On today's Morning Joe, liberal Republican Nicolle Wallace sought to slough off a Politico article reporting that Jeb Bush is losing the influential "Laura Ingraham primary." Claimed Wallace, who served as Jeb's press secretary when he was governor of Florida, Ingraham "hates everybody. She always hates the Republicans more than the Democrats at this point, too."
Wallace even suggested that Ingraham's criticism of McCain [for whom Wallace also worked] and Romney contributed to their defeats: "will we ever wonder what effect that has in the outcome; both guys lost? Do we think it's good to cheer down our own side? I just wish we spent as much time cheering against the Democrats."
Apparently Wallace would prefer that Republicans fall in line behind her preferred candidate. Not gonna happen. And if there's anyone not in a position to complain about Republicans attacking their own rather than going after Democrats, it's Nicolle Wallace, as the archive of Newsbusters items on Wallace amply documents.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Mike, this morning you have a look at the real Republican primaries. I'll jump to this at the bottom. We'll get to this in a second but the dreaded "who do you want to have a beer with" primary. I can't wait to hear about that. But what are all of these primaries?JOE SCARBOROUGH: Yeah, what are all these primaries? You start with the Laura Ingraham primary.
BRZEZINSKI: What?
MIKA ALLEN: Right. And who's not winning it is Jeb Bush. This is a great piece by Politico magazine by your [Wallace's] former colleague, Matt Latimer, speech writer for President Bush. And he's saying: step back from Iowa and New Hampshire and look at the primaries that are going on under way right now. So Laura Ingraham on her radio show, we basically know she hates Jeb. I was on with her the other day --
NICOLLE WALLACE: She always hates everybody. She hates everybody.
ALLEN: Your other former boss --
WALLACE: Make a list. She always hates the Republicans more than the Democrats at this point, too, which is what I find the most alarming.
BRZEZINSKI: Really?
ALLEN: She's kind of sweet on that cuddly, that cuddly Ted Cruz.
WALLACE: Yeah, yeah.
SCARBOROUGH: I will say though you go back to 2008 though, it wasn't just Laura Ingraham, it was also Hannity, it was Rush, and quite frankly it was me and a lot of people cheering against your boss at the time, John McCain, and then it went to 2012 and it was the same group worried about Mitt Romney, including myself.
WALLACE: And will we ever wonder what effect that has on the outcome, both guys lost? Do we think it's good to cheer down our own side? I just wish we spent as much time cheering against the Democrats.
