Kay Bailey Hutchison
The 61-year-old United States senator on whether she’s after Rick Perry’s job, where she really stands on abortion, and the difference between men and women in politics.
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Well, I’m always going to work with the governor on state-federal issues. If I decided to run for governor, I would have a program. I would have priorities. I’m not going to just say, “I want to be governor.” If I am running, it will be because I think I can do better for Texas and because I care about what I’m doing. And to answer your question, I will run a tough race. I will not unilaterally disarm. I’m not “cowable,” if that’s a word.
Let’s talk about your current job. What do you like about being a U.S. senator?
I can’t imagine a more interesting eleven years than I have had. I love foreign relations, international issues, military issues—and I’ve been able to address all of them. I’ve been able to have an impact on our foreign policy and our national defense, and I love that.
You’ve managed to be identified as both a conservative Republican and as someone who is perceived, at least, to be a moderate. Is there room for someone in the Senate who doesn’t always vote with her party?
I am conservative. I remember that even as far back as when I was running for the Legislature, in the seventies, when I would say, “I’m a conservative,” someone would say, “Well, are you very conservative or are you moderately conservative?” And I’m really conservative, although I don’t consider myself extreme. I’m mainstream, regular old, commonsense conservative. I vote with the [Republican] majority in the Senate 95 percent, 98 percent of the time, but everybody is expected to represent his state, and everybody veers off. I just voted against almost every Republican on [cutting funding for] port security. I’m sitting on the biggest chemical complex in the world. I’m voting for Texas.
On the issues in which your commonsense conservatism puts you out of the majority of the people in your party—say, abortion—do you think it’s the sort of thing that ought to be used against you in a Republican primary? Because, obviously, if you ran for governor, you’d be in a contested primary in which every single position you’ve taken would be scrutinized.
I think most Republicans are where I am on abortion.
For the record, then, state your position on the issue.
You should be very careful about abortion. You should not have open abortion. There should be reasonable restrictions.
Like parental notification.
Yes, parental notification. That’s a very easy one.
You’re not looking to overturn the laws that permit legal abortions with exceptions?
The laws have evolved to allow the states to have exceptions. You know, this really used to be a state right. The states have a lot of leeway in this area, and I think they should.
So you’re comfortable with the laws as they’re written.
I don’t want to say I’m comfortable, because I’m not sure what else might come up. I don’t want to go into everything that might be possible.
You really believe that most Republicans in Texas see the issue as you do.
I do. Eighty percent do.
Is your life as a woman in the Senate different than it would be if you were a man?
Yes, because I have all the responsibilities that fall to a wife and mother in addition to my Senate responsibilities.
Are you treated differently?
Not once you’re elected. In the early days, the tough part was getting elected. I had a harder time establishing my credibility than the men running did.
You were one of the few women in the Texas Legislature, right?
Oh, yeah. There were five of us. But once we were elected, our vote was the same as everyone else’s.
Speaking of women, you’ve written a book, American Heroines, that celebrates the accomplishments of heroic women, many of them Texans, from Clara Driscoll to Selena. What made you decide to do it?
Let me tell you how it came about. The women senators wrote a book, and I was the instigator. I’m the dean of the Republican women, and Barbara Mikulski is the dean of the Democratic women. I went to Barbara and I said, “We have a common thread that I think is interesting—it’s our stories of how we overcame all these hurdles to get to the United States Senate.” We all came from a different perspective—conservatives, liberals, Easterners, Westerners—but we overcame obstacles. So I said, “We should do a book.” We did, and it was great. The editor of that book and I hit it off, and she said, “I think you should do another book.” And so we started talking about it, and she said, “If you were going to do a book, what would it be?” And I said, “The women who overcame all these things really early on.” And so I started then the process of finding the women who had really broken barriers. Mary Cassatt in the arts. Althea Gibson and Babe Didrikson Zaharias in sports. Clara Barton, of course. Amelia Earhart and the WASPs. And Oveta Culp Hobby. I went to Bill Hobby and I said, “You know, no one has ever written about your mother. She was unbelievable.” He said, “I know. She never would let anybody write about her.” So I said, “Okay, help me fill this out. How did she become one of Eisenhower’s Cabinet officers?” Then we got the idea, after we had already selected the pioneer women, to have me talk to contemporary women breaking barriers in these same fields. I loved doing the interviews. I love Sally Ride. I love Jackie Joyner-Kersee—oh, she’s wonderful! Carly Fiorina.
I want to end by talking about the presidential race. Has the tenor of the race, which everyone agrees is pretty nasty, surprised you?
No. We all like to say, “Politics has gotten so bad.” Well, it’s been bad for two hundred years in this country. Go back and look at previous races.
You don’t think this one is appreciably worse?
I think it’s bad. I cannot believe we are talking about Vietnam instead of the future.
So you’ve encouraged the Swift boat guys to pull their ads?
Hah. It’s a free country. We have rough-and-tumble politics, and the good thing is, the people generally see through it.
Has the president, whom you support strongly, done everything you’ve expected him to do?
I think that he has been an extraordinary president. I think he has stepped up to the challenge of 9/11.
Are you satisfied with the prosecution of the Iraq war? Do you buy any of the criticisms of it?
Oh, we’ve made mistakes—absolutely. Who could have imagined that we would face an enemy who would shoot children in the back? Or teach their children that blowing themselves up and killing other people at the same time is martyrdom? No, we didn’t expect what we got. And yes, we’ve made mistakes. But we’ve done the right thing in not losing our focus and not appearing weak or waffly.
Do you believe, as some have said, that as a result of going into Iraq, we’re safer?
I think we are safer post-9/11 because we’ve left no stone unturned in gathering intelligence and protecting ourselves against the threats we think might be plausible. As for Iraq, I think it’s too early to judge. You’re going to have to look back on this to see if it was the right time. But never forget what President Bush was looking at. He was looking at the use of weapons of mass destruction on our homeland, and he was not going to wait for the next attack to go get the funder of the terrorists. And in the Middle East, Saddam Hussein was a known funder of Palestinian suicide bombers.
Last question. The outcome of this presidential election notwithstanding, you have been mentioned as a potential national candidate. Have you thought about running for president or vice president? Does it interest you?
I have thought about it off and on through the years, whether it’s something I would want to do. And I have decided I do not want to do it.
You’re ruling it out?
I’m not going to run for president.
Are you ruling out running for vice president?
Generally, yes.
What we’re talking about here is 2008.
I don’t know where I’m going to be in 2008.
That sort of brings us back full circle, doesn’t it?
Maybe you’ll be at the Governor’s Mansion. Yeah. I don’t know what I’ll be doing.
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