Just posted by the Charlie Rose Show, check out this hour-long interview with Tim Kaine.
On whether he'll selected as Barack Obama's running mate, Gov. Kaine said, "I'm sure they're going to make a great decision on the VP nominee."
In response to a question about whether he shares Obama's desire to change Washington politics, Tim Kaine responded "absolutely, absolutely."
Interesting response by Kaine on how to change the culture of Washington, particularly lobbyists:
"...I work with lobbyists and folks in PACs all the time in Virginia and they're not bad, but I think there's a sense sometimes in Washington that they kinda have a veto power over policy initiatives. It's not a matter of having a seat at the table, they should, often they have great expertise, but sometimes you feel like government is what lobbyists allow to happen rather than what a president or Congress decide to focus on as key policies."
"Virginia's a very independent state, it's traditionally been kind of a red state...the only way we make things happen is by, after election day, setting aside the party labels and coming together to really get results for people."
On his vision for the country and where it can go:
"...it really does have to be about coming together in a bitterly divided time....very tough issues, very divided, it's a time for people who want to roll up their sleeves and get results. And I'm a guy who really says results ought to come first, it's not legislative wins and losses or who's in today and out tomorrow, it's results that can be measured in peoples' lives."
"Like Barack, I lived in a foreign country at a formative time in my life...it made a huge impression on me...I think America's been this fantastic force for good, and that we need to continue to be that force for good, but I think we need to be a force for good that is every bit as much about example as it is about force."
"I think this president, the next president of the United States, will walk into the most difficult situation since FDR in 1933."
On what attracts him to Obama:
"I think success and effort is fundamentally a question of character...it is willingness to make tough decisions, it is willingness to say, look, we're going in the wrong direction we need to go in another direction."
On his campaign for governor in 2005, hit governorship, faith, capital punishment:
Transformative event in Kaine's life was the year in Honduras as a missionary..."powerful faith experience for me." That's what motivates him. "I am going to uphold the laws, even the laws I have some discomfort with...what I found in 2005 was that was just fine with people...they want a thinking, feeling, believing human being, even if some of their views may be different than theirs...I've taken some positions that aren't completely popular as governor, but voters have been willing to support me on them..."
On relationship between faith and law of the land -- Roe vs. Wade, etc. Is saying you'll always support the law and not try to change the law the easy way out?
"On abortion, I don't know of a single American who doesn't think that we should have fewer abortions...I've supported restrictions on abortion, I've supported health care access for women, better education of youngsters...there's a moral gravity to abortion as an issue that has to be respected, but I don't think the right strategy to reduce abortion is to criminalize the health care decisions that women and their doctors make. I think using the criminal law as a weapon or bludgeon to make these decisions is the wrong way to go about it."
Would Kaine like to see the Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade?
"I don't think the Supreme Court should...again, Roe vs. Wade is ultimately about saying that there is a realm of personal liberty for people to make this decision, a woman to make this decision with her doctor, with her pastor...that should be a moral realm...but it's not an appropriate thing for us to be passing laws to criminalize women and doctors for health care decisions."
...sometimes you feel like government is what lobbyists allow to happen rather than what a president or Congress decide to focus on as key policies.
Yeah, like when Virginia let the electric utility lobbyists write the Electric Utility regulations and excluded incentives for conservation and greatly limited net-metering for alternative energy. Strong leadership would have prevented that.