The Sunday Morning Talk Shows: The Review
What did Saturday's Dem RBC freak show solve? Anything? Well, "on to Denver."
By Mark Kilmer Posted in Face the Nation | FOX News Sunday | Late Edition | Meet the Press | Special Features | This Week —
Sunday, June 1, 2008
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Preface:
On FNS, Hillary's main mouthpiece, Howard Wolfson, expressed discontent with the face that the Dem RBC's Saturday freak show decided to give Obama four of Hillary's delegates, amounting to two votes, and were willing to fight this simply on principle. He also didn't care for the "uncommitted" delegates from Michigan being given automatically to Obama.
Next on FNS, Obama surrogate Dave Bonior declared that the popular vote doesn't count but that he would not entertain a question which stipulates that Obama might not win the popular vote.
On ABC's TW, Obama mouthpiece Bob Gibbs assured us that Barry is "still a strong Christian," despite leaving the church where he found Christianity.
Up next on TW, Clinton campaign honcho Terence McAuliffe declared: "This is not the Democrat Party I know." He quickly added that he had just had dinner with Hillary, leaving open the possibility that these are also her sentiments. He added that one Wednesday, after the results of the final contests have been resolved, Team Hillary begins chasing the superdelegates.
Finally on TW, FDR's grandson called for a "unity choice" for veep. Howard Dean said that the most important person in the race is the second place finisher, which he was in 2004.
On NBC's MTP, host Tim Russert interviewed Scott McClellan, both accusing McClellan of hypocrisy and reveling in his charges against the Bush Administration. Is Tim Russert a true believer in this tenor lefty insanity or is he, like McClellan and Olbermann, doing this for ratings, for the fame and the money?
On CBS' FTN, Cuddly Carl Levin, who says he's backing neither Dem candidate right now, said that both Hillary and Barry have promised him that the Michigan delegation would receive their full votes. Barry, he conceded, had promised that this would happen only after he'd received the number of delegates he needs to secure the nomination.
On FTN, Hillary supporter Mandy Grunwald said that Hillary had received the most votes of anyone ever. Schieffer asked her if this includes voters in the caucuses, and she said that they were in the newspapers, so it did.
On CNN's LE, Howard Dean had an interesting comparison. He told host Wolf Blitzer that he had learned not to answer hypotheticals when raising two teenagers. Barry and Hillary behaving like teenagers? FDR's grandkid was there, as well.
Next on LE, Hillary's buddy Harold Ickes evoked the image of September 11 when he declared that the Michigan delegates had been "hijacked" from Hillary.
Read the review beneath the fold.
WOLFSON ON FNS On FOX News Sunday this morning, host Chris Wallace first sat down with Hillary's main mouthpiece, Howard Wolfson. Wallace's first question, of course, was: "Isn't it over?" Wolfson, of course, answered: "No, not at all." He explained that they have won the popular vote and she has won the important State contests.
About the Democrats' trip-to-the-zoo Saturday, Wallace pointed out that the Dem RBC had stripped Hillary of four delegates equal to two votes from Michigan and has given them to Barry. H wondered if this were worth dragging this mess to Denver. Wolfson said it is not about the votes. It's about the principle. Team Hillary is happy about the Dem RBC's decision regarding Florida, but they are ticked off that the votes for "uncommitted" in Michigan will be counted as votes for Barry.
Wallace asked Wolfson if Hillary would drop out if Barry passed the new magic number of 2118 delegates following Tuesday's contests in Montana and South Dakota. Wolfson wouldn't entertain that notion, answering only that the campaign is "working hard to see that wouldn't happen."
Wallace asked Wolfson if it were enough for Obama merely to quit that Trinity Church, and Wolfson shrugged that this was "up to the voters." He faulted Barry for not being tough on Mike Pfleger specifically for mocking Hillary.
BONIOR ON FNS. Former Congressman David Bonior was next up for Wallace on FNS, as an Obama surrogate. (I hadn't seen Bonior much since he left Congress after 2002 to run unsuccessfully for the Dem gubernatorial nomination in Michigan.)
Wallace confronted Bonior with the assertion that Hillary had won the popular vote. Bonior countered that it depends how the votes are counted, as Barry was not on the Michigan ballot and the Dems do not count the voters in caucuses, where Obama did well. Besides, he averred, the delegates count, not the popular vote.
Barry is leading McCain in several polls, Bonior argued.
Wallace asked why this Dem mess was different than Al Gore in Florida, 2000, with the "Count Every Vote!" mantra. Bonior argued that Obama might win the popular vote and that he's not going to assume otherwise.
The process in Michigan was "terribly flawed," he argued. (It was a popular line at the Dem RBC freak show yesterday, right up there with "fair reflection.")
As to the Trinity U. church bit, Bonior said that there have been a "number of controversial pastors" in this campaign. He mentioned, of course, John Hagee, adding that Obama has distanced himself from the Trinity church: "It was a tough decision for him. It was where he came to Christianity."
OBAMA MOUTHPIECE ON TW. First up on ABC's This Week, host George Stephanopoulos spoke with Obama mouthpiece Bob Gibbs. Gibbs explained that the folks at Trinity United had been "subject to a media circus." Steph asked if Barry had quit, though, because there was more stuff about to come out concerning the church. Gibbs answered, "No. This was a deeply personal decision [for Obama]." He argued that Obama is "still a strong Christian."
TERENCE ON TW. For the Hillary campaign, former DNC chairman Terence McAuliffe spoke for Hillary, with whom he said he had dinner last night. Terence explained that Barry's delegate lead would be less than 100, and the question Hillary's peeps would ask the superdelegates was: "Who can take on John McCain." Steph said that this argument had been tried for a few weeks and isn't working. McAuliffe countered that it is so working. He said that the Hillary campaign was "hoping for exciting news on Tuesday." This could mean that he expects Hillary to win either Montana or South Dakota, or it could mean that she picks up some additional Dem superdelegates despite losing. Or, in dire straits, it could mean that Obama still does not reach the number of delegates required to secure the nomination.
"Hillary will be the nominee," spake Terence.
He argued that the Michigan delegates, with their half-votes, have to go to the convention as uncommitted if that is the vote they must reflect, not as Obama delegates. (I gave up on the Dem rules after Saturday's freak show.)
Terence McAuliffe stated: "This is not the Democrat Party that I know." (He called it the "Democrat Party," not the "Democratic Party.) Immediately upon saying this, he added that he had dinner with Hillary last night, which means that this sentiment is probably also hers.
As for Hillary quitting the race after Tuesday's results, Terence said that the work the superdelegates beginning Wednesday.
DEAN AND ROOSEVELT ON TW. Next up for Steph were DNC chair Howard Dean and FDR's grandson, James Roosevelt, jr., a superdelegate who helped run Saturday's Dem RBC freak show.
Dean called Geraldine Ferraro racial views, "Outside the mainstream."
FDR's grandson said that Barry has to select a "unifying choice" for veep if he gets the nomination, which could mean Hillary. (When Truman was selected as the second President Roosevelt's veep, the idea was party unity. FDR, by most accounts, simply acquiesced. He was concerned more with the war and with his own failing health than his final veepstakes.)
Dean said, based on his own experiences, the most important person will be the one who receives 49% of the vote, not the one who receives the 51%. Hillary will have to campaign for Barry just as he campaigned for JF Kerry. (I don't know for certain that Dean was trying to argue that he was in any way important to Kerry in the 2004 race.)
SCOTTY ON MTP. Russert's guest on NBC's Meet the Press was Scott McClellan. This is the story Russert wanted to cover, not the Dem nominating process, not Obama's troubled campaign; nope, Tim wanted salaciousness, a bit of hearsay on the Bush White House.
Russert opened by outlining how cruel the Republicans have been to poor Scotty. Russert referred to Bob Dole as the "ranking Republican in all of Washington." McClellan said that he respects Dole but that he knew his book was going to spur a reaction: "This book takes aim at Washington…. This is an indictment of the culture in Washington."
Russert accused McClellan of "hypocrisy" after the mean things he said about Dick Clarke and his book. McClellan blamed the permanent campaign culture of Washington. He said that he apologized to Dick Clarke, whose book he still has not read.
Russert asked McClellan when he underwent "this transformation, this intellectual journey, this evolution" into the advanced culture of Bush-bashing.
Russert read McClellan's January, 2007 book proposal:
There have been a number of books written about [President Bush], including many more recent ones that portray him in a very negative light.
This book is going to take a much different look at our Nation's 43rd President. While being supportive of the President, I want to give readers a candid look into who George W. Bush is, what he believes, why he believes it so strongly, and what drives him. …
It will be an insider's account of his behind-the-scenes persona, including is decision-making style, his personal discipline, his composure under fire, and his sense of humor.
And I will directly address myths that have been associated with him, some deliberately perpetuated by activist liberal and some created by the media, and looks at the reality behind those myths.
Russert said that this was not what McClellan wrote. McClellan countered that if one looks at his entire book proposal, not just the Russert excerpt, there is a lot in there which did make it to the finished book.
McClellan suggested that he "has gotten to the truth, from my perspective." It's all about perspective, which version of reality we most enjoy or earns us the most coin. McClellan said that it was true that the stubborn was stubborn and unwilling to admit mistakes, which hurt our troops in the war. He faulted the President for not giving the troops proper "bipartisan support."
Russert covered many of McClellan's allegations and McClellan explained. Russert's goal was to attack the Bush Administration through McClellan's book. To be fair, he also attacked McClellan for his "hypocrisy." He asked McClellan if he were part of the Bushies' campaign to deceive the American people. McClellan admitted it.
On and on it went. I am not sure how Russert really feels about all this. Is Tim Russert a true believer in this tenor lefty insanity or is he, like McClellan and Olbermann, doing this for ratings, for the fame and the money?
CUDDLY CARL ON FTN. First up talking to host Bob Schieffer on CBS' Face the Nation was Cuddly Carl Levin of Michigan, who has backed no one and said that he is happy with what the Dem RBC did for Michigan. As he did in his talk to the RBC at the freak show yesterday, he took a shot a New Hampshire for having an early primary.
Levin said that they are going to fight for the full vote, which he's sure he's going to get. He said that he has been assured of this by both Barry and Hillary. (Obama promised that they would get the full vote only after he has enough delegates to win.)
Levin wants a "rotation system" for the State that has the first Dem primary.
Levin thinks it unlikely that Hillary will fight to the convention, but he thinks that it is likely that Obama will have enough delegates to at least say that he has the nomination in the next few weeks.
MANDY ON FTN. Hillary supporter Mandy Grunwald told Schieffer that yesterday's Dem RBC decision on which delegates to give votes and how set a terrible precedent and that the Hillary campaign would consider fighting it to the convention. She was angry that they took Michigan delegates from Hillary and gave them to Barry.
Bob conceded that Hillary would have more popular votes than Barry only if you count Michigan and Florida. Mandy countered that as of yesterday, Michigan and Florida were counted. Hillary has the most of anyone ever, she argued. Bob asked if this counts the votes in caucus States, and Many answered that yes, it does.
Grunwald argued that only Hillary beats McCain in the big States, and that Hillary is "far ahead" of John McCain, doing "far better than Senator Obama."
"Seventeen-million is a lot of voters," said Mandy.
DEAN AND ROOSEVELT ON LE. Howard Dean and FDR's grandson were back, this time with Wolf Blitzer on CNN's Late Edition. He played a clip of Harold Ickes announcing at Saturday's freak show that Hillary was taking it to the Dems' credentials committee. Dean said no matter what Ickes says, it was the beginning of a resolution. He refused to answer a hypothetical, saying that he had learned not to when raising his two teenagers, thus referring to Barry and Hillary as teenagers.
Jim Roosevelt complained that Ickes had not come up with a bitter plan than the one adopted by the Dem RBC freak show. Roosevelt argued that "what happened in Michigan was not a legal event," as it broke DNC rules. This was why, he argued, it was confusing as to who was on the ballot and who wasn't. (NOTE: Hillary was on the ballot. Barry was not. It's not that confusing, and neither is fearing fear itself, if that's what you want to do.)
I wanted James Roosevelt to admit that Saturday was a day which will live in infamy, but he did not. He thinks that the nominee will select a nominee who can be President and would be good for the party. Dean said that they raised over a million dollars last night at a dinner in New York. Dean thinks that "the glass is more than half-full, here."
ICKES ON LE. Next up on LE: the new bane of the Obama Democrats, Harold Ickes, his voice set as always to grate the nerves. Believe it or not, he referred to the rulings at yesterday's freak show as, "a real step forward." However, he used September 11 imagery when he said that the four delegates/two votes stripped from Hillary and given to Barry was a "hijacking." Ickes knows exactly what he is saying.
Ickes faulted Barry for taking his name off the Michigan primary ballot and questioned why he went after only four delegates. He said that Hillary had not yet opted to fight it to Denver, but he did proclaim that the race could not end before the final number of votes from Michigan had been determined.
Blitzer pointed out that the delegates taken from Hillary and given to Barry was at the suggestion of Carl Levin. Ickes again complained of hijacking, going back to the September 11 reference.
Ickes promised that McCain, being not the standard-issue Republican, would "upset the electoral map this November," making it all the more important that Hillary is the Dem nominee.
Ickes thinks Obama should refute Pfleger's crude remarks regarding Hillary at the Trinity United church.
BONIOR ON LE. And Blitzer talked to Dave Bonior, the Obama supporter. Wolf asked why it was fair to give Barry the Michigan delegates when he received no votes. Bonior said that he is reminded of Casablanca, where the inspector [Renault] says that he was "shocked" to find liquor in the cafe. (Actually, Renault claimed to be shocked to find gambling at .) He faulted Ickes and Hillary for stripping the original vote from Michigan. He said that the system was flawed and no one voted. Wolf asked why he then supported the arbitrary delegating of votes selected at the freak show. Bonior said simply that it was what they agreed.
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