Redstate

It's Sunday, and the press has met us.

By Mark Kilmer Posted in jabbering | Special Features | Talking | whining | yapping — Comments (38) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

Sunday, April 20, 2008

PREFACE:

On FNS, Chuck Schumer (Hillary) and Dick Durbin (Obama) argued as surrogates for their respective junior Senators. Schumer, explaining what Hillary meant she said that sometimes moveon.org "really intimidate[s] people," offered: "In the heat of a campaign, sometimes you get frustrated." Durbin promised that Obama would cut taxes, just not on Capital Gains. Next segment, Karl Rove said that Obama had transformed himself from an inspirational figure to just an "ordinary politician."

On TW, John McCain called Barry on his refusal to condemn Bill Ayers. Steph mentioned McCain-supporter John Hagee and his anti-Catholic remarks, and McCain replied that he condemned Hagee's remarks but was keeping Hagee's support.

On MTP, chief Obama strategist David Axelrod and lead Hillary strategist David Garin might have come to blows if Garin had made eye contact. Garin said that this extended fight was good for the Dem Party because more people are registering Democratic and they're keeping John McCain out of the spotlight.

On FTN, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell complained bitterly about Obama supporter General Walter Stewart's (retired) remarks that Hillary lacks the moral authority to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier because she lied about snipers in Tuzla. Junior Casey, an Obama supporter, said that it was "irrelevant." It might have been his new vocabulary word.

On LE, Obama supporter Senator Bill Bradley (retired) proposed that Hillary and Obama were fighting only because their positions were so similar and there was nothing else to do. Hillary supporter Jon Corzine responded that Hillary was best able to defeat McCain.

The Show-by-show review is beneath the fold.

DURBIN AND SCHUMER ON FNS. First up on FOX News Sunday, host Chris Wallace talked to Chuck Schumer, Hillary's senior Senator and surrogate, and Dick Durbin, who plays the same role for Obama.

Wallace questioned Schumer about that Hillary quote in which she blames the Dems' lefty activists – moveon.org, etc. – for her political travails. Schumer explained that moveon.org was "very positive for the Democratic Party," and that Hillary agrees with this. He explained her remarks with a passing: "In the heat of a campaign, sometimes you get frustrated." He saluted moveon.org as a sort of counterbalance to right wing hate radio.

For his part, Durbin chimed in about "dramatic increases" in Democratic Party affiliation. He swears that Obama "won't let the Republican Party define him."

Schumer criticized the Republicans for brining up "little, tiny issues" like Barry's anti-American mentor and terrorist friends. Wallace pointed out that Hillary was talking about them, and Schumer countered that the media was magnifying them. He argued that 90-95% of what Hillary discusses is the issues-oriented. Wallace wanted to move one, but Schumer wanted to repeat that until we all understood that she spent only 5-10% of her time discussing "little, tiny issues."

Wallace asked Durbin how increasing the Capital Gains tax can be a part of the middle class tax cut Obama has promised, when the middle class now pay most of the capital gains taxes. Durbin countered that President Bush's policies increased economic disparity, and that Obama will institute middle class tax cuts. Wallace pressed him on capital gains, and Durbin countered that though Barry would up the capital gains taxes on the middle class, he would reduce their aggregate tax burden.

Schumer called Hillary, "indomitable" and declared that she gets up whenever she's knocked down. (Tubthumping!) He said she has the best chance of beating McCain and would be the better President, and he declared the race for the Dem prize to be "neck-and-neck." I'm surprised he didn't call her, "infallible," what with the Pope about to celebrate Mass in Yankee Stadium.

Wallace ended the segment with these words: "Is the bitter Democratic race handing the Republicans an advantage? We'll break it down with Karl Rove."

"Bitter."

KARL ROVE ON FNS. Wallace's next guest was a very relaxed Karl Rove to talk about Pennsylvania. Yeah, we're looking at Philadelphia and Pittsburgh; in between, there is a "T," Rove said, where the Democrats are culturally more conservative.

Wallace mentioned that Obama has accused Hillary of using "Karl Rove's playbook" in her PA campaign against Obama, and Rove said that Hillary has not done "exactly what I would have done."

He posited that Obama would work better if he weren't so "reflective of old Washington politics." He explained that Obama is no longer the inspiration figure we saw coming out of Iowa; Barry now comes off as an "ordinary politician." It was too late for Barry to regain the magic this primary season, Rove argued, but he could conceivably regain in time for the campaign for November.

Rove's latest poll-based electoral map shows McCain leading Obama in electoral votes, 261-165, which is up 20 in there weeks; against Hillary, OTOH, McCain leads 261-161, which is down in the past three weeks.

Wallace mentioned the four names Rove had given as hypothetical McCain veep picks: Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Charlie Crist, and Rob Portman. Rove explained that these names were given as being representative of the types of people McCain should be considering.

Condi Rice? Rove said he had dinner with her recently and mentioned that friends were talking about her, and she asked him to tell them: "NO." She is not interested; rather, she's doing the Stanford thing until, perhaps, Roger Goodell's position opens with the NFL.

JOHN MCCAIN ON TW. With George Stephanopoulos at the "Newseum," John McCain talked tax cuts. He explained that every time taxes have been cut since JFK, federal revenues have increased. Steph blamed the deficits on President Bush's tax cuts, and McCain pinned the blame on the "greatest spending increases since the Great Society."

McCain posited that there was no big government solution to health care. Steph asked him what was wrong with big government solutions, and McCain explained that the families should be making the health care decisions, not the federal government.

McCain explained that he had come to terms, reconciled with the anti-war movement and with the Vietnamese government, but he cannot make peace with an unrepentant Bill Ayers. He condemned Obama for comparing Ayers to Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma: "That borders on outrage."

Steph explained that Obama has said that he disagrees with Ayers, and McCain asked if he condemned Ayers. (He has not.) Steph brought up Dr. John Hagee's endorsement of John McCain after Hagee had said expressed some noxious sentiments about the Catholic Church. McCain said that he condemned Dr. Hagee's statements regarding the Catholics, but he applauded the man's leadership and his advocacy for the state of Israel. (Just sitting here, it sounded similar to Obama speaking of the Reverend Jeremiah Wright after that recent explosion. There could be a problem here if the Dems get their act together, get over their innate bitterness in time to push it.)

TOP STRATEGISTS ON MTP. From NBC News, it is Meet the Press, with your host Tim Russert. This morning, he argued with Obama strategist David Axelrod and Hillary strategist Geoff Garin, who, to paraphrase Bob Novak, now chairs the meetings Mark Penn still attends. Russert presented the delegate numbers, the popular vote numbers, and a few polls and asked Garin how Hillary could win. Gerin replied: "Step-by-step is the short answer." They're going to "let the process play through," saying that the process has been "good for the Democratic Party." He said that there is "more to the process" than just elected delegates, and he averred that the superdelegates were "not a backroom deal." He doesn't want a "rush to judgment."

Axelrod agreed that it has been positive for the party, but he said that they've been doing this for 15-months so there can be no rush to judgment. He faulted Hillary for her "kitchen sink strategy" for trying to destroy Obama.

Garin accused Hillary of being the negative campaigner. Axelrod said that Barry's negative ads were a response to negative ads from one of Hillary's 527s. Axelrod asked Garin if he had put an ad in Philadelphia which was 100% negative. Garin said he didn't think so. Axelrod said it was "circulating" and it dealt with "lobbying." Garin tried to explain that he believed that one ended with, but Axelrod cut him off: "It's 100% negative." He then pointed out that Garin was new to the campaign and was not yet caught up. Garin's eyes were cast downward and to his left, closed, as Axelrod mouthed off. (I couldn't easily find the negative Hillary lobbying ad, but here is a negative ad from Obama on Hillary and lobbyists.)

Russert interrupted to return civility to the Dem debate. He pointed out that Hillary had said that she and McCain were qualified to be commander in chief but withheld judgment on Obama. He asked Garin if that were appropriate. Still making eye contact with nothing, Garin complained that Obama said that Hillary lacked the sense to know that "things need to change in Washington." He wants a level playing field, where if people ask if Hillary knows that there needs to be change, they also ask if Barry is qualified to be commander in chief. Axelrod protested that Obama did not get into this race to trash Hillary, but to "lift this country up" by challenging "the prevailing practices in Washington."

Russert asked Axelrod if Hillary would make the necessary changes to Washington, and Axelrod responded that she would not. She's a "consummate Washington insider." Russert asked Garin if Hillary would stay in the race through the last primary in June, and Garin replied that there was no reason not to but that it would be "dictated by events." (Hillary has just hassled General Petraeus for saying that our withdrawal from Iraq would be dictated by events, asserting that this was not an exit strategy. Fuzzy, squishy thinking. What then is this?) He said that that it would be time to end the campaign when someone had the requisite number of delegates to win. Russert said that Dean was telling the superdelegates to make up their minds "by early June, not wait 'til the convention, so that WE -- Democratic Party, he said – will know who are nominee is the first week of June." Russert might have there acknowledged that he is a Dem, but probably not.

Garin said that they should wait until June 3rd, adding that Obama's campaign "is based on a negative premise." Hillary is positive and she one "the important part" of last week's Dem debate.

Axelrod accused Hillary of lying about Obama's health care plan. He said that this was not the way to move forward. He said that polls find Hillary to be untrustworthy which would work against her in November. (Just as the issues Hillary mentioned at the debate – Barry's strange bedfellows – will be an issue. Axelrod condemned Hillary for what he himself is doing.)

And so it went. The accusations and the hypocrisy flew from both mouths Axelrod eventually said that the Republicans would try to "string together" (Russert's verb) various issues and use them against the Democrat nominee because defending the past eight years in untenable. He said that once they get to know Obama, they'll love Obama, as there is no one more patriotic than Barry. Russert mentioned Hillary's 58% untrustworthy rating amongst Dem voters and Hillary's moveon.org rant and a previous bit of praise for moveon.org. Garin sees no change from then 'til now. He said that all this was said before he arrived on the Hillary scene two weeks ago.

That's the state of the two campaigns and it is the current condition of the Dem Party. It is what it is.

RENDELL AND CASEY ON FTN. On CBS' Face the Nation, host Bob Schieffer did the Pennsylvania surrogate dance, with Governor Ed Rendell for Hillary and Senator Junior Casey for Obama. Schieffer asked Ed about his alleged comments to Hillary's people that they had to win big. Ed qualified that by asking, "But what's big, Bob?" He said that winning by between 5-7% against Obama's huge spending would be a "very, significant win." He said then that Hillary won the last debate.

Casey thinks "it's going to be an interesting night on the 22nd." He doesn't know "where it's going to end." He thinks that a loss "would have a longer term positive benefit to Senator Obama." Because of hope, change, and "bringing people together"; that message is resonating and this bodes well for the fall, when he "has to win Pennsylvania." Casey said that he's not a pollster or a pundit. "The people of Pennsylvania have responded to his message of hope."

Schieffer complained that the Pennsylvania debate has not lived up to what it could have been, and he played a clip of Hillary saying: "I'm with Harry Truman on this. If you can't stand heat, stay out of the kitchen." And a clip of Obama talking about hurling the kitchen sink at him. Rendell said that this "highlights the hypocrisy of the Obama campaign," hissing at Hillary for negative campaigning while going negative himself. "You've got to be fish or fowl," Ed explained. He complained bitterly about a remark by an Obama surrogate [retired Major General Walter Stewart] who said that a President Hillary was "would lack the moral authority to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown [Soldier]," because the soldier in that tomb was "was probably killed by a sniper," the sort which did not fire at Hillary in Tuzla despite her initial protestations to the contrary.

Junior said that this was all irrelevant because voters could see through it, then he said that Obama was the nicer guy. Ed said that Obama was "engaging in gutter politics."

Casey disowned the "unknown soldier" statement only when pressed to do so by Schieffer. Casey said that polls don't mean a thing as far as the general election. He said that Hillary's statement that Obama couldn't win Pennsylvania is a "smear." He said that McCain would be a third term of President Bush.

Both men said that the Dems would come together to beat McCain whomever is the nominee. Ed said that Hillary would not pick Barry to be his running mate, and Casey said it is too early to talk about this. Casey thinks the Dems will have a nominee, but Ed is not so sure.

No one cleaned up Junior Casey's puddle of drool.

BRADLEY VS. CORZINE ON LE. On CNN, Late Edition host Wolf Blitzer opened by talking to Hillary surrogate Bill Bradley and Obama surrogate John Corzine. They are both from New Jersey to discuss the Pennsylvania primary. (Some argue that Philadelphia is culturally a part of New Jersey, so…)

Corzine said that if Hillary doesn't win big in Pennsylvania, she's done; she has to win the popular vote, including Florida, he said, but not Michigan.

Blitzer played a clip of Hillary saying that she'd seen the stress of the White House and Obama couldn't take it. Bradley argued that Obama was a leader who would "change the pulse of Washington." Corzine argued that "both candidates represent change," including in Iraq and health care. He said that Hillary was more specific on the economy than Barry, and that her ideas were much more advanced.

Bradley posited that the battle in the primary between Hillary and Obama was like it was because the two were so close on the issues and had nothing better about which to campaign; the differences with McCain are far greater, he said, and the debate going up to November will deal with the issues. Corzine countered that Hillary would be best able to defeat John McCain this fall. Bradley argued that more Democrats polled find Hillary to be untrustworthy.

Bradley argued that more Americans surveyed believe that Barry shares their values than believe that Hillary believes her values. He said that people like to discuss disagreements with their neighbors, not create commercials and attack them.

Corzine is "not a big fan of negative campaigning," he insisted. He blamed the media for pushing the campaign negative and also attributed some of it to Hillary having "to push back" against Barry's attacks.

= = = = =

And have at it.