Calif. Gov.: Raise taxes or ‘retrench’
California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) tells CNN’s Candy Crowley that if taxes are raised, he’ll have to “erode” education and public safety funding. A full transcript of State of the Union with Candy Crowley is posted on CNN.com. This interview will also re-air at noon ET. A highlight from the interview is after the jump and this interview will re-air on CNN at noon ET.
EMBEDDABLE VIDEO: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2011/08/07/sotu.brown.taxes.cnn
EMBEDDABLE VIDEO: http://cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/politics/2011/08/07/sotu.brown1.online.8.07.cnn.html
Highlight from Interview
THIS IS A RUSH FDCH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED
CANDY CROWLEY, HOST, CNN’S “STATE OF THE UNION”: Governor, first of all, thank you so much for joining us. I wanted you to take a California look at what’s been going on in Washington. We have just finished up a very grueling debt debate. From your perspective, what did that tell you about Washington?
GOV. JERRY BROWN (D), CALIFORNIA: Well, the obvious, that’s it’s dysfunctional, but more than that, that the Washington of today is suffering and experiencing a governability crisis. America can’t govern when you have two parties so diametrically opposed. I think that is an ominous sign going forward.
CROWLEY: Do you have a solution for that, because I think you’re right, I think people look and say, they’re on different planets and it’s no wonder they can’t come to an agreement. What do you think would help?
BROWN: I’m telling you, we are at a crossroads, that if the Republicans cannot give up some of their ideological baggage, and if the Democrats can’t find a way to create common ground, the country is going to face some decline.
And I think the only way out of that is going to be a very vigorous election, where people lay out the stark alternatives, not muffle it like politicians like to do, kind of, you know, smooth out the rough edges. I think we need a very clear, decisive election.
I would say that the Republicans are gearing up to destroy the president, that the president will have to respond in a very powerful way, and the result for the country could be calamitous.
CROWLEY: What does his response have to be? What is that powerful response?
BROWN: He has to be authentic. He has to be powerful. He has to lay out a clear alternative and run a risk that it may not work out for him, because the — society’s in the mood where it wants a lot of things, but it’s not willing to pay for them.
CROWLEY: So you think the president needs to run saying, folks, we need to raise taxes?
BROWN: Well, I wouldn’t quite put it in those terms, because that, we know from Mr. Mondale, is a big fat loser.
CROWLEY: Well, exactly, but you’re talking about stark contrasts.
BROWN: Well, the contrast is what the choice is. If you don’t want to pay the taxes, you’ve got to cut Social Security, the military, research, highways, hospitals, schools, universities. You have to retrench from being a great superpower. And I think there is a bill at the end of that that people might be willing to pay. If they don’t pay then America will never be the same.
So there is the tax reform. There is the deductions, the loopholes. There are a lot of ways that the president can present it. But it may be that because of the propaganda or the state of indulgence where we are, maybe the truth cannot be spoken in a way that makes it a successful campaign. If that’s true, then we are really in for it.
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