ABC's Theme of the Day: Trash GOP Candidates like 'National Distraction' Cain
Thursday was Bash Republicans Day on Good Morning America. Reporter Jon Karl highlighted past Mitt Romney statements to spin the candidate as a flip flopper. In a follow up segment, Democrat James Carville appeared to dismiss Herman Cain as a "national distraction" and urge Rick Perry to drop out of the race.
Stephanopoulos, a former Democratic operative and longtime friend of Carville, offered his colleague free rein. Carville excoriated an ad featuring Cain's campaign manager smoking. He berated, "I saw him smoking a cigarette. If that guy wasn't drunk, I haven't taken a drink in my life. He was as high as he could be." (It should be pointed out that, just ten days ago, Pew Research found that Barack Obama was getting far worse coverage than any of his Republican rivals.) [MP3 audio here. Video can be downloaded here.]
Carville decreed it impossible for Cain to get the nomination: "I mean, what he is, he's a national distraction, maybe not a bad one in the middle of this horrific recession."
Of Perry, Carville fumed that the Governor Should go "back to Texas," adding, "He can't debate. He can't give a speech. He can't hold a position paper. He can't go on television."
In a previous segment, Karl highlighted Romney flip flops on abortion and one yesterday in which he refused to endorse an Ohio ballot initiative, then declared he was "110 percent" behind it.
Karl marveled, "From no position to 110 percent in favor in less than 24 hours."
Certainly, the issue of Romney and flip flops is fair game, but what about the President's failure to close Guantanamo Bay and other position switches?
Since August 1st, GMA has had only two GOP presidential candidates on the show. (Herman Cain October 12th and Rick Perry October 14th.) This is the same number of times TV personality Carville has guested.
Clearly, GMA isn't as interested in running down the Democrats 2012 chances.
A transcript of the October 27 segment, which aired at 7:11am EDT, follows:
Story Continues Below Ad ↓7:11
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: That is for sure. I'm sure he's not the only one who found it hilarious. Let's see what James Carville thinks. I want to get to that ad in a second, James. But, let's begin with Mitt Romney. The flip-flopping charge is back. You see Rick Perry hitting him on it. You see the Obama campaign hitting him on it. Is this the single biggest hurdle between him and the nomination?
JAMES CARVILLE: I don't even know if there's a hurdle left. But, yes, the man is a serial wind sock. I mean, anytime you turn around, it's something else. And once he uses any kind of adjective in front of it, you know he's getting ready to flip-flop. So, if he's very committee to it, that means he's going to change positions. And if he's 110 percent for something, that means that he's changing positions.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But, you said something at the beginning there. You think there might be nothing standing between him and the nomination?
CARVILLE: I don't think so. I can't imagine. I mean, Rick Perry's completely blown himself up. There's zero chance that Herman Cain will be the nominee. Unless, the only thing I can see is the Republicans just don't like him enough that he can't accumulate half the delegates as he goes through this, that these candidates keep going and become such an irritant that he can't close the deal. But, that's almost impossible to imagine.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But, you see Rick Perry trying to come back this week. He has the 20 flat tax. We talked about it the other day. He also seemed to step in a little bit, by at first questioning, whether President Obama's birth certificate is authentic, seeming to question it.
CARVILLE: You know, the best thing Rick Perry can do for himself and his friends and family is just get out of the race and go back to Texas. This man is evidently not up to this. He had plenty of chances to do it. He can't debate. He can't give a speech. He can't hold a position paper. He can't go on television.
STEPHANOPOULOS: He has got $15 million in the bank, James.
CARVILLE: George, he can have $150 million in the bank. He is incapable of running for president. He can't do the things that are necessary for running for president. He's behind Newt Gingrich in the polls now. He's just in something that he should never have gotten into. He's in over his head. It's not just evident to me. It's evident to 95 percent of the Republicans in the country.
STEPHANOPOULOS: And no one else is getting in this race?
CARVILLE: I can't- Maybe. I don't know what's going to happen. If Romney just is able to go over 50 percent, I guess there's nothing to stop him. But there's great resistance. Every time you see these polls, Romney can't get above 25 percent. They don't want to be for Romney. It's perfectly clear. Everybody goes up. Everybody goes down. Romney stays the same.
STEPHANOPOULOS: They do seem to want to be for Herman Cain. I want to ask you about that, because he's right behind Romney in all those polls. We saw the ad, showing his campaign manager smoking earlier this week. I saw one person call it postmodern genius. Others think it's amateur hour. Where do you come down?
CARVILLE: I come down on the fact, I saw him smoking a cigarette. If that guy wasn't drunk, I haven't taken a drink in my life. He was as high as he could be. I mean- It wasn't just- he was drunk or stoned. Some kind of chemical in him. I guarantee you that. It's, like, funny. And Herman Cain says funny things. Herman Cain is not going to be the Republican nomination [sic] for president. I mean, what he is, he's a national distraction, maybe not a bad one in the middle of this horrific recession. But let's be real. Rose [sic] Douthat. I'm probably pronouncing the name wrong.
STEPHANOPOULOS: New York Times.
CARVILLE: He said- I thought it was the smartest thing anybody's said. He said, "Sherlock Holmes told Watson, 'When you eliminate the impossible, all you left with is the improbable." Hello, Mitt! I mean, that's where we are.
STEPHANOPOULOS: I'll put you down as a vote for armature hour then, James. Thanks for coming on.
CARVILLE: There you go.
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Comments
Carville the baldheaded
Submitted by LAM SON 719 on Thu, 10/27/2011 - 12:41pm.
Carville the baldheaded freak, what happened to forty years of wandering? Is the campaign manager running for office office? Better to have a smoking campaign manager than a murderer attrorney general.
Isn't "Bash Republicans Day" like "Children's Day?"
Submitted by gopcongress on Thu, 10/27/2011 - 12:42pm.
Remember as a kid, you said, "There's a Mother's Day and a Father's Day. Why isn't there a Children's Day?" The answer of course was, "EVERY day is Children's Day!"
Same for "Bash Republicans Day." EVERY day celebrates this media mantra!
"The news and truth are not the same thing." -Walter Lippmann (1889-1974) FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER
How dare he!
Submitted by CobraMan on Thu, 10/27/2011 - 1:19pm.
"I mean, what he is, he's a national distraction, maybe not a bad one in the middle of this horrific recession."
How dare Cain distract American away from important things, like Obama's reelection campaign!
By the way, I thought you told us that the recession was over and that Obama's policies were, you know, working? It's nice to see that you are finally admitting that they're not.
"There's zero chance that Herman Cain will be the nominee."
James, maybe you should stick to your own advice: "But I'd rather not predict. I'd rather affect."
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.
Obama and Dimocrats....
Submitted by gailannr on Thu, 10/27/2011 - 2:25pm.
FOOL ME ONCE SHAME ON YOU.....FOOL ME TWICE SHAME ON YOU!!!! Stop trying to fool us, we're not buying it anymore. Liars, Liars, your pants are on fire!!!!
Budgets do not come from the White House. They come from Congress, and the party that controlled Congress since January 2007 is the Democrat Party. They controlled the budget process for FY 2008 and FY 2009, as well as FY 2010 and FY 2011. In that first year, they had to contend with George Bush, which caused them to compromise on spending, when Bush somewhat belatedly got tough on spending increases.
For FY 2009 though, Pelosi & Reid bypassed George Bush entirely, passing continuing resolutions to keep government running until Obama could take office. At that time, they passed a massive omnibus spending bill to complete the FY 2009 budgets.
And where was Obama during this time? He was a member of that very Congress that passed all of these massive spending bills, and he signed the omnibus bill as President to complete FY 2009 . Let's remember what the deficits looked like during that period:
If the Democrats inherited any deficit, it was the FY 2007 deficit, the last of the Republican budgets . That deficit was the lowest in five years , and the fourth straight decline in deficit spending. After that, Democrats in Congress took control of spending, and that includes Barrack Obama , who voted for the budgets. If Obama inherited anything, he inherited it from himself.
In a nutshell, what Obama is saying is I inherited a deficit that I voted for and then I voted to expand that deficit four-fold since January 20th, 2009.
There is no way this will be widely publicized, Unless each of us sends it on! This is your chance to make a difference.
National Distraction?
Submitted by KyWriter on Thu, 10/27/2011 - 1:32pm.
These two bloviating clowns are a national embarassment.
Based on the Dem's assessments, Obama will sweep
Submitted by gopcongress on Thu, 10/27/2011 - 2:17pm.
It's a done deal. Obama is gonna sweep all 57 (actually, 58) states as well as France and Libya when the GOP nominee comes out of this cesspool of conservative bickering.
"The news and truth are not the same thing." -Walter Lippmann (1889-1974) FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER
Where to begin...
Submitted by Djinn1975 on Thu, 10/27/2011 - 3:46pm.
Stephie and Jimbo the dumbass cajun. I can see why old dumbo gumbo says a nomination would be impossible, he can't imagine a conservative black! Imagine his disbelief when Cain not only gets the nomination, but whips Ø's ass like a red-headed Carter in the election.
I said it months ago when Romney announced he was running. Why would we even think about the same guy that couldn't get past McCain? Then I got that fresh churning bile duct taste in my mouth when Santorum fizzled, and it was looking like Romney was the only one with his head located outside his rectum.
Then Perry came along and provided some temporary relief until he blew both of his legs and feet off with his immigration non-sense.
Can you not see the strategy here? Spotlight the pedestal for the candidate easiest to beat and whom you want to run against, Romney, crucify them post nomination (see McCain '08,) and trivialize the candidate you are terrified of, Cain. We've seen it before, let's not make the same MSM induced coma of a nomination again.
If I could get Cain to add one thing to a pretty good campaign, it would be on immigration. Border fence, check, allow border patrol personnel to do their duty, check, E-verify, check, add deportation of ANY and ALL illegal immigrants incarcerated, arrested, or found in violation of U.S. law (being here illegally immediately qualifies as a violation,) and in '12 you would see a landslide winner that would make Carter's '80 beating look like a game of patty cake.
As far as I'm concerned Foreign Policy is a non-issue at this point, it is something that can be fairly quickly learned. Stoopid in chief's FP is an absolute disaster, so I see it going nowhere but up in that department.
In summary, it's looking like Cain for me thus far.