NBC's Andrea Mitchell scolded Matt Drudge and other "Internet writers" for making much ado about nothing over Michelle Obama's "If you can't run your own house, you certainly can't run the White House," slam of Hillary Clinton. On the Wednesday "Today" show, Mitchell ran the aforementioned quote from Sen. Barack Obama's wife and then proceeded to wag her finger at Drudge and other "Internet writers" everywhere:
Mitchell: "But this time her words caught the attention of a Chicago Sun-Times columnist who said, 'It could be interpreted as a swipe at the Clintons.' And before you could say Drudge Report, the story was an Internet headline: 'Obama Wife Slams Hillary.' When reporters raised it with Barack Obama, on a conference call, he tried to point out his wife was talking about her own family, not the Clintons."
Later in the piece Mitchell, who has a history of looking down her nose at those outside of the MSM, brought on Chuck Todd as he and Mitchell essentially told bloggers to simmer down:
Mitchell: "In fact, if the Internet writers took a deep breath they might have listened to Michelle Obama's entire thought."
Michelle Obama: "We've adjusted our schedule to make sure that our girls are first. So while he's traveling around I do day trips. That means I get up in the morning, I get the girls ready, I get them off. I go and do trips. I'm home before bedtime. So the girls know that I was gone somewhere but they don't care."
Mitchell: "It's a lesson in how quickly things can be interpreted and misinterpreted online."
Chuck Todd, NBC News Political Director: "This is the Youtube election for a reason and that is you can take a sound bite and cut it off and splash it on Youtube and suddenly create a new version of a story."
The following is the full Mitchell piece as it occurred in the 7am half-hour of the August 22, "Today" show:
Matt Lauer: "Now to Decision 2008. The candidates' spouses have played a big role in the campaign so far and now some people are wondering if Barack Obama's wife, recently, took a very subtle swipe at the Democratic frontrunner, Hillary Clinton. NBC's Andrea Mitchell has more on that story. Andrea, good morning to you."
[On screen headline: "Family Values, Did Obama's Wife Slam Clinton?"]
Andrea Mitchell: "Well good morning, Matt. It did have all the makings of a sexy, political story. Was the wife of Hillary Clinton's chief challenger, slyly hinting at past well-known problems in the Clinton marriage? Except that from all accounts, the so-called personal attack may be chiefly in the eye of the beholder. She is Barack Obama's secret weapon. In her standard stump speech, confiding how she and her husband balance their family life with the rigors of a presidential campaign. As in this Iowa stop last week, she frequently delivers a folksy lesson in Obama family values."
Michelle Obama: "Anybody want a lemonade?"
Barack Obama: "Who wants a lemonade?"
Michelle Obama: "Our view is that if you can't run your own house, you certainly can't run the White House."
Mitchell: "It's a line she used four days earlier in Chicago."
Michelle Obama: "And my view is that if you can't run your own house, you certainly can't run the White House."
Mitchell: "But this time her words caught the attention of a Chicago Sun-Times columnist who said, 'It could be interpreted as a swipe at the Clintons.' And before you could say Drudge Report, the story was an Internet headline: 'Obama Wife Slams Hillary.' When reporters raised it with Barack Obama, on a conference call, he tried to point out his wife was talking about her own family, not the Clintons."
Barack Obama: "She wasn't making any reference to that. I think this is, you know, if anybody who's been listening to Michelle on the stump, has talked about the importance of family and the need for our family to make sure that we're thinking about our kids during the process of this campaign. And, you know, she's repeated that on, in every stump speech."
Mitchell: "In fact, if the Internet writers took a deep breath they might have listened to Michelle Obama's entire thought."
Michelle Obama: "We've adjusted our schedule to make sure that our girls are first. So while he's traveling around I do day trips. That means I get up in the morning, I get the girls ready, I get them off. I go and do trips. I'm home before bedtime. So the girls know that I was gone somewhere but they don't care."
Mitchell: "It's a lesson in how quickly things can be interpreted and misinterpreted online."
Chuck Todd: "This is the Youtube election for a reason and that is you can take a sound bite and cut it off and splash it on Youtube and suddenly create a new version of a story."
Mitchell: "A spokesman for Obama told NBC News there was no intentional slight, saying, Michelle is a first time political campaigner not a poll-driven candidate's wife. Some Clinton supporters still see an ulterior motive but officially the Clinton campaign is not commenting. Matt."
Lauer: "Alright, Andrea thank you very much. Andrea Mitchell for us from Washington this morning."
—Geoffrey Dickens is the senior news analyst at the Media Research Center.




















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Shoe fits
August 22, 2007 - 10:40 ET by LionKingIf the shoe fits, the Clintons will do a cover-up.
Awww... Poor Andrea.
August 22, 2007 - 10:43 ET by Six String SpiffAww is widdiw Andwea Mitchiw Aw upset dat de mean o dwudge weport is actually weporting de NEWS..? Can it, Andrea. Your rating PLUNGE whilst I laugh my arse off such as Axle Rose does on 'Use your Illusion II' track 5, @ 4:05.
The American Revolution Continued
NBC in a huff
August 22, 2007 - 10:47 ET by Six String SpiffThis is hilarious. NBC telling other people not to sensationalize...
Pot Kettle - Kettle Pot
The American Revolution Continued
Blabbin Spiff
August 22, 2007 - 10:50 ET by Six String SpiffYeah yeah yeah Me again.. Anyway
'Internet Writers'? Hey Andrea, We're called ALTERNATE NEWS SOURCES! We will be the immovable stone in your world of weakness. Enjoy your crumbling monopoly while it lasts.
The American Revolution Continued
Andrea, take a breath MINT
August 22, 2007 - 11:00 ET by TruthMongeri guess she is saying we should "take a breath" and get it really wrong like they do in Andrea's big leagues?
Mitchell
August 22, 2007 - 11:38 ET by Felicity RandAmazing how they lie, lie, lie! Of course, Michelle Obama's refering to Hillary's household! And then MSNBC flatout lying re: leering pervert Chris Mathews. These are just recent examples.
Mind you, they've always lied, but now it's desperation time. They're losing power as each day passes.
"We've adjusted our
August 22, 2007 - 11:08 ET by WhoIsJohnGalt"We've adjusted our schedule to make sure that our girls are first. So while he's traveling around I do day trips. That means I get up in the morning, I get the girls ready, I get them off. I go and do trips. I'm home before bedtime. So the girls know that I was gone somewhere but they don't care."
So, as long as one of the parents is home by bedtime, it's okay? Not maybe home by school's end, or at least dinner? Naw, just give them ten minutes at bedtime and they're good. No wonder they "don't care".
Yes WhoIsJohnGalt
August 22, 2007 - 11:20 ET by SportPoliticsMy thoughts exactly.
only the MSM is allowed to take a sound bite and cut it off
August 22, 2007 - 11:08 ET by SouthJersey1953Chuck Todd, NBC News Political Director: "This is the Youtube election for a reason and that is you can take a sound bite and cut it off and splash it on Youtube and suddenly create a new version of a story."
They are upset because they think THEY are the only ones allowed to do that.
No RINOs in '08
Yes a "version" of a story
August 22, 2007 - 11:23 ET by SportPoliticsNot their version, or vision, or interpretation, or spin. A new version the spackled together lib media hasn't endorsed in unison, horrifyingly absent is the BDS.
LOL! Perhaps you should
August 22, 2007 - 11:20 ET by kathleenirishLOL! Perhaps you should heed your own advice, Mutton-Dressed-As-Lamb. Since you obviously have been suffering the effects of a lack of oxygen to the brain, start taking a few breaths yourself once in a while! Who should win the "I have the highest soap box" contest this week? Cafferty? Mitchell? et al?
I'd like to impolitely say to Ms. Mitchell: Go blank yourself and your elite pomposity!
Anyone who says they support the troops but not the mission is a liar.
MItchell is unpaid spokesman for HRC campaign
August 22, 2007 - 11:24 ET by GalvanicI still think Mitchell was more effective as a Keebler elf than as a correspondent. She's little more than a shill for her friend Hillary Clinton.
It's certainly ironic that as Mitchell condemns the internet bloggers, her network is about to broadcast the insufferable hater Keith Olbermann as host of a show airing before a Sunday evening football game.
Does drudge
August 22, 2007 - 11:30 ET by Rosever actually write anything other than a headline based on an article he is linking to?
Been using him for years now, it seems pretty rare to me that he actually writes about anything at all.
Yep, Andrea and her twin
August 22, 2007 - 11:58 ET by Del DolemonteYep, Andrea and her twin sister Eleanor Rodham Clift have had their lips firmly planted on Hillary's posterior for years.
Has beens need a
August 22, 2007 - 12:27 ET by well99Has beens need a purpose.Those two have found their's.Bet they go thru alot of chapstick.
Mitchell: "But this time
August 22, 2007 - 11:33 ET by MidAmericaMitchell: "But this time her words caught the attention of a Chicago Sun-Times columnist who said, 'It could be interpreted as a swipe at the Clintons.' And before you could say Drudge Report, the story was an Internet headline: 'Obama Wife Slams Hillary.'
That must mean the report was 'fake but true'.
"Take a deep breath" - I
August 22, 2007 - 11:47 ET by rwesley"Take a deep breath" - I seem to recall a one Hillary Clinton using that exact terminology when Willy was being exposed for his escapades in the White House.
HaHa! the internet will
August 22, 2007 - 11:57 ET by rightsideHaHa! the internet will never stop doing the job the drive-by's SHOULD be doing, andrea. Bias? What bias?
Rush was right, they've lost their monopoly on controlling the agenda is this country, and they are self-destructing. Their ratings are decreasing steadily, and they will never accept the fact that people realize they are biased, and that's why they are not watching anymore.
I laugh everytime I hear something like this!
Yes! Have some.
Mitchell is such a pathetic
August 22, 2007 - 11:58 ET by sembyMitchell is such a pathetic jerk. Be a journalist Andrea, if it was republican she would have a plastered smile from one ear to the other.
She is no authority except to those who want a face lift.
So if this was a slam
August 22, 2007 - 12:05 ET by rimskySo if this was a slam against the Clintons (a stretch, IMO) or just a photo op for the Obamas, who cares? I think it's funny that Mitchell got her knickers in wad because she thought Queen Hillary had been slammed.
The Pot Calling the Kettle Black
August 22, 2007 - 12:26 ET by JeffWeimerThe MSM is famous for doing this. Their treatment of the Police beating (only showing the police beating instead of the cause as well) lead DIRECTLY to the LA riots in 1991.
There needs to be a few more beatings...
August 22, 2007 - 12:31 ET by Six String SpiffThe American Revolution Continued
Too true...
August 22, 2007 - 15:11 ET by BradzillaI don't recall the mad rush to fact-check when Bill Bennett was accused of plotting to abort black children to reduce crime. Context alone would have revealed that it was a reprehensible thought to him, but the MSM sure didn't come to his defense. A nice cleverly-clipped sound bite was good enough for them then.
WOW..I'm so glad Mitchell
August 22, 2007 - 12:40 ET by charlietexasWOW..I'm so glad Mitchell cleared all that up for us. I was so
worried that there was a dispute between the Clintons and the
Obama's. We all know that they are all good friends and how all
the liberals get along so well.
I think the peskey interneters should stop all this talk and just take a breath......aaaahhhhhhhh....now I feel better....
Thank you so much...Mssss Mitchell....you really saved my day..I feel so much better!!
Momydearest.....Charlies wife.....
they're getting beat.
August 22, 2007 - 12:51 ET by PKwhenever you hear a call from someone like this mitchell woman for stopping and not being hasty it means:
POUR IT ON
they're getting beat.
C
Nice try Andrea
August 22, 2007 - 13:07 ET by Liberally IneptIs it just me or did Andrea fail to point out that the Drudge headline was showing what we outside the journalistic world refer to as a question mark. This is to infer that it may or may not be a swipe at the Clintons. I guess one just needs to take a deep breath and pay attention to the obvious.
Seriously, the internet users getting scolded by this hack can go about their business and know that everyday, they will always be smarter than this political twit.
Yeah, that's the ticket!!!!
August 22, 2007 - 13:09 ET by CrashNo wonder liberals want to ban firearms. Newsroom producers are forcing anchors to read imaginary non-stories at gunpoint.
"NOW FOR OUR TOP STORIES: AS IT TURNS OUT DENIAL IS A RIVER IN NIGERIA, NOT AFRICA.
MICHAEL VICK IS A SCAPEGOAT AND MICHELLE OBAMA WAS TALKIN' 'BOUT HER MAMMA. WHO COULD NOT BE REACHED FOR COMMENT."
Isn't she a little old to be
August 22, 2007 - 13:17 ET by buddycIsn't she a little old to be a cheerleader? But really it hard to picture her in a cheerleader uniform with pom pons; "Go Hillary go , fight, fight,fight, H I L L A R Y" I could see Lauer in a dress with pom pons but not Mitchell.
Sheri Lewis and Lamb Chop
August 22, 2007 - 14:49 ET by inquiringmindEver notice how Andrea has an uncanny resemblance to Lamb Chop
Lamb Chop look
August 22, 2007 - 16:19 ET by Mica the MagnificentSheri Lewis would be proud.
In Andreas defense . . . If your husband paid more attention to his oatmeal than you, wouldn't you want your plastic surgeon to give you the 'food look' too?
Well of course Michelle
August 22, 2007 - 14:51 ET by msh1973Well of course Michelle Obama was referring to Hillary...give me a break. Now that she said it she just wants the msm to go out and make excuses for her. The left thinks we are so stupid!
What's this? The MSM is
August 23, 2007 - 14:03 ET by KhyrisWhat's this? The MSM is going out of their way to provide CONTEXT and DE-sensationalize a quote?
Of course they'd do it for Obama and Hillary's benefit, just like they did for that Ann Coulter quote about John Edwards being blown up.
Oh wait, double standard much?