"You Can Appreciate Hillary's Enormous Frustration - She's Like a Scolding Parent"

K Gardner

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Mon Feb-18-08 10:45 AM
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"You Can Appreciate Hillary's Enormous Frustration - She's Like a Scolding Parent"

Quote from Margaret Carlson on MTP yesterday. Other interesting observations and snippets from the show:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23209237/

The first part of the transcript is very telling of the strategy of the Clinton Campaign to win at any costs. One can see Schumer is reciting talking points. Ironically, when Durbin rebutted his Clintonesque arguments, Schumer could be seen on a split screen nodding his head in agreement. One wonders if Schumer had some difficulty advocating the seating of FL and MI delegates, as well as advocating Super Delegates overturning the will of the people, given this conflicting body language. How many otherwise decent politicians will be corrupted and damaged by the desperation of the Clintons to win at any cost?

<snip>

MR. RUSSERT: Senator Schumer, Senator Clinton said in October, "You know it's clear this election they're having in Michigan is not going to count for anything." Is that your position?

SEN. SCHUMER: Well, no. Here's the bottom line once again, Tim. Each candidate, of course, takes the position that benefits them at the moment. Now on this one, popular vote, particularly in Florida where no one violated the rules, but Florida went ahead on its own and had an election and Hillary won. Now, Senator Obama naturally says don't seat Florida. Senator Clinton says...

MR. RUSSERT: Well...

SEN. SCHUMER: ...do seat Florida. Let me just...

MR. RUSSERT: Wait a minute--wait a minute. Senator...

SEN. SCHUMER: Yeah.

MR. RUSSERT: ...the Clinton campaign put out a statement saying they accepted the DNC rules. But...

SEN. SCHUMER: Yeah.

MR. RUSSERT: So you're no longer accepting them?

SEN. SCHUMER: Well, let me say this, Tim. The bottom line is, for Florida and Michigan, I believe it's much like the superdelegates. There's a great dispute here and it's not just Hillary Clinton. The senators from Michigan, Debbie Stabenow and Carl Levin, one of whom's endorsed, one of whom hasn't, says you must seat Michigan. The senator, the Democratic senator from Florida, says "You must seat Florida. Those are my voters, they should be paid attention to." Here's what we have to do. Same thing as the superdelegates. Should Florida and Michigan be--the hang--you know, hanging in the balance. And we get to June 7 and I don't think that'll happen, by the way. I think there's going to be a winner. I think it's going to be Hillary, but that's how these things work. Al Gore said it Sunday. But let's say we're not there. Then Howard Dean, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have to sit down and come up with a process that both sides buy into and both sides will abide by. You cannot--you cannot let these internecine battles create a war.

MR. RUSSERT: One of the plans being proposed is that there be caucuses in Michigan and Florida where both Obama and Clinton could compete. Would you support that?

SEN. SCHUMER: Well, again, Barack has done better in caucuses, Hillary has done better in primaries. So I guess the, the Clinton campaign would say if we're going to have something, you have to have primaries. The problem there is Florida has a Republican governor and a Republican legislature, and they might not go in primaries.

<snip>

Now, on to an interesting reunion discussion by the old Capitol Gang, where they ironically agree on the fate of the Clinton Campaign

<snip> Clip is played of Clinton attacking Obama on "speeches but no solutions"

MR. RUSSERT: Bob Novak, is that the race in a nutshell?

MR. BOB NOVAK: That is it, and that is just about the most unattractive appeal that I think she could have made to try to save her failing candidacy. The people I talk to and the, who are close to her say that we've got to show that he's a left-winger, a government person, get the blue-collar voters out of Ohio in. She's not going to--she's not going to--she can't do that. It will backfire on her. So they have a terrific dilemma with this important Ohio primary coming up.

MR. RUSSERT: Kate O'Beirne, how do you see the race?

MS. KATE O'BEIRNE: Well, you can appreciate Hillary Clinton's enormous frustration. She is so deeply rooted in policy, has these well-thought-out positions, loves nothing better, and along comes a smooth-talking, aspirational, you know, it's all about hope and change, and she's enormously frustrated. But it's--he fits the public mood, you know? Hillary Clinton has always stood for sort of the bitter partisanship of the '90s, and I--his change election--people aren't demanding from him those details. They're not very far apart on policy. So the likeable, aspirational, hopeful candidate, I think trumps her policy prescriptions.

MR. RUSSERT: Margaret Carlson.

MS. MARGARET CARLSON: She has the daunting task of convincing the country that the guy they've fallen in love with is bad for them. She's like a scolding parent. And that's not an appealing road to have to take. She's tried everything, though. She's tried Hillary the fighter, Hillary the comeback kid who's found her voice, Hillary the vetted; "Vote for me because all the bad stuff is already out." These are not, you know, lift you up kinds of reasons for voting. And I think going forward she's going to have to get only more negative, and that makes it even harder going against a person who has hope and inspiration on his side.

MR. RUSSERT: Mark Shields.

MR. MARK SHIELDS: I think if there's one message, Tim, from this election and the voters, it's "Don't get ahead of ourselves. Hold on." I mean, after eight days, the first part of the year in New Hampshire, they said, "Hold on," when it looked like Obama was going to rush to the nomination. Nobody has gotten momentum yet out of victories, really, up till now. So I don't think this race--I think the race is far from over. I think she has certain things she has to do, Senator Clinton, and one is that he--his campaign, I think, has been accused, and legitimately so, of being long on theme and short on specifics. Not on Web site, but on the platform. Hers lacks theme. She has to make the case for her, rather than the case against him. She attempted, spent a lot of time, energy and effort trying to disqualify him earlier in the race; didn't have enough experience. It didn't work, obviously. She has to make the case. But she has to give people, in this year, as Kate said, when they're looking for hope and they're looking for inspiration, she has to give them some.

MR. RUSSERT: Al Hunt.

MR. AL HUNT: Tim, we did this show for 17 years. This is the first time we've all agreed on something. So we, we must be wrong.

Look, I, I do agree that she's not out yet. She's got maybe a 30 percent chance to win, that's not as good as 70. But she has to run the table, Tim. She has to win Ohio, she has to win Texas, she has to win Pennsylvania. There has to be some kind of a makeover caucus, primary in Michigan and Florida, she has to win those. And if she does all that, then it's a very competitive race. That's a tall order.

<snip>

It is a tall order, indeed, when you're running on desperation.