NBC's Todd Cites 'Very Smart' WH Aide Claiming With Today's GOP 'There'd Still Be Slavery'

Appearing on Monday's MSNBC Morning Joe, NBC chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd shared some inside information: "So I threw the Lincoln analogy at a close aide to the President last week, and he said, 'You know, with this Republican – with the way politics of Washington are today, there'd still be slavery.' That Lincoln wouldn't have been able to navigate the polarization..." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]

Rather than dismiss such a nasty partisan attack, Todd observed: "It was an interesting and depressing observation from this very smart White House aide."

[Thanks to MRCTV's Bob Parks for creating the video]

Todd was prompted to reveal the news as left-wing Time columnist Joe Klein compared the fiscal cliff negotiations in Congress to the vote to end slavery: "...there are going to be politicians who are going to have to be bought the way Abraham Lincoln bought politicians with jobs when he got the 13th Amendment passed."

Hoping to please Klein, Todd interjected: "Hey, Joe...you're gonna like this." As soon as Todd described the Obama aide saying slavery would still exist due to Republicans, Klein started laughing.

Here is a transcript of the December 3 exchange:

7:27AM ET

(...)

JOE KLEIN: You know, there are going to be politicians who are going to have to be bought the way Abraham Lincoln bought politicians with jobs when he got the 13th Amendment passed. You know, and certainly for a long-term deal. Having said that, let me also say, I'm not so sure we're going to get a long-term deal here. We may just go off the cliff and vote for some tax reductions right after January 1st. But then again, no one knows.

CHUCK TODD: Hey, Joe, you're gonna – you're gonna like this. So I threw the Lincoln analogy at a close aide to the President last week, and he said, "You know, with this Republican – with the way politics of Washington are today, there'd still be slavery."

[KLEIN LAUGHS]

That Lincoln wouldn't have been able to navigate the polarization between the media, between this. It was an interesting and depressing observation from this very smart White House aide.

(...)