January 30, 2007
Hotline After Dark -- A Major Bush Interview Is Like An Afterthought, Can You Say 'Lame Duck?'
There was a lot of talk about the Hillary Clinton joke, if it was a joke and if it was, was it funny:
Des Moines Register's Yepsen: "I think the joke was taken as a joke. I think it was part of a theme that I noticed over the weekend, where she would talk about, as a woman, she's running. She's not running as a woman, but one of the assets she brings to the campaign is that she has had experiences that other candidates have not had" ("Hardball," MSNBC, 1/29).
Washington Post's Kornblut: "The presence of Bill Clinton is everywhere when she is campaigning. He wasn't physically there this weekend ... but she referred to him all the time. ... What you saw with the bad men joke though was an example of the lurking potential for people to remember the bad Bill, and I can tell you the press conference was quite uncomfortable when the bad side reemerged. So, I think their goal now is to maximize the good Bill, minimize the bad Bill, and try and get the most out of the parts of the electorate who still really car for Bill Clinton" ("Countdown," MSNBC, 1/29).
HRC and John McCain were in San Antonio for the dedication of the new medical center. They sat down with CNN's Cooper in separate interviews:
HRC, on her cap the troops plan: "The cap is meant to sent a signal to the president, as is our efforts to get a resolution of disapproval, that he no longer has political support in the country and the Congress for pursuing this policy."
McCain, on the cap the troops plan: "I think I'm fairly well versed in military matters and tactics and strategy. I've been involved in it literally all my life in one way or another. But I can't tell you how many troops exactly are needed. I think it's pretty clear the number of troops we have isn't getting the job done. I think there's almost universal acceptance of that. So you put a cap on it so that the status quo remains, which is a steadily deteriorating situation?" ("AC 360," 1/29).
CNN's J. King, on the relationship between Clinton and McCain: "They get along quite well. We'll see how long that lasts" ("Situation Room," 1/29).
MORE PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS
Mike Huckabee was in the "Situation Room":
Asked how it could hurt his WH bid by aligning with Bush on Iraq: "I don't think it's going to hurt, because I'm not aligning myself with the president, as much as I am with the troops and the fact that the president has to be able to carry out his strategy" (CNN, 1/29).
ABC's Moran spent a day in IA with Mitt Romney and interviewed him about his religion:
Asked if he would describe himself as a "devout Morman": "Absolutely. I'm proud of my faith. It's part of my heritage. I think the American people respect individuals of faith. That's the kind of person they wanna lead the country."
More: "We don't judge a candidate based on the theology of the religion they grew up in. My family's heritage is in our faith, and I'm proud of that. But I'm not gonna go through in cafeteria style, talk about each doctrine, and which I accepted. That's not the nature of a campaign."
Romney: "My church leadership has never tried, in any way that I know of, to ever suggest, certainly to me, or to the other leading politicians in this country, like Harry Reid, the leading Democrat in the nation, is a Mormon. The church doesn't try and tell him what to do or influence him. Again, when you take the oath of office, you're highest responsibility is to follow the constitution and the rule of law. And that's something to which I subscribe."
Asked about his changing position on abortion: "We all learn from experience. And I'm just like other people in this nation. Not everything I believed 12 or 13 years ago is the same today, with regards to the issue of abortion. And so about two years ago, I said I am pro-life. And prior to that time, I had a different position" ("Nightline," 1/29).
YOUR SCOOTER LIBBY UPDATE
MSNBC's Shuster: "The testimony was the most dramatic and compelling that the jury has heard in this entire case. Ari Fleischer testified that he went to lunch with Scooter Libby and that during this lunch, Scooter Libby told him that Valerie Wilson was the wife of an administration critic and that she worked at the CIA. This is very significant for the prosecution case because, again, it shows that Scooter Libby knew about Valerie Wilson before a conversation with a reporter, when Libby says he first learned about Valerie Wilson from that reporter" ("Hardball," 1/29).
DEFENDING BOTH IRAQ AND HIS VEEP
Pres. Bush sat down with NPR's Williams.
On VP Cheney's defense of Iraq: "I think that the vice president is a person reflecting a half-glass-full mentality, and that is he's been able to look at -- as have I, and I hope other Americans have -- the fact that the tyrant was removed, 12 million people voted, there is an Iraqi constitution in place that is a model for -- and unique for the Middle East."
More: "One of the things I have found here in Washington amongst those who were skeptical about whether the Iraqis will do what it takes to secure their own freedom, is to remind them of what would happen if there's failure. In other words, there would be chaos. If we did not work to secure Baghdad and help the Iraqis to secure Baghdad, the country could evolve into a chaotic situation, and out of that chaos would emerge an emboldened enemy."
On not mentioning Hurricane Katrina in his SOTU: "I gave a speech that I thought was necessary to give. On the other hand, I had been talking a lot about Katrina and about the fact that I worked with the Congress to get about $110 billion sent down to both Mississippi and Louisiana to help them on their reconstruction efforts. Obviously, there is more work to be done."
Williams: "By the way, in the speech, you spoke about the Democrats. You said, you congratulated the Democrat majority. And I notice your prepared text said Democratic majority. I surely think that you know that for the Democrats, they think when you say Democrat, it's like fingernails on the blackboard. They don't like it. They like you to say Democratic."
Bush: "Yeah. Well, that was an oversight then. I mean, I'm not trying to needle. Look, I went into the hall saying we can work together and I was very sincere about it. I didn't even know I did it."
More: "I'm not that good at pronouncing words anyway" (1/29). [EMILY GOODIN]
Posted at 07:26 AM
Comments
Post a comment
The Watergate · 600 New Hampshire Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20037
202-739-8400 · fax 202-833-8069
NationalJournal.com is an Atlantic Media publication.
