February 27, 2008
Hotline After Dark -- No Debate About It
Another day, another debate between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Here's some of the post-game anaylsis:
MSNBC's Olbermann: "Ninety minutes of them, now about 85 minutes of us" (2/26).
MSNBC's Matthews: "I think we learned tonight why Americans like high-scoring sports. This was a low-scoring game, perhaps like a hockey game. I didn't hear many goals myself. A lot of back and forth about health care, which I find almost absurd given the fact we don't have a national health care plan. ... I learned really nothing new except again Senator Clinton's admission that she would like to have that vote back" (2/26).
NBC's Mitchell: "I actually thought that she presented herself as a fighter, that was what was her mission was tonight. And she kept saying, I'm a fighter, you know, five or six times. That was the phrase she was using. And she came across very credibly, very strongly as a fighter. ... And while the details of health care may seem a little bit onerous to people watching, I think people in Ohio, from all of our polling, really care about it" (MSNBC, 2/26).
More debate reax and John McCain's apology to Obama after the jump. [EMILY GOODIN]
NBC's Russert: "When I asked the question about the Russian election on Sunday, I intentionally did not call on either one of them. It was a jump ball. I looked at both of them. Who wants in? Senator Clinton jumped in. She wanted the question. ... This is not rocket science. We distribute the questions in a very fair way, and I think what happens is, it's not the questions, it's the answers. ... You can't be a president who can make tough decisions unless you can answer tough questions" (MSNBC, 2/26).
CNN's J. King: "I think it was strikingly clear, especially during the cutaway pictures when one was answering a question and they showed the other one, these two are tired of each other. They don't think much of each other at the moment. They're frustrated in the campaign" ("AC 360," 2/26).
HRC supporter/Dem strategist Paul Begala, on HRC claiming she doesn't get a fair shake: "I don't like politicians whining about the press. And yet, she's right, simply as a matter of objective truth. Watch the debate." More Begala: "I don't think the media is anti-Clinton; I know the media is anti-Clinton. ... Let's just tell the truth here. I mean, there's a horrible deep bias against Hillary in the press. But that's life. There was a bias against her husband, and he carried 37 states" ("AC 360," CNN, 2/26).
Obama supporter/Dem strategist Jamal Simmons: "I don't think they're too easy on Obama. I mean, he sat there and had to take five or six minutes of questions about Louis Farrakhan. He spent the last couple of days looking at pictures of himself, you know, on a diplomatic mission doing what everybody else does, but suddenly it's a problem. It's interesting, Senator Clinton said that she didn't mind being asked the questions first, but clearly, she minded it, or else she wouldn't have brought it up. I think that's the thing that kind of shone through throughout the evening is that she just seemed to be a little testy throughout the whole evening" ("AC 360," CNN, 2/26).
TALK OF THE TOWN
There was also a lot of talk last night about the remarks talk radio host Bill Cunningham made at a pre-McCain rally in OH, in which he criticized "Barack Hussein Obama." McCain immediately apologized to Obama.
CNN's J. King, on McCain apologizing for Cunningham's remarks on Obama: "Bill Cunningham had his radio show later in the day, and he lashed out at Senator McCain, saying he cannot support Senator McCain now, said Senator McCain has thrown him under the bus, if you will. So, McCain trying put the controversy to rest, may have started another problem for himself with someone, for all his inflammatory statements, for all his past history of controversy here, all local Republicans will tell you in this area is influential with conservatives that are critical to John McCain's candidacy" ("AC 360," 2/26).
FNC's Henneberg: "McCain staffers say they depend on local organizers to pick the warm-up speakers such as Bill Cunningham. And the campaign says it realizes it needs new vetting procedures now for the speakers" ("Special Report," 2/26).
MSNBC's Olbermann: "This isn't about Bill Cunningham being, you know, a pig. This is a question of John McCain's judgment in action at the moment and maybe he got it right, 45 minutes later, but what happened at the moment? He failed" ("Countdown," 2/26).
Cunningham was on "CNN Election Center":
On saying "Barack Hussein Obama": "I have repeatedly used the name of William Jefferson Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton. And the purpose was to identify that particular person, a name which is a great Muslim name. Hussein is a great Muslim name. I meant no offense and none was taken. ... I was asked about a week ago by the John McCain camp to come in to the Republican faithful -- you had to have a ticket to get in this get-together -- and to throw them some red meat, to get them fired up, to get them active. And so I gave a little bit of a stump speech. And I, for one, regret that John McCain is the nominee of the conservative party, because John McCain's not a conservative. He ought to be attacking Obama politically, and not attacking Bill Cunningham, Rush Limbaugh, and Sean Hannity, both of whom came to my assistance today."
Cunningham continues: "I have had it up to here with John McCain. He's off the list. I'm joining Ann Coulter in supporting Hillary Rodham Clinton."
Asked if he had met McCain before: "Twice, in the home of Bob Ryan and with Senator Mike DeWine, who called me at my home to come to Kenwood Country in Cincinnati, Ohio, about six or seven months ago, specifically called me ... and said, Bill, come and meet John McCain. He wants to meet you. We sat around, shook hands, talked a little bit, exchanged some chitchat. John McCain is developing, maybe because of his advancing years, a bad memory" (CNN, 2/26).
He was also on "Hannity & Colmes":
Cunningham: "McCain should be repudiating Democrats and leaving conservatives alone. His people told me to give the faithful red meat. Give them red, raw meat. And so what I did was deliver a speech about Rezko, the developer in Chicago under a federal criminal indictment, a good friend of Barack Hussein Obama. I spoke about the circumstances involving Obama, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, who was the fellow who gave a lifetime achievement award to Louis Farrakhan."
More: "I do not believe Barack Hussein Obama is a terrorist or a Manchurian candidate. I do believe we know nothing about this guy from the daily political machine" (FNC, 2/26).
Posted at 09:33 AM
Comments
The real problem is that Clinton and Obama kept getting in the way of Williams, Russert and Matthews. It was almost as if it was about the senators when we all know it was about NBC's stellar commentators.
just another dem | 02.27.08 10:14 AM
 |
Americans like high scoring sports? That's just a ridiculous myth.
The most popular game in the country is baseball, and most games have fewer than 10 runs a game.
Then there's football which has high numbers but not a lot of scoring. A 21-17 game is pretty normal, and is really just a three touchdown to two touchdowns and a field goal game.
NaR | 02.27.08 11:29 AM
|
Americans like high scoring sports? That's just a ridiculous myth.
The most popular game in the country is baseball, and most games have fewer than 10 runs a game.
Then there's football which has high numbers but not a lot of scoring. A 21-17 game is pretty normal, and is really just a three touchdown to two touchdowns and a field goal game.
NaR | 02.27.08 11:45 AM
|
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.
