From the Tucker Carlson show on MSNBC transcript----
CARLSON: Welcome back.
Americans love a good conspiracy theory. And this one is bigger than anything Oliver Stone has ever dreamed up. Close to half this country in a recent poll said they believe President Bush is personally manipulating gasoline prices to help Republican candidates in this November‘s midterm elections. Not surprisingly, two-thirds of those who buy into the conspiracy theory are registered Democrats.
My next guest appears to be one of them.
Joining us now from Louisville, Kentucky, state representative Colonel Mike Weaver, who is currently running for Congress.
Colonel Weaver, thanks for joining us.
STATE REP. COL. MIKE WEAVER, KENTUCKY: Well, thanks for inviting me, Tucker.
CARLSON: Now, how exactly could the president of the United States, this or any other, control the international petroleum markets? How is Bush pulling this off?
WEAVER: Well, you just made the assumption that I‘m one of them.
CARLSON: OK.
WEAVER: I am not one of them. I do not believe that the president of the United States, nor anybody in his administration, can control that. I don‘t think they can control the price of gasoline at the pump.
CARLSON: You...
WEAVER: What I do think this administration has done is they have an energy policy that favors big energy, big oil and gas, and they have given them record profits. And because of that, record tax breaks, and because of that they have made record profits. I believe that has happened, but as far as the president...
CARLSON: OK. But you were—wait, hold on. You were quoted the other day as saying—I quoted in I believe “The Washington Post” as saying you -- to your supporters, people at one of your campaign events—that you found it very suspicious and that they ought to find it very suspicious as well the gas prices have come down in the months before the midterm elections.
Did you not say that?
WEAVER: I said that, but I don‘t mean that the president of the United States or anybody in his administration has the power to do that.
CARLSON: Well, what exactly do you mean by that? Well, what do you mean by that, then?
WEAVER: I think the issue we need to be talking about is what we are going to do about the cost of gasoline and what we are going to do about the price of energy.
CARLSON: Well, no, no, no. OK, that may be the issues. But you are playing to people‘s fears, you‘re stoking their paranoia, you‘re contributing to their belief in a conspiracy theory, are you not, when you say it‘s “suspicious”?
WEAVER: No.
CARLSON: You said it‘s suspicious. What exactly—what precisely is suspicious?
WEAVER: I think it‘s suspicious to anyone that the price of gasoline has gone down dramatically. But I don‘t think this administration had anything to do with it.
CARLSON: Well, then what‘s suspicious about it?
WEAVER: I think the big oil companies are the ones who caused the price of gasoline to go down, and I think it‘s the big oil companies that we need to bring back into control.
CARLSON: Well, how exactly...
WEAVER: But I think...
CARLSON: Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait, slow down.
How exactly could the “big oil companies”—and by big oil companies you mean specifically which companies, A? B, how exactly did they bring the price of oil down since they don‘t control the price of oil, as I‘m sure you know.
WEAVER: They control the supply of oil, but that is—that‘s not the issue. The issue is that big oil companies are making record profits, and those record profits are being felt by working men and women, and it—everything...
CARLSON: Yes?
WEAVER: ... that they buy, everything that they do is affected by this.
CARLSON: That is—that is one of the issues. The other issue, though, is you have close to half the country believing that the president of the United States is in control of gasoline prices. That‘s what ordinary people believe, according to the latest Gallup Poll.
And you know htat, of course. And a lot of Democrats believe that.
And you are pandering to their false belief when you say things like, we ought to be suspicious of the drop in gasoline prices. And I‘m saying, as an intelligence man who‘s in a position of leadership in this country, aren‘t you negligent and irresponsible to be pandering to people‘s worst instincts and fears, as you are apparently doing?
WEAVER: I am not apparently doing that. I think we have a problem with energy in this country. I think the price of gas is too high.
I think that it is too high because we have an administration that allowed the big oil companies to have record tax breaks and then make record profits on gasoline at the pumps. And it has an adverse impact...
CARLSON: You say it‘s too high...
WEAVER: ... adverse impact, dramatic adverse impact on working men and women in this country.
CARLSON: Yes. There‘s no doubt—there‘s no doubt about that. And, in fact, on everybody in this country. I don‘t know what you mean by working men and women, whoever they are. Everyone in this country pretty much has a job. We‘re all working men and women. OK?
But I don‘t understand what you are mad about. You said gasoline prices are too high, but then you‘re complaining to your—your crowd of supporters that they are too low, it‘s suspicious how low they are. So, are they too high or are they too low? Pick one.
WEAVER: You sound very mad. I don‘t sound mad at you at all.
CARLSON: Well, I‘ll tell you why—I‘ll tell you why I‘m annoyed, is because you are going out and talking to people who are willing to believe what you say, and you are leaving a false impression. But you are doing it in a very indirect way.
You‘re saying it‘s suspicious, rather than just coming out and saying, look, the Bush administration is controlling gas prices for political reasons. If you made that statement you‘d have to defend it, but you‘re not even willing to do that. You‘re implying it, which makes it—it‘s a shifty position, if you see what I‘m saying, and it leads to people being even more suspicious of their government, which is a shame.
WEAVER: Here I am in Kentucky looking directly into a camera and you, I believe, are in California.
CARLSON: Yes.
WEAVER: And I am telling you and everybody who is watching this show that I do not believe that the president of the United States or anyone in his administration...
CARLSON: Right.
WEAVER: ... has manipulated the price of gasoline.
CARLSON: OK.
WEAVER: I do not think they have the power to do that.
CARLSON: Right. That‘s because I‘m confronting you on television and you are unwilling to imply what you implied to people in a rally with no television cameras. And that‘s why I am annoyed by it, if you see what I‘m saying. I‘m sure you do.
WEAVER: Well, I think you wanted to be annoyed at me before we ever started this. And I would just...
CARLSON: No, actually—I promise, I didn‘t.
WEAVER: I would just tell you that you knew exactly what you were going to ask me. I don‘t even remember what rally you are talking about or—certainly you weren‘t there.
CARLSON: No, I wasn‘t.
WEAVER: And so you have taken something that I said, probably taking it out of context, and confronting me with it on national television because you want to make a point that all Democrats are bad and that we are accusing the president of the United States of something that he didn‘t do.
CARLSON: Yes.
WEAVER: And I am appearing on your television show and telling you and everybody that‘s watching that the president of the United States does not have the power to do that, and I do not believe he is personal responsible for that.
CARLSON: Good. Well, I‘m glad—I‘m glad we could clear that up on this program. See, television does have a good use.
Thanks a lot for joining us. I appreciate it.
WEAVER: Well, thank you. Thank you for having me.
CARLSON: Coming up, George Allen‘s campaign is going
Shows how people running for office will say what they want people to hear to try and get elected. It should also clear up, once and for all, the theory about gas prices.
CARLSON: Welcome back.
Americans love a good conspiracy theory. And this one is bigger than anything Oliver Stone has ever dreamed up. Close to half this country in a recent poll said they believe President Bush is personally manipulating gasoline prices to help Republican candidates in this November‘s midterm elections. Not surprisingly, two-thirds of those who buy into the conspiracy theory are registered Democrats.
My next guest appears to be one of them.
Joining us now from Louisville, Kentucky, state representative Colonel Mike Weaver, who is currently running for Congress.
Colonel Weaver, thanks for joining us.
STATE REP. COL. MIKE WEAVER, KENTUCKY: Well, thanks for inviting me, Tucker.
CARLSON: Now, how exactly could the president of the United States, this or any other, control the international petroleum markets? How is Bush pulling this off?
WEAVER: Well, you just made the assumption that I‘m one of them.
CARLSON: OK.
WEAVER: I am not one of them. I do not believe that the president of the United States, nor anybody in his administration, can control that. I don‘t think they can control the price of gasoline at the pump.
CARLSON: You...
WEAVER: What I do think this administration has done is they have an energy policy that favors big energy, big oil and gas, and they have given them record profits. And because of that, record tax breaks, and because of that they have made record profits. I believe that has happened, but as far as the president...
CARLSON: OK. But you were—wait, hold on. You were quoted the other day as saying—I quoted in I believe “The Washington Post” as saying you -- to your supporters, people at one of your campaign events—that you found it very suspicious and that they ought to find it very suspicious as well the gas prices have come down in the months before the midterm elections.
Did you not say that?
WEAVER: I said that, but I don‘t mean that the president of the United States or anybody in his administration has the power to do that.
CARLSON: Well, what exactly do you mean by that? Well, what do you mean by that, then?
WEAVER: I think the issue we need to be talking about is what we are going to do about the cost of gasoline and what we are going to do about the price of energy.
CARLSON: Well, no, no, no. OK, that may be the issues. But you are playing to people‘s fears, you‘re stoking their paranoia, you‘re contributing to their belief in a conspiracy theory, are you not, when you say it‘s “suspicious”?
WEAVER: No.
CARLSON: You said it‘s suspicious. What exactly—what precisely is suspicious?
WEAVER: I think it‘s suspicious to anyone that the price of gasoline has gone down dramatically. But I don‘t think this administration had anything to do with it.
CARLSON: Well, then what‘s suspicious about it?
WEAVER: I think the big oil companies are the ones who caused the price of gasoline to go down, and I think it‘s the big oil companies that we need to bring back into control.
CARLSON: Well, how exactly...
WEAVER: But I think...
CARLSON: Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait, slow down.
How exactly could the “big oil companies”—and by big oil companies you mean specifically which companies, A? B, how exactly did they bring the price of oil down since they don‘t control the price of oil, as I‘m sure you know.
WEAVER: They control the supply of oil, but that is—that‘s not the issue. The issue is that big oil companies are making record profits, and those record profits are being felt by working men and women, and it—everything...
CARLSON: Yes?
WEAVER: ... that they buy, everything that they do is affected by this.
CARLSON: That is—that is one of the issues. The other issue, though, is you have close to half the country believing that the president of the United States is in control of gasoline prices. That‘s what ordinary people believe, according to the latest Gallup Poll.
And you know htat, of course. And a lot of Democrats believe that.
And you are pandering to their false belief when you say things like, we ought to be suspicious of the drop in gasoline prices. And I‘m saying, as an intelligence man who‘s in a position of leadership in this country, aren‘t you negligent and irresponsible to be pandering to people‘s worst instincts and fears, as you are apparently doing?
WEAVER: I am not apparently doing that. I think we have a problem with energy in this country. I think the price of gas is too high.
I think that it is too high because we have an administration that allowed the big oil companies to have record tax breaks and then make record profits on gasoline at the pumps. And it has an adverse impact...
CARLSON: You say it‘s too high...
WEAVER: ... adverse impact, dramatic adverse impact on working men and women in this country.
CARLSON: Yes. There‘s no doubt—there‘s no doubt about that. And, in fact, on everybody in this country. I don‘t know what you mean by working men and women, whoever they are. Everyone in this country pretty much has a job. We‘re all working men and women. OK?
But I don‘t understand what you are mad about. You said gasoline prices are too high, but then you‘re complaining to your—your crowd of supporters that they are too low, it‘s suspicious how low they are. So, are they too high or are they too low? Pick one.
WEAVER: You sound very mad. I don‘t sound mad at you at all.
CARLSON: Well, I‘ll tell you why—I‘ll tell you why I‘m annoyed, is because you are going out and talking to people who are willing to believe what you say, and you are leaving a false impression. But you are doing it in a very indirect way.
You‘re saying it‘s suspicious, rather than just coming out and saying, look, the Bush administration is controlling gas prices for political reasons. If you made that statement you‘d have to defend it, but you‘re not even willing to do that. You‘re implying it, which makes it—it‘s a shifty position, if you see what I‘m saying, and it leads to people being even more suspicious of their government, which is a shame.
WEAVER: Here I am in Kentucky looking directly into a camera and you, I believe, are in California.
CARLSON: Yes.
WEAVER: And I am telling you and everybody who is watching this show that I do not believe that the president of the United States or anyone in his administration...
CARLSON: Right.
WEAVER: ... has manipulated the price of gasoline.
CARLSON: OK.
WEAVER: I do not think they have the power to do that.
CARLSON: Right. That‘s because I‘m confronting you on television and you are unwilling to imply what you implied to people in a rally with no television cameras. And that‘s why I am annoyed by it, if you see what I‘m saying. I‘m sure you do.
WEAVER: Well, I think you wanted to be annoyed at me before we ever started this. And I would just...
CARLSON: No, actually—I promise, I didn‘t.
WEAVER: I would just tell you that you knew exactly what you were going to ask me. I don‘t even remember what rally you are talking about or—certainly you weren‘t there.
CARLSON: No, I wasn‘t.
WEAVER: And so you have taken something that I said, probably taking it out of context, and confronting me with it on national television because you want to make a point that all Democrats are bad and that we are accusing the president of the United States of something that he didn‘t do.
CARLSON: Yes.
WEAVER: And I am appearing on your television show and telling you and everybody that‘s watching that the president of the United States does not have the power to do that, and I do not believe he is personal responsible for that.
CARLSON: Good. Well, I‘m glad—I‘m glad we could clear that up on this program. See, television does have a good use.
Thanks a lot for joining us. I appreciate it.
WEAVER: Well, thank you. Thank you for having me.
CARLSON: Coming up, George Allen‘s campaign is going
Shows how people running for office will say what they want people to hear to try and get elected. It should also clear up, once and for all, the theory about gas prices.
