On MSNBC’s The Place for Politics April 8, a panel discussion about Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton’s fighting devolved into one MSNBC journalist praising Hillary Clinton as “qualified” as Thomas Jefferson to run for President.
Host Andrea Mitchell asked MSNBC correspondent Joy Reid what she thought about Bernie Sanders’ shot that Hillary Clinton wasn’t “qualified” to be President of the United States.
Expressing surprise that anyone would doubt Clinton’s credibility, Reid stated:
If you look at Hillary Clinton's qualifications, I mean, my God, since the Founding Fathers, has anyone tried run for president with more on their resume?
Host Andrea Mitchell offered, “John Quincy Adams, maybe.” Reid conceded:
Maybe John Quincy Adams, True, true, true, Jefferson, Adams, I mean you have to go back literally to the 18th century to find somebody with a more packed resume than Hillary Clinton.
Reid’s comment hearkens back to actress Ashley Judd’s statement in 2015 than Clinton was the most “overqualified candidate we've had since Thomas Jefferson or George Washington.”
Reid later qualified that Sanders most likely meant that Clinton’s financial ties made her “morally” unqualified.
See the full transcript from MSNBC’s The Place for Politics April 8 below:
ANDREA MITCHELL: And joining me now for our daily fix, Chris Cillizza, MSNBC contributor, founder of The Washington Post ‘Fix’ blog; Joy Reid, MSNBC national correspondent and Politico's Glenn Thrush. Welcome all.
MITCHELL: So this is a lot of what's in the eye of the beholder. A number of women, Claire McCaskill, memorably on the program yesterday said it really hit her hard. Bill Clinton just saying that he didn't mean to be, but that it does seem to be a double standard for women. Joy, what is your takeaway?
JOY REID: If you look at Hillary Clinton's qualifications, I mean, my God, since the founding fathers, has anyone tried run for president with more on their resume?
MITCHELL: John Quincy Adams maybe
REID: Maybe John Quincy Adams, True, true, true, Jefferson, Adams, I mean you have to go back literally to the 18th century to find somebody with a more packed resume than Hillary Clinton. And I think that you did have shades of that when she first ran because of this idea that a former first lady is sort of, de facto not as qualified to be president but I don’t think that is what is in play now, I think that this is more of Bernie Sanders tripling down on the idea that her connection to big money, the fact that she's connected to any kind of big money or big business makes her morally unqualified and corrupt. And that's a different problematic argument.Because it draws in people like, I don’t know, Barack Obama? So I think that is the real problem and also just on its face, absurd to say she's not qualified. I think those are the two problems for Bernie Sanders.
