'Meet the Press' transcript for May 18, 2008

MR. RUSSERT:  ...to the Republican brand, because I think it's important, and it's a subset of this conversation.  Tom Davis, who was the chairman of the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee said this.  "The political atmosphere facing House Republicans this November is the worst since Watergate and is far more toxic than the fall of 2006 when we lost 30 seats.  ... Whether measured by polls, open seats, money, voter registration, generic ballot, presidential popularity or issues, our party faces a steep climb to maintain our current numbers.  ...

"Members instinctively understand that the Republican brand is in the trash can.  I've often observed that if we were a dog food, they would take us off the shelf." That was a memo to party leaders.

On Tuesday night, when word came out that Mississippi was the third special election that had fallen to the Democrats after Illinois and Louisiana, one Mike Huckabee was on MSNBC, asked to respond to that, and this is what he said.

(Videotape)

GOV. HUCKABEE:  I think that it really does indicate that the Republican brand is badly damaged.  John McCain can't run the Republican brand.  He's got to run a different approach.  If he just says, "I'm the Republican candidate," I don't think it's a very good year.  You know, but people ultimately don't buy the brand, they buy the cereal.  So what we've got to be able to do is to show that there are individuals out there that are worth supporting and worth electing.  But they can't go out there and ride the elephant down Main Street, because if they do, the elephant's going to get shot out from under him.

(End videotape)

GOV. HUCKABEE:  He's a smart guy, Tim.  You ought to listen to him.

MR. RUSSERT:  But it sounds like your party's in trouble.

GOV. HUCKABEE:  It is in trouble.  I mean, you know, I can't sit here and tell you it isn't in trouble.  You'd, you'd look at me and you'd, you'd crack up laughing.  Of course it's in trouble.  When we lose races in places like Mississippi, where we should have won that race, period, and the race in Louisiana and Ohio, there's no doubt that the Republican brand is in trouble. It's damaged.  And so I could try to gloss that over.  Now, here's what I think--if there is a sort of silver lining in this very cloudy sky of ours--it is that John McCain is not the traditional, establishment Republican.  Thank goodness he's going to carry our banner this fall, because I think he's the guy that has the best chance of sort of saying, "OK, you don't like the traditional Republican brand, I'm the new and improved.  I'm the different version of it." Because he is, and no one who's ever observed John McCain through all of these years can say that he is just like all these others.  He is not a mimeograph of the originals.

MR. FORD:  I live next door to that district in Mississippi in Memphis.  I represented that district for 10 years.  Many, many from Memphis have moved into that area, right across, right across the border line.  Two things.  The MVP in that race was George Bush.  He's been the great organizing force, the great catalyst.  John McCain voted with George Bush 95 percent of the time.  I hear you, your point, Governor, and I know you're trying hard to stick to those talking points, but the reality is, the facts are the facts.  Dick Cheney traveled to Mississippi and campaigned vigorously for the Republican there a few days before.  You had a 10 point win, almost, by a fellow who had, had owned no local office, run for local office before.  Illinois and Louisiana, we know the record.  What it says is that conservative Democrats--Democrats have a message from this, too.  We can't run a liberal campaign.  It was a conservative Democrat, moderate Democrat approach.  That approach is on the ascendancy in the party.  If Barack Obama adopts that approach, he will enjoy more success in many places around the country and might be able to expand a map to the extent that his team is suggesting, in North Carolina, in Georgia, and even Mississippi.  There's a lesson for Democrats as well, and I hope we take it.

MR. MURPHY:  I hope you do.

MR. RUSSERT:  Mike Murphy, can, can John McCain shake off eight years of George Bush?

MR. MURPHY:  Sure.  I mean, the reality is McCain is a very unique animal. He is a different kind of Republican.  That is the truth of McCain.  The Democrats are making a big mistake if they think they can glue a phony "somebody-else" suit on John McCain, because John McCain will bust out of it. That's who he is, I know him very well.  So I think they're making a big--they want to beat George Bush again, which they can do.  But President Bush is not on the ballot now.  I, I think his political problems were a little unfair to him, but that's the reality.  McCain's his own guy, and he will--if McCain runs the campaign McCain naturally will want to run, I think he's going to be the most powerful possible Republican we have because he's a change agent in Washington.

The question is will the rest of the Republican Party get out of the way and align themselves to follow it?  A hundred days ago, I would have said McCain would have real internal problems in the party doing that.  Now, after these defeats, everybody's a McCainiac now over in the House of Representatives, which is a change, but a good one.  And I, I think McCain is well-positioned to do well if he runs the campaign that is who he really is, which is a centrist and a change agent.

MR. SHRUM:  Murphy, Murphy...

MR. MURPHY:  No, but I know the guy, that's who he is.

MR. SHRUM:  You're in a--I know.  You're not there yet, but you're already spinning very hard.  Look, what happened was...

MR. MURPHY:  It's the truth, Bob.  It'll lift you up.

MR. SHRUM:  What happened, what happened...

MR. RUSSERT:  This is Murphy's law.

MR. SHRUM:  Yeah.

MR. MURPHY:  Exactly.

MR. SHRUM:  Murphy's law is...

MR. MURPHY:  Let McCain be McCain.

MR. SHRUM:  ...Senator McCain, please listen to Murphy.  Hire him, this is how he wants you to run.

Look, what he did in the first week of the general election was he put on the Bush suit, he picked up this whole issue about appeasement, which was a phony issue.  I think there is no question, I think there is no question Barack Obama is going to pass the threshold question on whether or not he can be commander in chief.

I think the real issue here is how does John McCain pass the threshold on the economy, where he endorses the Bush policies; on health care, where he endorses the Bush policies; on a whole range of issues where the country is deeply dissatisfied with the direction that we've been taken in.  And if John McCain continues to go down this road, he will suffer a loss of historic proportions, I believe.

GOV. HUCKABEE:  Bob, he's not taking on the economic policies.  He's talking about vetoing spending bills, he's talking about making sure that we don't go out there and increase taxes.  And that is not exactly the same policies.

MR. SHRUM:  No, no.  He's actually talking about extending the Bush tax cuts for people at the top.  The country doesn't want to do that.  And the Republican National Committee keeps issuing these pot boiler press releases accusing Obama of wanting to raise taxes on hard-working people.

MR. MURPHY:  Whoa, whoa, one...

MR. SHRUM:  I understand your party's definition of hard-working people...

MR. MURPHY:  We're glad you're reading them.

MR. SHRUM:  ...of hard-working people is someone who makes over a million dollars a year.

MR. MURPHY:  Yeah.

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