yeah, he's for me.” (Laughter)
UNKNOWN REPORTER: “It was surprise. You reminding all of us that you're your own man.”
BUSH: “I am.”
UNKNOWN REPORTER: “But now you're having him work for you.” 
BUSH: “Is that a contradiction?” 
UNKNOWN REPORTER: “No.”
BUSH: “I have my own record, my own life experience. I'm blessed to have a brother that loves me and wants to help me. Over and out.” [Crosstalk] 
UNKNOWN REPORTER: “You are trailing Trump here, also in Washington. He said in Florida your crowd was sleeping. 
BUSH: “That's an insult –“ 
UNKNOWN REPORTER: “How do you respond that, the narrative your campaign lacks.” 
BUSH: “You're repeating the echo of the narrative. If you went to the event you would have found there was a lot of enthusiasm. And there's a big difference between Donald Trump and me. I'm a proven conservative with a record. He isn't. I've cut taxes every year. He's proposed the largest tax increase in mankind's history. I've been consistently pro-life. He, until recently, was for partial-birth abortion. I never have met anyone who thought that was a good idea. I believe we need to reform our health care system to stop the suppression of wages and allow people to have access to insurance. He's for a single-payer system. He actually advocates these things. He's been a Democrat longer than a Republican. I have fought for conservative and Republican causes all of my adult life. I just think when people get this narrative, whatever the new term is, the compare- and-contrast narrative, they're going to find that I'm going to be the guy that they're going to vote for. And it's a long haul, man. – [Crosstalk] -- Whoa, whoa, whoa. Yes, ma'am? Yes, ma'am?” 
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BLITZER: “All right. So there you get a flavor of the Q&A the former Florida governor has been having with reporters in New Hampshire. Let's get the perspective of the former governor of New York, George Pataki. Governor, thank you for joining us. Give us your quick reaction to what you heard from Jeb Bush.” 
PATAKI: “Wolf, I think the whole thing is ridiculous. We're talking about what term you use to describe children born in America. The world is falling apart. Iran is on the verge of having an illegal nuclear program. ISIS poses a threat to us here in America. Our economy is not growing. And we're arguing back and forth about utter nonsense. I think the whole Donald Trump thing has been not just a distraction but it's demagoguery when Americans understand we need a leader who can bring us together and actually solve problems.” 
BLITZER: “Why is he doing so well in all the polls and you're not?” 
PATAKI: “I think the American people are angry, and I understand that. I'm angry, too, about a government that doesn't stand up for America in the globe, that doesn't understand too many American families are hurting and, by the way, Wolf, right now in Washington it is a corrupt insider system. People are angry at that. Donald Trump has tapped into that anger and focused it now on immigrants, which I think is tragic and bad for America, but ultimately it's not about being angry. It's about turning that anger into positive solutions that's not what Trump has done. It is what I would do. 
BLITZER: “He recently tweeted this, ‘Governor Pataki was a terrible governor of New York, one of the worst, would have been swamped if he ran again.’ That is one of the tweets he had attacking you. What's your response directly to him?”
PATAKI: “I'm part of the crowd. I think he's pretty much attacked everybody. And, by the way, when I was governor I can't tell you the number of times he told me I was a great governor. But we shouldn't be discussing Donald Trump's tweets. We should be discussing the idiotic policy he's advanced where he's going to say, for example, 7, 8, 9-year-old child born in America sitting in a third grade classroom, we're going to send thousands of police or soldiers or something into that classroom, take that child and send it to a country they've never been to where they may not speak the language because their parents don't have the right papers. This is not America. This is demagoguery. We have to move beyond this as Republicans and as Americans and understand that if we work together and look at solutions, the best for this country should be ahead of us, and I know that it is.” 
BLITZER: “So you agree with a lot of scholars who say that if a child, even a child of illegal immigrants is born in the United States, even if the mother slipped into the United States simply to have the child born in the United States, that child is a U.S. citizen, you agree with that position?” 
PATAKI: “First, I think it's wrong that we let that happen but, yes, that child is a U.S. citizen. And it's just ridiculous to me that not just Trump but others in my party, Scott Walker and others, agree with Trump. Think about it. We're going to send soldiers, troopers, whatever, to round up 11 million people, drag them off the farms, drag them out of a business, drag kids out of school and send them, often in the case of kids who may have been here 9, 10, 11 years and never lived in the country their parents came from and send them back? We should be focusing on standing up to radical Islam, on growing our economy and creating jobs, on changing the corrupt system in Washington. Donald Trump is not part of the solution. He's part of the problem -- Wolf?” 
BLITZER: “Governor Pataki, thanks very much for joining us.” 

 

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