With credit to my colleague Brent Baker for spotting this classic case of Andrea Mitchell flashing her liberal bias, the MSNBC host and NBC News correspondent could barely contain her excitement for a Sunday night Hillary Clinton rally that she described as being both “extraordinary” and “magical.”
Host Rachel Maddow tossed to Mitchell just after 9:00 p.m. Eastern on Sunday and Mitchell immediately began fomenting praise for the “extraordinary” gathering in the Granite State following Clinton’s push to “rally the black vote” in Cleveland with LeBron James.
“Anytime they are talking about e-mails and people are thinking about private servers, they are losing the game. They know that there has been damage. They had the momentum over the last nine days just stalled,” Mitchell fretted.
After complaining that the October 28 FBI letter could end up leading to the Republicans maintaining control of the Senate, Mitchell moved back to the positives for Clinton by informing Maddow and Brian Williams she’s in the same place that MSNBC/NBC hold serve in New Hampshire on primary night:
[T]onight, there was a concert here. You know the armory well. This is always our election headquarters on primary nights, you and Brian. This armory is filled. The overflow room is filled. They’ve opened up the door to the ballroom. There are lot of people here. James Taylor played for 45 minutes.
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Mitchell again dropped the “extraordinary” adjective and wondered if Khizr Khan could top James Taylor but “[h]e came and this crowd was on their feet screaming for Khizr Khan with his heartbreaking story about his son and a message against bullying.”
“This has been sort of magical night of staying on message and trying to recapture the momentum going into the final day,” she breathlessly concluded.
The next morning on NBC’s Today, Mitchell boasted of Clinton being “cleared” by the FBI for a second time but once again lamented the “political damage” of the late October news concerning the Weiner laptop.
The relevant portion of the transcript from the 9:00 p.m. Eastern hour of MSNBC’s The Place for Politics 2016 on November 6 can be found below.
MSNBC’s The Place for Politics 2016
November 6, 2016
9:06 p.m. EasternRACHEL MADDOW: Andrea, how's it been tonight in New Hampshire? What's happening there?
ANDREA MITCHELL: It's been extraordinary. I’ve got to tell you, Rachel, first of all, she did not mention the e-mail controversy, as you noted, in her earlier appearance in Cleveland LeBron James, trying to rally the black vote. Their decision is and they’re telling us this. Anytime they are talking about e-mails and people are thinking about private servers, they are losing the game. They know that there has been damage. They had the momentum over the last nine days just stalled and the real damage if she does end up winning, nonetheless, the damage to Republican candidates who now got a lifeline, so the damage is to their Democratic opponents. Kelly Ayotte may well win here in New Hampshire. She was not about to win nine days. The same for Roy Blunt in Missouri. There are real tangible results damaged to Democrats around this country from what happened in the last nine days as you were laying out and tonight, there was a concert here. You know the armory well. This is always our election headquarters on primary nights, you and Brian. This armory is filled. The overflow room is filled. They’ve opened up the door to the ballroom. There are lot of people here. James Taylor played for 45 minutes. It was extraordinary and I thought well, that is so mellow and such a wow, how does Khizr Khan follow that? He came and this crowd was on their feet screaming for Khizr Khan with his heartbreaking story about his son and a message against bullying. This has been sort of magical night of staying on message and trying to recapture the momentum going into the final day.
