'Not a conversation I thought I'd be having': CNN anchor stunned by GOP guest's admission
Another member of the George W. Bush administration has come out in support of Kamala Harris for president.
Alberto Gonzalez, who served as attorney general and White House counsel during Bush's presidency, joined former vice president Dick Cheney and publicly endorsed the Democratic nominee against Donald Trump in an op-ed published by Politico, and he joined CNN's John Berman to discuss his decision.
"I know the Politico piece, you wrote that in Politico – it came out just like an hour-and-a-half ago," Berman said, "so I don't know how much time for reaction there's been, but I guarantee you, if it hasn't happened yet, it will happen, where people are going to say Alberto Gonzalez, you know, RINO – Republican in name only."
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Gonzalez, who is currently dean of Belmont University College of Law in Tennessee, said he wasn't worried what other Republicans would think of his endorsement.
"I've stopped a long time ago worrying about what people may think," said Gonzalez, whose tenure as attorney general was marked by controversies over warrantless surveillance of U.S. citizens and the legal authorization of torture as part of the "war on terror." "I'd like to have them think about, though, what is best for this country. For the lawyers, I would say, 'Who is best-suited to preserve the rule of law based upon their rhetoric and based upon their history.' The rule of law is what allows us as Americans to enjoy our freedoms. If we lose the rule of law, then we lose our freedoms, and so for me that's vitally important."
"Whether or not people think that I'm a Republican or whatever – I do have some experience in terms of decision-making in the Oval Office," Gonzalez added, "and I know what's important, at least from my perspective, in terms of the integrity the discipline, the courage of the president of the United States, and I just happen to believe that Kamala Harris is the right person for the job at this time."
Berman asked how he believed the vice president's campaign could attract other Republican voters.
"I mean, I've covered you since the late 90s, when you were a Republican official in Texas and the White House counsel, and attorney general, again, someone who has been a Republican for a long, long time," Berman said. "What advice would you give the Harris campaign in appealing to Republicans around the country?"
Gonzalez said that political strategy was outside his area of expertise, but he suggested that Harris project a positive message about the future in contrast to the negative and backward-looking campaign her opponent has been running.
"I think Americans respond automatically to a hopeful, positive message and this, this talk about the United States being in decline, becoming a Third World country, that we're a disgrace, was an embarrassment," Gonzalez said. "To me, that's the embarrassment, that kind of rhetoric. We are the greatest country in the face of the earth. We are lucky to be in America, we are lucky to be Americans, and I think that our leaders should have that same kind of attitudes, are talking that same kind of language, and so I think, I think one of the best things that the Harris campaign can do is to continue to talk about unity, continue to talk about a positive message that we are not going to go back to a negative message. I think that is probably a very effective message."
Berman couldn't contain his astonishment over the former Bush official's endorsement.
"I appreciate talking to you," Berman said. "This is not a conversation I thought I'd be having 20 years ago. Thanks so much for your time this morning."
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