Barbour Warns Perry: A Conservative, Christian, Southern Republican Like You Will Be 'Nitpicked' by Liberal Media
When NBC's Andrea Mitchell, on Friday, asked Haley Barbour if Rick Perry had to "clean up his language?" the former head of the RNC brushed back the host of MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Reports by subtly accusing her of engaging in typical liberal media tricks.
The current Mississippi governor warned his fellow Republican to be prepared to be "nitpicked by the liberal media elite" because "When you are a conservative, Christian Southerner, Republican, you have to expect that."
(video after the jump)
The following is the relevant exchange as it was aired on the August 19 edition of MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Reports:
ANDREA MITCHELL: Do you think that Rick Perry has to clean up his language? Karl Rove said that what he said about Ben Bernanke is not presidential. Others and also Bob McDonnell, who succeeded Rick Perry as head of the Governors, the Republican Governors Association was on with me this week and said that he doesn't agree that President Obama may not love his country. He said that he thinks that President Obama is a patriot. What about Rick Perry refusing to say that he believes President Obama loves the country?
HALEY BARBOUR: I think Rick Perry has to get prepared for the fact that he's going to be nitpicked by the liberal media elite for everything that he says. And that he has to be very careful because anything that he says that can be taken out of context will be taken out of context. When you are a conservative, Christian Southerner, Republican, you have to expect that.
MITCHELL: Governor, with all due respect, it isn't the liberal media that's taken on Rick Perry. We're talking about Karl Rove, we're talking about Bob McDonnell. We're talking about a lot of mainstream and conservative Republicans, John Podhoretz, who say that what he said about the Fed and Ben Bernanke and the President's patriotism was not appropriate, was not presidential.
BARBOUR: But as a candidate for president - my point is that Rick Perry as a candidate for president or Haley Barbour if I had run or Mike Huckabee if he had run, every one of us has to be prepared to be nitpicked by the mainstream media and so you've got to run your campaign learning to avoid that.
MITCHELL: Does Rick Perry have to change his language if he wants to become a viable Republican standard-bearer if he gets the nomination?
BARBOUR: I don't take it as offensive to say that we would, we would not treat you nice. But Andrea when you come to Mississippi we treat you nice, because we like you and we're proud to have you down here, but that isn't exactly threatening language to most people. But, he has to understand in a position he's in as I talked about a minute ago, that's gonna be nitpicked. But it could be a good lesson for him. I thought President Obama made a very good point when he was asked about this. He says when you start off running for president you have lessons to learn. And this is a lesson that has to be learned that you're gonna be nitpicked.
MITCHELL: What about saying that printing money is nearly treasonous?
BARBOUR: Well, he is right about the policy. I wouldn't consider it treasonous, because treason is a, is a harsh word. It's actually the only crime that's described in the United States Constitution or defined. But, printing more money is hurting this economy.
MITCHELL: I'm not, not I'm not debating the policy - I'm just talking about language. About, talking about a capital crime, treason in the context of debating monetary policy.
BARBOUR: He is right on the policy. I would not have used that terminology. And I don't think it's the right terminology. But he is right about the policy.
MITCHELL: What about the whole question of secession when he said, actually proposed in his last campaign talking about succeeding from the nation. He joked about it today. Do you think that, that is an issue that might follow him around and is that appropriate for someone who's running to be President of the United States?
BARBOUR: If somebody thought he was saying that seriously a couple years ago, that would be one thing. But everybody knew then he was joking about it. My comment when I was asked about it, we already tried that once. Didn't work. We're not going to try that again. Rick Perry no more meant that in a serious vein than the man in the moon. However, he's gonna get nitpicked because he's the governor of Texas. Because the liberal media elite dislike George Bush so much and he reminds them of him. And as I say, conservative, Christian, Republican, Southerner he needs to understand he doesn't have the liberty to say things loosely that somebody else might.
MITCHELL: Governor, my sources tell me that leading Republicans including Mitch Daniels, Jeb Bush and others are concerned. They don't, -- they're not in love with Mitt Romney. They think Rick Perry may not be ready for prime time. They're not in love with Michele Bachmann. They're still talking about Paul Ryan or somebody else. Do you think Paul Ryan or anybody else will be in the field or is this the field? And do you have any, do you share any of those concerns that I've been told are real among other Republicans?
BARBOUR: I haven't heard that from any of them. I hear it from the news media all the time. However, I don't think that the field is necessarily filled out. I mean Rick Perry just got in about a week ago and has made quite a splash which would indicate that there's room for others.
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Comments
Every GOP candidate...
Submitted by E.S.Blofeld on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 2:28pm.
...every politician, for that matter, will be nitpicked for ratings. The media wants conflict for ratings boosts. The advertisers will pay for conflict. This isn't about being journalists. It's about conflict. The population wants a brawl, a fight that draws blood. It's just chum in the water. Distractions from the real issues at hand. Why worry about the economy when it's more important to watch a new "Scopes" trial? I don't care about the creationist vs scientist debate when the economy is in shambles. It's about getting people to work again. Having people with ideas creating jobs with a business plan. There's more government service employees than there are manufacturing jobs. It's time to "getter done"!
Ernst
"Isn't it pretty to think that way?"-EH
In the Fifties, during the
Submitted by robert108 on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 2:35pm.
In the Fifties, during the civil rights movement's peak, legendary comedian Lenny Bruce said: "If you want to see real prejudice, speak in a Southern accent." It's still true.
Secession or Succession?
Submitted by Caringwhiteguy on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 2:41pm.
Barbour was right. People on the right have to be very careful what they say or write because they are going to be nitpicked.
And one of those liberal media nitpickers was the host . . .
Submitted by Galvanic on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 2:42pm.
. . . Andrea Mitchell. Barbour's assessment is correct. The MSM will attempt to wrap him in the racist, secessionist, government-destroying image they have already begun to mold for him.
And she perfectly illustrated the point.
Submitted by WhoIsJohnGalt on Sat, 08/20/2011 - 9:39am.
The way she sidestepped every candidate's stance on every issue and every policy proposal by essentially saying, "See? Even the Bushes don't think much of the Republican candidates, don't they suck?"
IOW......"Andrea....
Submitted by Blonde on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 2:47pm.
Shut up and quit nit-picking the way he speaks.
Good grief, these questions are entirely too predictable. Didn't acknowledge any of her liberal talking points.
I only wish he'd ask her how Perry's language is so incendiary when democrats are calling republicans, AND REPUBLICAN VOTERS, "terrorists and hostage takers".
Handy Reference Guide to Obama's Gaffes and Goofs ~ Currently Numbering 200 (and Counting)
Andrea Mitchell
Submitted by davebrik on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 2:51pm.
Andrea Mitchell is married to Alan Greenspan. She shouldn't be interviewing anybody and her hubby should be in jail!!!
They said it, you repeat it, again and again.
Submitted by CobraMan on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 3:09pm.
"Governor, with all due respect, it isn't the liberal media that's taken on Rick Perry. We're talking about Karl Rove, we're talking about Bob McDonnell. We're talking about a lot of mainstream and conservative Republicans, John Podhoretz, who say that what he said about the Fed and Ben Bernanke and the President's patriotism was not appropriate, was not presidential."
They said it, but who's repeating it incessantly in public? That would be YOU, Andrea! It's the Liberal media who's making this into some kind of controversy. Those people expressed their opinion, and left it at that. YOU, and others like yourself, are trying to keep it alive a long as possible, for obvious reasons.
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.
Mitchell: "with all due
Submitted by Beukeboom on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 3:42pm.
Mitchell: "with all due respect"
I fail to see Andrea Mitchell giving respect to conservatives.
Separated at birth?
Submitted by Galvanic on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 3:35pm.
Hayley Barbour and William Shatner.
Looks, yes...
Submitted by Rukus on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 8:24pm.
Ideology, not so much. My guv is conservative, Kirk... not so much.
X
Submitted by serfer62 on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 3:43pm.
The MFM & DC Elitist have so distorted media that the alternate media will
be the source of referance
Notice how the Mitchell does
Submitted by deerjerkydave on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 5:51pm.
Notice how Mitchell does her duty as an Obamatron and paints a picture of inadequate Republican candidates? Their job is to smear and disqualify all Republicans before the gates have even opened on this race. I will take Romney or Perry over Obama any day of the week. They at least know what it's like to create jobs instead of destroy them.
------------------------
"The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the Federal Government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State Governments are numerous and indefinite. -James MadisonMitchell
Submitted by grammajane on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 6:41pm.
And Mitchell is elite for what reason??? Elite= success and what success have any of these "hosts" on the media had? Have seen/heard numerous apologising, unexpected vacations and a few getting the boot. Does this equal what elite is all about.
"Elite"
Submitted by Chris Norman on Sat, 08/20/2011 - 12:57am.
Andrea is "elite" only because, like all liberals in her position, she sees herself as "elite" - that is, more "intelligent", "sophisticated", "enlightened" and "caring" than the "little people" - especially conservatives (who, to them, are just "knuckle-dragging hillbillies").
What truly baffles me...
Submitted by stage9 on Sat, 08/20/2011 - 12:36am.
is the fact that so many people act as though our nation has never had any ties whatsoever to Christianity, and to align oneself with it today is utterly bizarre and foreign.
It makes me wonder if some of these sanctimonious secularists have perhaps woken up in the wrong century and under the wrong flag! Perhaps they were transplanted here under heavy sedation by secret police from the former Soviet Union! Have any of them NEVER studied American History? Our Founding Fathers were extremely overt in their expressions of Faith in Jesus Christ and the Word of God. Even the CONGRESS of the United States has gone on record saying:
"The great, vital, and conservative element in our system is the belief of our people in the pure doctrines and the divine truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ." -- Congress 1854;
(Journal of the House of the Representatives of the United States of America (Washington, DC: Cornelius Wendell, 1855), 34th Cong., 1st Sess., p. 354, January 23, 1856; see also: Lorenzo D. Johnson, Chaplains of the General Government With Objections to their Employment Considered (New York: Sheldon, Blakeman & Co., 1856), p. 35, quoting from the House Journal, Wednesday, January 23, 1856, and B. F. Morris, The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States (Philadelphia: George W. Childs, 1864), p. 328.)
Congress also said this:
"Had the people, during the Revolution, had a suspicion of any attempt to war against Christianity, that Revolution would have been strangled in its cradle... In this age, there can be no substitute for Christianity... That was the religion of the founders of the republic and they expected it to remain the religion of their descendants." -- Congress, U. S. House Judiciary Committee, 1854
(Reports of Committees of the House of Representatives Made During the First Session of the Thirty-Third Congress (Washington: A. O. P. Nicholson, 1854), pp. 6-9.)
"[T]he Christian religion – its general principles – must ever be regarded among us as the foundation of civil society." -- Daniel Webster ( US Senator; Secreatary of State; Defender of the Constitution)
(Daniel Webster, Mr. Webster’s Speech in Defence of the Christian Ministry and in Favor of the Religious Instruction of the Young. Delivered in the Supreme Court of the United States, February 10, 1844, in the Case of Stephen Girard’s Will (Washington: Printed by Gales and Seaton, 1844), p. 41.)
THE HORRORS!
As a matter of fact, if I were to list it all here, the evidence would be so voluminous regarding the indispensable relationship Christianity had upon the lives of the Founding Fathers, that to deny it would be utterly vacuous!
"If God is dead, somebody is going to have to take his place. It will be megalomania or erotomania, the drive for power or the drive for pleasure, the clenched fist or the phallus, Hitler or Hugh Hefner." — Malcolm Muggeridge
Stage9
Submitted by Prisondog1776 on Sat, 08/20/2011 - 1:12am.
Great post. You are absolutely correct that our Nation was founded upon Christianity.
Time out...
Submitted by humanzee on Sat, 08/20/2011 - 2:00am.
Perry shouldn't hold back that much. One of the things going for Perry is his ability to be a firebrand, the ability to convey passion. He can speak to people in simple English and convey an idea with gusto.
He can't hold out so much that he can't go on the offensive against Obama. He can't turn into an apologetic weak kneed Republican. 2012 is not about being nice, it's about being mean. Obama has a huge machine behind him, it's going to take a ferocious campaign to take him out of the White House.
If he says something a little bit too incendiary, he should NOT apologize. He should take that cue from Ron Paul. If what you say matches with your ideology, don't apologize. Don't send the message you second guess yourself or you don't believe what you sell.
America has been fed BS for years now. No one has BS'ed the American public more than Barack Obama. Time for Perry to dish out some naked truth, go on the offensive, stir up some passion in the base, wake up the troops, etc.
No "yes we can" chants borrowed from "Mexican-American" pro-illegal alien activists with my-little-pony fantasies about immigration. No liberal "Care Bear" slogans. No peace pipes. No compliments for the president. Show no weakness.
Just Another Day in the Liberal Mind
Submitted by cobokat on Sat, 08/20/2011 - 6:41am.
Please take note all Conservative, Republican and Tea Party members...You CANNOT go on CNN, MSNBC or any other mainstream liberal media networms, uh, I mean networks unless you are ready for a total assault. Look what Chrissy did to Reince Preibus??!! He barely gave him a chance to answer the questions. Just don't go! I'm also sick of all these liberal hacks asking if BO is a patriot! If they have to ask then they've answered their own question.
So.....
Submitted by Barack Must Go on Sat, 08/20/2011 - 7:56am.
So.....
msnbc-DNC
Submitted by Scott Trent on Sat, 08/20/2011 - 8:17am.
Andrea Mitchell, LAPDOG to the Socialists!
Nitpicked?
Submitted by misterbee241 on Sat, 08/20/2011 - 10:56am.
I'm thinking the term is more like crucified.