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‘Meet the Press’ transcript for Nov. 25, 2007
Sunday, Nov. 25 |
 Netcast Nov. 25: Democratic strategists, James Carville and Bob Shrum and Republic strategists, Mary Matalin, Mike Murphy speak with NBC’s Tim Russert on “Meet the Press.” |
MR. CARVILLE: I was.
MR. RUSSERT: ...one of her best performances.
MR. CARVILLE: Yes.
MR. RUSSERT: Do you think that her answer on the driver’s license immigration issue and on other issues, or her reluctance to answer, hurt her with the honest, trustworthy questions that were asked in this poll?
MR. CARVILLE: I would say some, sure. And I said that, I said that I loved her, but I did not think that that was the best performance. She subsequently said the same thing. I think this driver’s license thing is a idea whose time has not come. Now, I mean, it’s..
MR. MURPHY: Well, it seems to have come and gone.
MR. CARVILLE: Right, come and gone, if you will.
MR. MURPHY: But, but let me...
MR. CARVILLE: But it might have hurt some. But I think if you—anybody that looks at her performance over the course of the debates says this is, this is a competent, thought-out campaign.
MR. MURPHY: Right.
MR. SHRUM: But it doesn’t solve her problem going into the Iowa caucuses, which is there is this huge demand for change, they’ve tried a number of different iterations—change as nostalgia, trying to put out this healthcare argument that you just put out—and voters just don’t seem to be buying it.
MR. MURPHY: But that’s my point. The reason I say she’s a weak candidate is she doesn’t fit the times, she’s not naturally charismatic. She is a tiger behind the scenes, she’s very effective, she’s very smart. But getting—the minute you walk in the room, owning it and making people like you is the magic fairy dust presidential candidates have, and she doesn’t have it, which is why she’s not attracting voters, she’s in decline. She’s wired Washington. Here they’ve decided the election’s over and she’s the nominee. Wait and see.
MR. RUSSERT: In fact, Mary Matalin, George W. Bush, our current president, had this to say about Hillary Clinton: “No question,” there’s “ no question that Senator Clinton understands pressure better than any of the candidates, you know, in the race because she lived in the White and sees it first—could see it firsthand.” Karl Rove has said some very complimentary things about Hillary Clinton’s ability to win the nomination. Are Republicans objectively saying Hillary Clinton is going to be the nominee, or are they rooting for Hillary Clinton?
MS. MATALIN: No, we’re not—we have no control, so we’re not rooting for anybody. But what we’re not doing is underestimating her. Her problem has been across the board here, and why she was—faltered in that one debate is she was running as a front-runner. When you get to front-runnerism, you don’t want to make a mistake, so you don’t do anything, and she plays into her weaknesses, which is to appear calculating. If she was—if she lost, she would come back as she has in every other case to be not calculating, to be more authentic. She doesn’t need fairy dust, she just needs to be who she is. She needs to be authentic.
MR. SHRUM: Look, the last thing Hillary Clinton needs is endorsements from George Bush and Karl Rove.
MR. CARVILLE: Right. If they could just...
MR. SHRUM: I don’t think they help her. There’s three guys out there, three potential endorsements that could matter in this race that aren’t talked much about: Ted Kennedy, who, as you know, I think made Iowa—made New Hampshire a victory for Gore in 2000 and really helped Kerry in, in Iowa in 2004; John Kerry; and Al Gore, who’s a very different person than he was when he endorsed Howard Dean. I have no idea whether any of the three of them are going to do it, but if any of the three of them did it, it would be very, very powerful.
MR. RUSSERT: James Carville, Hillary Clinton took to the ad, ad—TV ads war in Iowa with this commercial. She used a man to talk about trust. Let’s watch.
(Videotape)
Unidentified Man: Now her opponents are saying that Hillary can’t be trusted? I trusted this woman to save my son’s life and she did.
(End videotape)
MR. RUSSERT: Healthcare, but using a man to talk about trust. Is that an admission that she has a problem with men, and she has a problem with the trust factor?
MR. CARVILLE: Well, I think that, that a good campaign sees something like this, and they address it. I think it was a good spot. And, and, and by the way, this—they’re replete with stories of people that she has helped with something like that. This is not an extraordinary event. I, I imagine they have files and files of this, but yeah, of course, the campaign is—Mandy Grunwald, that’s what her people did. They said, “Well, we’re looking at the same poll that you’re looking at, we’re looking at the same numbers you’re looking at, and we’re going to address them.” And that’s what good campaigns do, and hats off to them. Damn right they did.
MR. MURPHY: What amazes me about the Clinton thing—and I predict she’s going to lose the nomination, I’ve been saying that for a while—that in the year when the Democrats have so many advantages, they seem to instinctively, still, the leadership of the Democratic Party gravitate to a candidate who’s so polarizing and so problematical. She’s running a male spot because she’s got male problems, but it’s an, it’s an inherently defensive place to be. And so that’s, that’s what amazes me about the affection that they have for somebody who’s done a lot for their party, but in my view, back to my point, I’m not sure she’s—all this trouble means I’m not sure she’s the best candidate for them.
MR. RUSSERT: Let me go through this exchange between Obama and Clinton, because I think it’s very instructive as to where the race is. Hillary Clinton went on the air in New Hampshire with this ad about the Republicans.
(Videotape, CNN Democratic Presidential Debate, November 15, 2007)
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY): I don’t mind taking hits on my record, on issues, but when somebody starts throwing mud, at least we can hope that it’s both accurate and not right out of the Republican playbook.
(End videotape)
MR. RUSSERT: That’s her in the debate. Then she went on the air and said, “Here they go again, the same old Republican attack machine is back.” Now, Barack Obama then gave an interview and said this—it’s not the first time he said it, but he talked about his foreign policy experience—“I sit on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. So I have frequent interaction with world leaders who come to visit here, and I take trips on various fact-finding missions, whether it’s Iraq or Russia or Africa. But, you know, probably, the strongest experience I have in foreign relations is the fact that I spent four years living overseas when I was a child in Southeast Asia.” When he had said that recently, the Republican machine put this out. RNC Research...
MR. MURPHY: Republican machine?
MR. RUSSERT: “Obama’s Top 5 Foreign Policy Credentials: Foreign Policy Credential #1, ‘Life of living overseas for 4 years in elementary school.’” Hillary Clinton this week added this.
(Videotape)
SEN. CLINTON: And with all due respect, I don’t think living in a foreign country between the ages of six and 10 is foreign policy experience.
(End videotape)
MR. RUSSERT: Obama...
MR. SHRUM: All due, all due respect means that you’re about to stick a knife in.
MR. MURPHY: Right.
MR. RUSSERT: And, and, and something the Republican attack machine had already pointed out.
MR. CARVILLE: Right.
MR. RUSSERT: But Obama responded this way in kind.
(Videotape)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL): I was wondering which world leader told her to illegally invade Iraq because, because that’s not—that’s, that’s the conventional thinking that we’re going to have to fight.
(End videotape)
MR. RUSSERT: Bob Shrum, conventional thinking vs. different, bold, newer thinking.
MR. SHRUM: I don’t, I don’t...
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