Nicolle Wallace, former Communications Director for President George W. Bush and current co-host of the View, appeared on the syndicated show Wendy Wednesday afternoon to talk about her new gig as well as her career in Republican politics.
During the interview, Wallace, who spends much of her time criticizing her fellow Republicans, endorsed the idea of Hillary Clinton running for president in 2016. The former Bush staffer declared that she was a “huge fan of the idea of a Hillary Clinton candidacy.”
The self-described Republican continued to promote a potential Hillary run for the White House:
Anything can happen and a lot of Democratic women that I know want to rehash some of this Lewinsky stuff. They still have questions about how she could have stood by Bill during that…So Monica Lewinsky’s becoming public again, Hillary Clinton’s going to run again after her unsuccessful big eight years ago. I think Hillary will be an incredibly strong candidate and I think it will be really, really, hopefully it will inspire my party to put up someone really great.
Earlier in the segment, Wallace was asked about her relationship with Sarah Palin and host Wendy Williams eagerly asked her if “there a time when you lost faith in Sarah Palin as a future president?” Unsurprisingly, the View co-host jumped at the opportunity to once again challenge Palin’s qualifications to be John McCain’s running mate:
There was a moment shortly after I met her where I realized that she realized that she was in over her head. And just watching her sort of shrink under the enormity and the scrutiny and the hot bright lights of our national political process.
As the anti-Palin discussion progressed, Williams brought up Sarah Palin’s interview with then-CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric, giving Wallace another opportunity to criticize Palin:
Well, I think she was really disappointed with the way she was being handled by the entire staff. And I think I was a fair scapegoat. I was part of, I was one of a very small circle of people helping her. And the decisions in hindsight weren’t good ones for her. I mean she didn’t look good.
So it was fair to be mad at a staff person that’s your job. You know, as I said before the politicians are the ones putting themselves and their families through it. And it’s the staffers’ job to help you through that. But there’s nothing you can do as a staffer when you sort of lose the confidence of the principle and that’s what happened through the course of the Couric interview.
Wallace never explained why she and the rest of Palin’s staff allowed her to participate in a two-part interview with the liberal Katie Couric if they thought she wasn’t prepared. Given that she admitted to not voting in the 2008 presidential election, one wonders if the former Bush official was ever truly invested in helping Palin be an effective vice presidential candidate.
Wallace’s attack on Palin is nothing new as she has repeatedly used her platform on the View to let people know that she gets more joy attacking conservatives than from defending them. Last month, she trashed Sarah Palin following a family fight at a Palin family party. On the September 22 episode of the View, Wallace quickly jumped to President Obama’s defense over his ISIS strategy and insisted that he was “deadly serious” about defeating the terrorist group.
See relevant transcript below.
Wendy
October 22, 2014
WENDY WILLIAMS: Now, before you became a part of The View, but after the White House, and I’ve seen you a few times on Morning Joe, you’re a talking head.
NICOLLE WALLACE: Yes.
WILLIAMS: But did you have a steady job with benefits and stuff?
WALLACE: No. My husband saw me go through the 2008 campaign cycle. We did it together for Sarah Palin and John McCain. It ended disastrously and afterward I really wanted to do something different so I started writing novels and I imagined a fictional female president in my head. And people ask me all the time if the books are true. And I’m like no we haven’t had a real female president.
WILLIAMS: Was there a time when you lost faith in Sarah Palin as a future president?
WALLACE: Yeah—
WILLAMS: Even though you worked for her?
WALLACE: Yeah and there was a moment shortly after I met her where I realized that she realized that she was in over her head. And just watching her sort of shrink under the enormity and the scrutiny and the hot bright lights of our national political process. I feel like, if there’s one thing I can say on The View, one thing I can’t say enough, it’s that we should be happy when anyone wants to go into politics. We are really hard on our politicians and we should be happy when people want to jump in and do that.
WILLIAMS: Yeah. I know you worked very closely with her.
WALLACE: Yeah.
WILLIAMS: Is she a crier?
WALLACE: No, I’ve seen George Bush cry more often than I ever saw—no she wasn’t a crier.
WILLIAMS: When Sarah interviewed with Katie Couric, you remember the famous question, what newspapers do you read? And Sarah Palin had nothing to say.
WALLACE: Yeah.
WILLIAMS: After that, does she come off stage and throw a shoe at you because you were supposed to tell her that?
WALLACE: That was the second part, Katie did the interview in multiple parts. So Sarah Palin was already angry at me and was no longer speaking to me because of the first part which was where they’d done a sit-down and it had not gone very well Sarah Palin’s perspective.
WILLIAMS: Yeah but with politicians they don’t give you a list of questions that they’re going to ask. Politicians are supposed to think off their feet so why would she blame you? Because she had to blame somebody?
WALLACE: Well, I think she was really disappointed with the way she was being handled by the entire staff. And I think I was a fair scapegoat. I was part of, I was one of a very small circle of people helping her. And the decisions in hindsight weren’t good ones for her. I mean she didn’t look good. So it was fair to be mad at a staff person that’s your job. You know, as I said before the politicians are the ones putting themselves and their families through it. And it’s the staffers’ job to help you through that. But there’s nothing you can do as a staffer when you sort of lose the confidence of the principle and that’s what happened through the course of the Couric interview.
----
WENDY WILLIAMS: Now do you think that Hillary will run for president?
NICOLLE WALLACE: Well I think it’s so interesting that this question comes after Monica because I do think Hillary will run. I’m a huge fan of the idea of a Hillary Clinton candidacy. I’m really interested in seeing how she handles the gender issue because I think she’s learned a lot since last time. But I think politics is the ultimate—
WILLIAMS: Sexism.
WALLACE: See this is when my political nerd comes out. Sexism, but it’s the ultimate reality show, right? Anything can happen and a lot of Democratic women that I know want to rehash some of this Lewinsky stuff. They still have questions about how she could have stood by Bill during that. And so I don’t as a Republican---
WILLIAMS: I’m nosey and I don’t care.
WALLACE: Well, I don’t think they care about infidelity but I think it’s an interesting confluence right? So Monica Lewinsky’s becoming public again, Hillary Clinton’s going to run again after her unsuccessful big eight years ago. I think Hillary will be an incredibly strong candidate and I think it will be really, really, hopefully it will inspire my party to put up someone really great.
