Exclusive Interview with Larry Kudlow - Part 1

Here's the first part to a two-part inteview with Larry Kudlow:

Chip Hanlon:  That's right, welcome to another edition of Last Call, here exclusively at Red County. We will also be sharing this broadcast at our sister site, GreenFaucet.com. Hello to listeners there. Today I am back, it's Chip Hanlon here. Thanks for joining me, and I've got just one of the best. Period. This man needs little introduction, but let me go into it. You know, of course, his well‑known show on CNBC, "The Kudlow Report." You can learn more about his at his website, Kudlow.com.

And of course on his weeknight show every day at 7:00 PM Eastern, he's also a frequent host to our own Delta Global Advisors, my investment firm's own Michael Pento, very frequently. So God bless him for putting up with Pento.

Really, one of the greats, "Lawrence of America," a true free market capitalist, and one carrying the torch for liberty in America today. I'm so thrilled to speak, in part one of our two‑part interview, with the great Larry Kudlow.

So Larry, everybody knows you as a staunch conservative, but before we get into today's markets and politics, just quickly your background. You came out of college not as a Republican but as a Democrat, and you worked for some interesting folks, didn't you?

Larry Kudlow:  I did. I did. Probably because I didn't know any better. What is the line Winston Churchill said? If you weren't a socialist in your 20s, you have no heart. And if you weren't a conservative later on, you had no head...or no mind, or something like that. But, yes, I came out of college as a liberal Democrat and worked in a bunch of Democratic campaigns. That's the reason I know so many Democrats who were prominent, particularly in the Clinton administration, including Bill Clinton. We worked together in a Senate campaign in Connecticut in 1970 for a guy named Joe Duffy.

I took a leave from the Princeton graduate school and ran the Hartford Congressional District, and Bill Clinton took a leave from the Yale Law School and ran the New Haven District. And Michael Medved was Duffy's speechwriter. Michael Medved is a prominent neo‑con radio and columnist, and a great friend of mine.

John Podesta was in that gang. He was Clinton's Chief of Staff for a while. A lot of us, or at least I, migrated to Pat Moynihan in the mid‑'70s. There were a lot of Moynihan people, very dear friends of mine, who wound up in the Reagan Administration in the 1980s. So we all sort of made our journey together.

Chip:  Some of those people that you just thought were marked as stars at the time, you knew they'd be big? Or has it been interesting to watch in retrospect?

Larry:  It's been interesting to watch. You never know. You don't do those things in any premeditated fashion, or at least I don't. It's always amusing to me. And they're all still friends of mine. As I've said many times, some of my best friends are Democrats. And I think it's one of the reasons why, on the air, particularly on "The Kudlow Report" at nighttime when I interview, we have debates left and right. It's easy for me to deal with my liberal friends. A; having once been one, and B; kind of understanding a little still how they think. But I'm always open‑minded and we try to be fair and balanced and equal with everybody.

Chip:  I think everyone on both sides of the political aisle say you conduct yourself as quite a gentleman. Have you seen a change in the level of decorum in politics today? Or has it always been more the case that there have been more scrappers who have been willing to get down and throw mud and throw sand at each other, than there have been sort of those who are above it? Which, truthfully, you are.

Larry:  Well, I appreciate that. I'm not perfect, but one thing I always do is I never personalize. You can debate issues and debate policy disagreements, and for that matter you can debate economic forecasts. But I really try not to get...never personal. Never. It's just not my way. And I think that some people come on the air and get personal with me, throw mud at me. I just sort of let it bounce off. It's not my style. And I'm grateful for that, that I've learned to do that throughout the years. The fact that somebody is going to disagree with me doesn't mean that I'm going to get all excited about it. It is what it is.

I think politics today is a little too personal. I think there's a little too much personal invective. I do a radio show every Saturday here in New York on WABC Radio. I get callers who will really start trashing Obama, say, "Well, he's deliberately wrecking the country," and this and that.

I chide them for it. I say, "No, wait a minute. You're questioning his motives, and I'm not going to go there. I will disagree with his policies, probably 99% of the time, but I'm not going to disagree with his personal motives. I just won't go there."

And that's kind of my credo on the air, on TV. My opinion, people think they're right, and that's where the disagreement comes in. They hold views and principles and so forth. And you do have to respect that, even during the debate. I think politics today has just gotten too darn personal.

Chip:  Got it. That being said, with this new administration, do you look at all the fronts that they're moving on? They're trying on cap and trade, they may be stuck. But healthcare, et cetera, they have been pretty aggressive out of the gate. Were you sort of surprised at this new administration and how quickly it was moving its agenda on all fronts? I think it took Congressional Republicans by surprise.

Larry:  Yeah, that may be. Although we had dinner with him, the so‑called conservative pundits, at George Will's house a year ago. There were about 10 of us. [William] Kristol was there, and [Michael] Barone and [Paul] Gigot and Charles Krauthammer and Peggy Noonan. A whole bunch of us. We had a three, three and a half hour dinner with President‑elect Obama at the time. It was an off‑the‑record dinner, but I can say in retrospect a year later, that he really did outline to us the multiple fronts he was going to move on. We knew he was going to deal with the economy. I'm not sure we knew he was going to be such a big spender with an $800 billion spending package. I think that was important news and I think it shook up the stock market when it broke.

But regarding things like national healthcare reform, so called, and even cap and trade, I knew they were pet social policies of his. And other things, he was very up front. Including his unionization, eliminating the secret ballot for card check.

I wasn't really shocked by it. I was somewhat taken aback by the size and scope of that nearly $800 billion stimulus package. I thought it would be about half as much, or maybe less than that. So that was a bit of a shocker.

Chip:  And again, we're speaking with Larry Kudlow. We're thrilled to be speaking with him. You'll be hearing part two of our interview tomorrow here at RedCounty.com. Thanks, Larry. And again, you've been listening to an exclusive interviewer with RedCounty.com, played also at our sister site GreenFaucet.com, with, of course, Larry Kudlow. Part two is going to be featured on our site tomorrow, January 20th. Look for it there.

We'll get beyond Larry's background, and we'll talk very specifically about a number of the political issues facing the nation today. I'm very excited to bring it to you.

I'm Chip Hanlon. Thanks for joining me here, both at RedCounty.com and GreenFaucet.com. Back with part two of the Kudlow interview.

Click here to read the transcript to the second part of the interview.