This morning I was able to talk to former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R.-Tex.), now chairman of FreedomWorks, about the Democrats’ expected attempt to override the veto that President Bush has promised Congress on Iraq spending bill.

Under Armey’s leadership, Congress successfully overrode two of President Bill Clinton’s vetoes.

I asked him what advice he had for Republicans now in managing the Democrats plans to try to override this veto. I’ll have more in a full story on this tomorrow. Read the transcript below:

I was wondering if you had any advice to give Republicans on how to handle the Democrats veto override attempt-

FORMER MAJORITY LEADER DICK ARMEY: The President has already gotten a letter with enough Republican signatures that say the President’s veto will be sustained. The President has got two points to make on this. One, that he’s not going to tolerate the kind of free-spending earmarks and extraneous things attached to the supplemental. And, two that he is not going to accept Democrats dictating the terms of how he’ll conduct the war. So, I’m sure he’ll make the veto and I’m sure it will be sustainable.

ABC: Do you expect that his veto will be helpful to Republicans or that the Democrats will be able to use it to their advantage?

ARMEY: I think the Democrats are strategically very wrong on insisting on taking ownership of the war. I don’t understand what they are thinking about this. The only thing I can think is that they are being so hard driven by their extreme left wing base that they can’t help themselves, but I think they are making a big mistake.

ABC: Senator Reid said in a speech yesterday that his base expected a lot of dramatic action on Iraq in January, but this is still the President’s war. Do you expect them to do anything to take ownership of the outcome in Iraq?

ARMEY: Harry Reid? Basically, it’s like the Democrats want to take ownership of it and he’s disavowing that and I think he’s trying to tell the base “Lay off, you guys are running us into a blind alley. You guys are going to get us in trouble.” I’d put that down as a plea. I think he understands where it is going and probably sees it more clearly than Nancy Pelosi does. He’s a little less of the base than Nancy is. She’s from a different part of the world and she has a different perspective. I’m sure his Democrats in Nevada, I’m sure are a little different than her Democrats in San Francisco.

ABC: No doubt.

ARMEY: So, he’s trying to get them to ease up a little bit. And, also I think it’s very pointed of him to say this is still the President’s war. He understands the danger of it. That they are in.

ABC: Do you think it’s wise for the Democrats to use more legislative time for the veto override, which they know they can’t get?

ARMEY: No, but I look forward to them doing it.

ABC: One last question. Sen. Carl Levin said on a conference call that he knew they didn’t have the votes for an override, but thought it would be helpful in helping Democrats gain momentum. That’s how he put it. And, maybe getting some Republicans to join them. Do you think that will be successful?

ARMEY: No, I don’t. My only view there is that there are handful of Republicans, mostly from the Northeast that want to disassociate from this war and they will disassociate from whomever they perceive as owning the war. If Carl Levin and his party own the war, they will be very happy to disassociate from them.