Bill Clinton: “Well, it's hard to say. It's hard to say. I don't know. I just don't know. I'm not sure we know yet. You know, we…”

“Well, it's hard to say. It's hard to say. I don't know. I just don't know. I'm not sure we know yet. You know, we probably have to let it simmer out another couple of days. I think it is--I think if you look--on the drug issue, if you look at our record, if you look at the fact that I have--not only as President but as Governor--consistently opposed any legalization of drugs; consistently increased enforcement; that I passed a crime bill over the opposition of Senator Dole that had 60 death penalties in it, including capital punishment for drug kingpins; that I appointed, first, a former police chief of Houston, Lee Brown, and then the most--at the time he retired from the Army, the most decorated veteran in the American military, General Barry McCaffrey, to be our drug czar, so it's obviously important to me; and that I fought for programs that will help communities keep kids off drugs, like the safe and drug-free schools program, again over the opposition of Senator Dole and Mr. Gingrich--I think that, again, once people hear both sides of the argument, then they'll know that he can take one comment out of context and maybe make a television ad out of it. But the record shows a very different picture. Now, I say that--all of us should be concerned about the fact that in 4 years, when cocaine use dropped by a third in America, it increased among teenagers. That should concern everybody. And everybody, including me, should be willing to assume some responsibility for that. I'm not trying to disclaim all. You know, if the efforts we're making to have good results should be credited, then we have problems; I have to take some responsibility for that. We need to--it's much more serious than it's been treated so far. For example, there's a lot of evidence that--in Canada, for example, tobacco and drug use among juveniles is up. In some European countries it is. And it appears that there was a beginning of a shift in attitudes about 1990 about how dangerous this is and that we, the adults of this country, and in other countries as well, have not succeeded in changing those attitudes back. And so I think it's a very serious issue. But I don't think his attack on me is very persuasive once you look at the facts. And the liberal issue I just think, you know, it falls of its own weight. I do believe that there are differences between us. He was against the student loan program, and I improved it. He was against the family and medical leave, and I supported it and got it through. He was for the Gingrich-Dole budget, and I opposed it. So that's true. But I'm the first President since before the Civil War to reduce the deficit in all 4 years of his administration. We reduced the size of the Government more than my two Republican predecessors, not just in terms of employees but in terms of regulations and programs eliminated. So I just don't think--and you know, I've got a crime bill that's the most conservative, tough crime bill that the country ever passed. And we moved almost 2 million people off welfare through giving the States and local communities more authority before the welfare reform bill ever passed. I think--again when the debates come on and when people look at all the evidence, that welfare charge, as you often hear down here in Texas, it's pretty hard to make that dog hunt, I mean that liberal charge. It'll fall to the evidence if people listen to it. Press Secretary McCurry. We've got to go.”