Cokie Roberts Flip-Flops on Sunday’s ‘Disaster For Democrats’ Remark

Remember when Cokie Roberts said on Sunday’s “This Week” on ABC that a Ned Lamont victory in Connecticut would be a “Disaster for the Democratic Party” not once, but twice as reported by NewsBusters here? Well, on Monday, in an interview on NPR with Steve Inskeep (audio link here, hat tip to American Thinker), she reversed her position -- or what many conservatives like to refer to as a “flip-flop” -- and said that this “is going to be hard for all incumbents, but it's especially hard for the party in power.”

That would be the Republicans, wouldn’t it? Inskeep, maybe aware of what Roberts said on Sunday, then asked: “Well, what happens to the Democrats if Lieberman loses and he keeps a promise to run as an Independent if he loses?”

Not taking the bait, Roberts said: “Well, many say that his support will, if he loses by a lot, that his support will dry up and his money will dry up. And prominent Democrats who have supported Lieberman, some of them said they'll support whomever is the Democratic nominee.”

Hmmm. Compare and contrast that to what she said roughly 24 hours before in her second such reference:

[I]t's also no accident that Bill Clinton is the only Democrat who has been elected president for two terms since Franklin Roosevelt, because he was a Democrat in the middle from the south with a very strong acquaintanceship with scripture. All of that and I think you start, you know, talking about the liberal blogs and all that taking over the party and it will be a disaster.

What a difference a Monday makes, huh? What follows is a full transcript of this segment.

ROBERTS: Well, that's right. The Connecticut primary tomorrow and this situation are very different. One is personal behavior, the other is a public policy debate. But what they have in common is what that voter you just heard in Brian Naylor's piece say, which is, it's time for a change.And Ned Lamont, Joe Lieberman's challenger in Connecticut has not just been attacking Lieberman's record on the war, but he talks about the whole way business is done in Washington. And if Lieberman loses tomorrow, as many people think he might do, then that message is going to be heard very, very loud and clear here - that people are ready for change. And that is going to be hard for all incumbents, but it's especially hard for the party in power. And you can certainly expect to see a lot of scrambling when the Congress comes back into session after the summer break, trying to find ways to appeal to the voters, to show them that, really, they're good guys after all. And all of that becomes somewhat chaotic.

INSKEEP: Well, what happens to the Democrats if Lieberman loses and he keeps a promise to run as an Independent if he loses?

ROBERTS: Well, many say that his support will, if he loses by a lot, that his support will dry up and his money will dry up. And prominent Democrats who have supported Lieberman, some of them said they'll support whomever is the Democratic nominee. It's very tempting, though, for Lieberman to stay in because the Republican candidate, Schlesinger, is so weak. You know Connecticut back in 1970, had a preview of this election, where the Democratic anti-Vietnam War nominee Joe Duffey, was challenged by Tom Dodd the incumbent, as an Independent. They succeeded in electing Republican Lowell Weicker by splitting the Democratic vote. Lowell Weicker, by the way, is now supporting Ned Lamont.