Cloud Nothing "Should Have"
by josh keller · Published · Updated
Cloud Nothing is the nom de plume of young Cleveland artist Dylan Baldi, who one year ago was toiling away recording his music in his parents basement. Now he is signed to Carpark, touring with Toro Y Moi (whom he is splitting a tour only 7″) and now releasing his debut , self titled album. Check out the track “Should
Have” below and grab his debut album when it drops on January 25th.
Cloud Nothings “Should Have” by carparkrecords
JOE LOCKHART WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY HOLDS WHITE HOUSE NEWS BRIEFING
Washington Transcript Service November 2, 1998 00-00-0000 WHITE HOUSE REGULAR NEWS BRIEFING NOVEMBER 02, 1998 *** Elapsed Time 00:00, Eastern Time 14:47 *** SPEAKERS: JOE LOCKHART, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY [*] LOCKHART: Good afternoon.
What can I do for you?
QUESTION: Nothing.
LOCKHART: OK. Thank you very much.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) LOCKHART: Well, we’re not going to pursue that, Mark.
(LAUGHTER) QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) only punishment the president’s going to give in Malaysia is just not have a one-on-one…
LOCKHART: Well, we’ve expressed our views through Assistant Secretary Ross and others, and we believe that they are aware that we have serious concerns about the use of the Internal Security Act against the deputy prime minister. But the president’s committed to what the APEC group is all about and he wants to go forward with the meeting.
QUESTION: Was any thought given to changing the venue of the APEC meeting this year?
LOCKHART: Not — I don’t — I think given the late date in the planning, I don’t — I’m not aware of any serious thought to trying to relocate it.
QUESTION: You did get a letter from senators, though, asking (OFF-MIKE)?
LOCKHART: Sorry.
*** Elapsed Time 00:01, Eastern Time 14:48 *** I’ve — I — you know, I vaguely have some memory of some communication. I don’t know whether it came from senators or from — or whether it was interest groups. I don’t know.
QUESTION: Joe, yesterday the president said he got some reports yesterday that some unusual steps were going to be taken, which I think you could only conclude would constitute voter intimidation here in Maryland.
And my question is why did we get a transcript of this, 11th- hour election eve Clinton claim, with no accompanying evidence such as copies of the said reports, who made them and on what actuality in Maryland this is supposed to be based?
LOCKHART: Well, I don’t want you to interpret this as an invitation to the gaggle. But as I said at the gaggle this morning…
(LAUGHTER) … the DNC is, I think, at this hour holding a press conference with Delegate Norton, and they have compiled information of potential efforts to either suppress some voters or intimidate voters.
LOCKHART: And they — this is compiled in some cases from news reports, in some cases from the state parties. And they will be discussing that; I believe they are discussing now in the Capitol. So I will defer to them, yes.
QUESTION: To follow up on this — did the White House check in advance to see if Baltimore’s New Psalmist Baptist Church is one of the 170 churches that belong to the United Missionary Baptist Convention, whose president, the Reverend John Wright (ph), reports The Washington Post (OFF-MIKE), offered in writing to support Governor Glendening’s re-election for $9.3 million? Did you check on that, Joe?
LOCKHART: Yes, I didn’t follow all of that. I wasn’t — I’m certainly not aware of whatever it is you’ve said, so.
LOCKHART: Well, I sincerely doubt that that’s what’s happened. So I’m going to withhold comment.
Yes.
QUESTION: Joe, when did the — specifically did the president himself find out about these allegations of voter intimidation?
LOCKHART: I think the DNC did some work late Friday and Saturday. That’s when they certainly were brought to my attention. They put out — they released to the press, which they made available to us.
That was the first time I had heard about anything specific in this election cycle.
QUESTION: And which incidents worry them the most?
LOCKHART: Well, I think, as you see, from the DNC, you’ve got — they cite six different examples where this can be perceived as trying to intimidate voters.
*** Elapsed Time 00:04, Eastern Time 14:51 *** I think in North Carolina and Kentucky, places where they are sending some deputies from the police force, from the sheriffs force into minority — primarily minority districts, and also places where they’ re sending in video cameras as an attempt to intimidate.
LOCKHART: And this isn’t — I’m not making this judgment. I think in North Carolina one of the Republican members of the board of elections said that they thought that this was an attempt to intimidate.
QUESTION: Has the president asked the Justice Department to look into it?
LOCKHART: I think the Justice Department has put out a statement from Attorney General Reno, not in particular in response to this, but as a statement about what they do and how they — their election day activities in terms of enforcing the Voting Rights Act.
QUESTION: Has anyone filed a complaint with the Justice Department?
LOCKHART: Well, I think that that’s more appropriate to come from the Democratic National Committee, from a political party. I think that’s how that’s normally done.
QUESTION: Joe, to what extent does the president view tomorrow’ s election as a referendum, an impeachment referendum of some sort? A referendum on his own fate?
*** Elapsed Time 00:05, Eastern Time 14:52 *** LOCKHART: Well, I think the president said over the last few days and even over the last week that this should be a referendum on our future, and how we view issues from Social Security, education, the environment, health care bill of rights.
I think there are some within the party opposite that have run commercials that have sought to make this a referendum, but I don’ t think the president — the president has said repeatedly that this isn’t about him. It’s about the American public.
QUESTION: He’s not concerned about the outcome and how it could ultimately affect the makeup Congress and ultimately affect his own fate?
LOCKHART: I think he is concerned about the outcome, but I think his concern is more focused on whether he’s going to have a Congress that wants to do the work of getting a health care and a patients’ bill of rights, wants to save the surplus, or reserve the surplus to fix Social Security, and wants to invest in education, wants to modernize 5,000 schools. *** Elapsed Time 00:06, Eastern Time 14:53 *** QUESTION: Joe, why has he done so little campaigning, in contrast, for example, to four years ago, the midterm election?
QUESTION: We’ve seen pictures of him out there with Mrs. Clinton four years ago, campaigning in traditional campaign (OFF-MIKE).
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) LOCKHART: Thank you, Helen.
QUESTION: What was that?
LOCKHART: You keep me from having to say that.
Listen, I think we’ve talked about this…
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) LOCKHART: Bill, I’ll repeat the answer that I’ve told you day after day. So if you sense some disingenuousness, I mean, I think the question begs a little bit too, since I’ve answered this question repeatedly. And if you have some need for me to answer it again today, I’ll be happy to.
We have looked at what we think is the most effective way for the president to help Democrats. And we think the most effective way is to do things like he did today, which was highlight what this government, what this administration has done to extend the health care bill of rights to some 85 million Americans, and to highlight the problems when the — the Senate and the House kill a health care bill of rights, so it can’t be extended beyond that.
*** Elapsed Time 00:07, Eastern Time 14:54 *** We’ve used — the president has gone out and tried to help Democrats raise resources they need to compete. He has helped Democrats raise money around this country. They are still being outspent. And we’ve gone into selected races around the country where the president feels and we feel that he can have an impact.
We’ve also said that we don’t believe that three or four days out the most productive thing for the president to do is to go out and go race to race, you know, county to county; that the best thing for him to do is to — is to highlight on a national basis what the Democrats are, what the Democrats’ policies are, and the clear choices that the voters face tomorrow.
QUESTION: How do you think Democrats will do tomorrow?
LOCKHART: I think, as the president has said, a lot depends on who shows up to vote.
*** Elapsed Time 00:08, Eastern Time 14:55 *** If people who are for health care bill of rights; who are for investing in education; who are for protecting the surplus to save Social Security — if they get out and vote and exercise their democratic rights, Democrats will do well.
QUESTION: What will the president do tomorrow?
LOCKHART: He’s got some meetings on his schedule, I believe. One meeting on — a meeting with his economic team. He may — we were also looking at maybe doing one more event.
But I think he’ll — it’ll be a normal day here at the White House. He will probably stay in tomorrow night and will — I will be able to give you later today or first thing tomorrow some sense of what his exact plans are to watch and react to the vote.
QUESTION: Joe, in his interview with April over the weekend, the president spoke again about his own privacy and declined to give a full answer to her questions saying that it implicated his privacy, his family’s privacy and that too many — too many people’s privacy had been invaded.
Should we see that as him returning to the August 17th speech and saying that the whole Lewinsky matter is simply an invasion of his personal privacy and is not a legitimate…
LOCKHART: No. I think there are some questions, particularly about his family, that he doesn’t feel the need to share or air publicly, and I don’t think that’s anything new.
*** Elapsed Time 00:09, Eastern Time 14:56 *** I think that’s a longstanding position. And I think it’s a position that all Americans can respect.
QUESTION: What’s the effect — the effect of this check that Abe Hirschfeld gave Paula Jones? What is the effect of the settlement that the president may or may not be able to get with Paula Jones from that Abe Hirschfeld check?
LOCKHART: Wolf, I don’t have the slightest idea. All right. Let me go to the back. Sam, Sam.
QUESTION: What about the White House, though? I mean, do you see some benefit in actually settling this case?
LOCKHART: I think any impact that may have or anything on this case is best addressed to the president’s private attorney, Mr. Bennett.
April. QUESTION: Joe, going back to the voter intimidation quickly. The president said in the next 24 hours his main focus is to deal with getting everyone to the polls. Now, the Republican Party is calling for the president to apologize for his comments made in the interview yesterday about voter intimidation at their hands.
Now, wouldn’t seem kind of self-defeating if the president does not try to work this situation out with the Republicans, maybe lay down the boxing gloves and just, you know, get together and say, look, let’s make this push to get the voters to the polls? site act question of the day
LOCKHART: Listen, I don’t think there’d be anything that could make the president happier than to know that everyone could go out and have the right to exercise their democratic right to vote without fear of some intimidation. Unfortunately, I think we’ve seen over the years that that’s not something that we can count on.
Now, if there is nothing to any of these issues, and if the head of the RNC can come out and definitively show that what the state party’s doing and what some of their affiliates are doing around the country is not happening, that would make us very happy, because what the president has ultimately said is he wants people to get out and vote.
QUESTION: A follow-up. Could the president be working with the RNC, call them, and try to settle this issue for right now to (OFF- MIKE) people to the polls?
LOCKHART: No. I think the president’s made very clear what he thinks. And I think it should be very clear to anyone within the Republican Party what they should do.
*** Elapsed Time 00:11, Eastern Time 14:58 *** I haven’t seen any public statement or any forceful statement from their leadership saying that people shouldn’t engage in this kind of behavior.
QUESTION: Joe (OFF-MIKE) racism has been practiced by Democrats and Republicans. What you seem to be saying here today is that this is a Republican phenomenon. This is the blame of the — the blame belongs to the Republican Party. Are you blaming — are you identifying as the people who are perpetrating these things as being just an organization here and there practicing it on their own, or are you saying the Republican Party here in Washington, the national Republican leadership is responsible?
LOCKHART: I’m saying that if you go around the country — and again, this is better put to the DNC, who’s done this research. But if you go around the country you see that there are state parties that are involved in this kind of behavior, and I think the Republicans owe it to themselves to send a clear message to their state parties and to the other groups that they work with and are affiliated with that this kind of behavior isn’t acceptable.
*** Elapsed Time 00:12, Eastern Time 14:59 *** Connie.
QUESTION: Just to follow up on another issue. There are some Democratic ads that suggest that voting for Republicans is the equivalent of voting for cross burnings and other racist tactics. Is that the kind of thing that the DNC should somehow say is wrong for Democrats to use as well?
LOCKHART: I — I’m not familiar with the ads, so I can’t really offer — I mean, that would be a good question to put to them.
QUESTION: Joe, does the president believe that it was wise for Governor Glendening to visit as many as six black Baptist churches on Sunday while visiting not one of Maryland’s many Catholic churches? Or was this (OFF-MIKE) what Catholic Bishop Thomas Daley (ph) told his flock of more than one million New Yorkers about President Clinton?
LOCKHART: I don’t think that we would try to offer Governor Glendening any campaign advice.
Connie.
QUESTION: Thank you. How would you assess the status of the presidency in the wake of the events of this year? Is it held in as high esteem around the world or has it been diminished?
LOCKHART: If you’re asking for my opinion, I think if you look at the — the — the goings-on and what’s happened in the last month alone, the president has been strong and forceful: from getting a budget deal that has unprecedented investments in education, as far as 100,000 teachers and Pell Grants, Head Start, things like that, to the agreement that they reached on the Eastern Shore of Maryland between Israel and the Palestinians.
So I think if you look at the results and try to peel away some of the partisan rhetoric that seems to pervade the dialogue recently, you’ll see a president that is leading and is strong.
Randy.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) is the president going to be talking to any foreign leaders on Iraq? Or has he done so already today?
LOCKHART: I don’t believe he’s had conversations today. I think you can assume that conversations are going on throughout our government with our allies.
Let me tell you a little bit. The president met with his foreign policy team for about an hour, starting at about noontime.
LOCKHART: Participating in the meeting with Sandy Berger, the president’s national security adviser; Secretaries Albright and Cohen; CIA Director Tenet; joint chiefs Chairman Shelton; John Podesta; Jim Steinberg; and some others — they reviewed the situation on the grounds, discussed the new Iraqi position as articulated over the weekend, and discussed the strong and unanimous reaction from the international community.
The president and his team reviewed and discussed potential options for next steps. No decisions were made beyond the president asking the secretary of defense to travel to Europe and to the region to consult with our allies. The details of that trip you can get from the Pentagon.
QUESTION: Are military (OFF-MIKE) options?
LOCKHART: I think we have said repeatedly that all options are on the table, and that means all options are on the table.
QUESTION: What about the allies in the region? The Saudis and the others, will support the use of force if necessary?
LOCKHART: I’m not going to speculate on a hypothetical.
QUESTION: We’ve heard the president say that all options are on the table many times before. Isn’t there a danger that Saddam Hussein could just view this as more empty threats from the United States?
LOCKHART: Well, I think that we’re going to review the situation. The steps he’s taken are unacceptable. The threat and the inhibiting and restriction of long-term monitoring is a very serious situation. But I’m not going to get into what the options are that are being considered.
QUESTION: Does the U.S. think it has currently the authorization to engage in a military strike (OFF-MIKE) Iraq should it so decide that that’s the proper course of action?
LOCKHART: Yes.
QUESTION: Joe, with President Clinton facing impeachment proceedings in perhaps two weeks, is there any concern that Saddam Hussein might be emboldened to engage in adventurism because of his perceived weakness?
*** Elapsed Time 00:16, Eastern Time 15:03 *** LOCKHART: You know, I think Saddam Hussein has a history of miscalculations on a very grand scale. I think if you look at it from his situation, what he’s been trying to do this year is get out from under the punitive sanctions that the international community has placed upon him. And he’s trying to do that by dividing the international community.
And every step he takes, he gets the opposite result.
LOCKHART: We know that the international — the UN articulated a very strong statement in August when they withdrew the six-month review of sanctions, and they acted decisively and unanimously over the weekend in issuing a statement.
So what he’s trying to do to get out from under the sanctions — it’s just not working.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) enter into the mix then.
LOCKHART: No. Well, I mean, you’re asking me to get inside his head, and I think that’s a very precarious and not necessarily fruitful venture for me.
Yes?
QUESTION: You say it hasn’t been successful with each of these steps he’s taken, but at the same time there’s been no adverse action against him. I mean, the sanctions (OFF-MIKE)…
LOCKHART: I think there has been an adverse action. If you look at — if you look at where we were earlier in the year, there was some belief — there was some split in the international community. And his — his actions against UNSCOM brought the international community back together, firmly committed to getting cooperation from him.
And he — as his endgame, his endgame is to get out from underneath these sanctions.
And the UN in August suspended the sanctions review, and that — thus creating a serious problem for him.
QUESTION: What makes you think that’s his endgame? Why couldn’ t his endgame just be an end to the UN inspections that lets him reconstitute his weapons program?
LOCKHART: Well, I think we’ll take him at his word on what his endgame is, because he’s repeatedly and clearly articulated that he thinks the sanctions are unfair and need to be lifted.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz said that the reason they suspended this cooperation is because the U.S. has decided — the Clinton administration, like the Bush Administration before, that no matter what he does, as long as Saddam Hussein is in power, the sanctions will never be removed.
QUESTION: Is that the Clinton administration’s position?
LOCKHART: The — our administration and I think the international community’s position is that he ought to cooperate fully with UNSCOM, that we need to deter his ability to threaten his neighbors and to reconstitute his weapons of mass destruction.
*** Elapsed Time 00:19, Eastern Time 15:06 *** And they can play all the word games they want, but none of it matters until they actually do what they agreed to do at the end of the Gulf War.
QUESTION: Can they be removed with Saddam Hussein still in power?
LOCKHART: Listen, we need to have — we need to have cooperation and compliance before that discussion happens.
As you’ll remember, one of the — what may have precipitated some of the things over the weekend is the UN Security Council said, come into cooperation with UNSCOM and we will review the sanctions without any predetermined idea of whether they could — whether they were in compliance or not. here act question of the day
*** Elapsed Time 00:20, Eastern Time 15:07 *** But that’s a discussion for down the road.
QUESTION: Joe, is the administration…
LOCKHART: Yes?
QUESTION: … now having to fix a problem that it handed off to Kofi Annan last February?
LOCKHART: No, I don’t think so. I think the international community is united from the Security Council, Kofi Annan, the U.S. government that we need — UNSCOM needs cooperation and Saddam Hussein needs to get that message. And until he does, there will be no further discussion of lifting any sanctions or reviewing sanctions.
Yes.
QUESTION: Do the allies, Joe, have adequate military forces in the region now in case the military option has to be exercised? LOCKHART: Well, without speculating about what options might be used or might not be used, you’ll remember from earlier this year, we talked about reconfiguring the forces in the region so that they could act quickly and forcefully.
QUESTION: Joe, you made a point of saying that — you made a point of saying that no options are off the table.
LOCKHART: Right.
QUESTION: As long as the inspectors remain inside Iraq, though, it would seem that at least one option is constrained while they’re there. Does the United States feel that it’s time to remove those inspectors since they’re not able to inspect at this point and are limiting the (OFF-MIKE)?
LOCKHART: I think the United States believes it’s time to let those inspectors do the work they were sent there to do, and I’m not going to go beyond that.
QUESTION: If Iraq moves against Israel again, would the president ask Bibi to sit it out? And if he did, do they have that kind of relationship?
LOCKHART: We’re getting way too far down the road, and I’m not going to speculate on hypotheticals like that.
QUESTION: Joe, the president mentioned in the interview with the Hispanic reporters that there would be some aid monies going to recovery from Hurricane Mitch in Central America.
LOCKHART: Yes.
QUESTION: Was he aware at the time that the death toll is expected to reach at least 7,000 people?
LOCKHART: Well, I know when he was briefed this morning, he was briefed on the numbers, that were at least 1,000, and briefed on the situation, the terrible and horrible situation on the ground.
*** Elapsed Time 00:21, Eastern Time 15:08 *** As far as the U.S. government is concerned, the embassies in Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Belize, Costa Rica and El Salvador have all declared disasters. That has led to the U.S. Agency for International Development deploying disaster assistance, I think $3.5 million to fund those efforts.
DoD helicopters and cargo shipments have already gone through. Two airlifts have already arrived in Honduras, and we expect more over the week.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) stranded American doctors — the stranded American doctors (OFF-MIKE) rescue yet? LOCKHART: I don’t have information on that.
QUESTION: Joe, does the president agree with Kurt Schmoke in refusing to put out a commercial suggesting that Ellen Sauerbrey is guilty of racial discrimination in voting against the Civil Rights Act of 1992, which all the Democrats in the Senate voted for?
*** Elapsed Time 00:22, Eastern Time 15:09 *** LOCKHART: I don’t know that the president is aware of that commercial.
QUESTION: Bishop Daley (ph) has said that the president’s moral authority is crippled. His negative example will only confuse our children who struggle to remain chaste against great odds. Since adultery and lying destroy the integrity of human life, they can never be defended or excused.
Is he grateful that the major media refuse to report this statement by the leader of 1.3 million New Yorkers?
LOCKHART: Grateful that the media failed to report something?
QUESTION: Yes.
LOCKHART: I’ll have to ask him about that. April, I’ll come back to you.
QUESTION: We pretty much know what’s happened in the last few interviews, rounds of interviews with the president. There’s one that we don’t know about, the BET interview this evening.
It was much ballyhooed to be the tell-all, the first tell-all interview with the president. Was that the case this morning?
*** Elapsed Time 00:23, Eastern Time 15:10 *** Did — was the interview (OFF-MIKE)?
LOCKHART: You’re going to have to tune in and watch.
QUESTION: No, no. No, no. No, no.
LOCKHART: OK. How much can we promote viewership here?
(LAUGHTER) April, I got to tell you, there were some rough moments there, but he did fine.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)…
LOCKHART: I can’t talk about an interview that hasn’t gone on the air yet. I wouldn’t do that to an interview you did, and I won’ t do that to someone else.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) on TV talking about his interview right now on “Talk Back Live.” LOCKHART: Tavis?
QUESTION: Yes, Tavis.
LOCKHART: Well, then he’s telling the truth. Go watch.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) briefing?
LOCKHART: I’ll go watch Tavis. Yes.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) the president sign a bill other than (OFF- MIKE) bill to establish a (OFF-MIKE) embassy in Washington, D.C. But (OFF-MIKE) even though in the past, he quotes him as the champion of peace and nonviolence.
LOCKHART: Right.
QUESTION: So is he (OFF-MIKE)?
LOCKHART: I think that the president’s admiration and respect for him are well-known. And I think if — I think your colleagues will remind you that I personally highlighted the signing of that bill. Right?
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) LOCKHART: Thank you.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) are complaining …
LOCKHART: Mmm-hm.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)…
LOCKHART: Helen will invite them to the groundbreaking.
Yes. Helen. Sorry.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) President approve of the FBI’s indiscriminate sweep (OFF-MIKE) of Muslims in this country and stereotyping them and jailing them as potential terrorists and so forth?
LOCKHART: I — I’m not familiar. I haven’t talked to the president about that, and I’m not familiar with the effort. I’ve seen a couple of news stories. I think — I would need…
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) LOCKHART: Yes, I would need to find out some more about it from the FBI and Justice before offering any comment.
Josh?
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE), in a similar vein, since the Middle East peace deal was signed, the Palestinian Authority has been rounding up dissidents there; has been cutting the phone lines of other dissidents.
*** Elapsed Time 00:25, Eastern Time 15:12 *** Normally when that takes place, the U.S. denounces it as a human rights violation. Here, it seems like it’s part of the peace process. Is this supposed to be part of the peace process?
LOCKHART: Well, I think we have articulated that both sides have made commitments on the issue of security, and both sides are working toward fulfilling those commitments.
QUESTION: What about the usual free speech concerns or freedom of association or democratic (OFF-MIKE) democratic process?
LOCKHART: I think — well, I think we certainly don’t move from those principles, but we also understand the security issues. Security…
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) does that mean ignoring civil rights?
LOCKHART: No, security issues in the region. I don’t have any evidence that’s been made available to me that indicates that any — that there has been any — anything that violates those principles.
QUESTION: Joe, does the fact that Paula Jones’ lowered her demand to 900,000 from a million make the prospects of a settlement more likely?
LOCKHART: It still makes Bob Bennett the person to discuss that.
(LAUGHTER) QUESTION: Joe, Hyde has put the impeachment process on a fast- track. Is this a welcome development to the president?
LOCKHART: It’ll be welcome when and if we find out officially by talking to the committee and not reading about it in the newspaper. We don’t know from the committee how they plan to proceed, how — what standards they’ll use, what the scope, what the timing is.
We’ve seen some articles. We’ve seen from some local articles in Illinois that the chairman has made up his mind on a few things. But we’ll wait until we hear from the committee and we’ll discuss it the proper — the proper authoritative way.
QUESTION: But the president is still eager to get this over with as quickly as possible?
LOCKHART: We are eager to do this right way, but also in a timely way.
QUESTION: A follow-up on that question asked earlier about Israel — in any offensive action against Iraq, would Israel be considered an ally of the U.S.?
*** Elapsed Time 00:27, Eastern Time 15:14 *** Would Israel be asked to (OFF-MIKE)?
LOCKHART: Pardon?
QUESTION: Would Israel be asked to help in any (OFF-MIKE)?
LOCKHART: I’m just not going down that speculation road.
QUESTION: Joe, the president’s made a strong pitch for high voter turnout. If, in fact, voter turnout is low, as many analysts are predicting, what kind of message does the White House get out of that?
LOCKHART: Well, I think we get out that that people are turned off by the partisan nature of the political debates. I think the president has worked hard to try to, as he says, put progress over partisanship.
But this has been a year where partisanship has ruled and negative campaigning and negative tactics have been quite prevalent. But I think the president makes the point that tomorrow’s the day where all votes count the same. Everyone has the right, and they should exercise it.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) Joe, (OFF-MIKE) and prime minister of Pakistan (OFF-MIKE) believe they will meet here in the White House on (OFF-MIKE). Is this something (OFF-MIKE) an agenda, or (OFF-MIKE) something to do with treaty (OFF-MIKE) to be signed here? (OFF-MIKE)?
LOCKHART: Well, I’m not aware of any particular agenda. We obviously have both economic and security bilateral issues that I expect will be on the agenda. And as we get closer to the time, I’m sure we’ll be able to articulate them.
QUESTION: Thanks.
Joe.
LOCKHART: Thank you.
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