Andrea Mitchell took her MSNBC show on the road to Las Vegas on Wednesday to preview the night's Democratic debate. Mitchell and former Hillary Clinton communications director Jennifer Palmieri asserted that the downfall of Elizabeth Warren and the lack of early support for Amy Klobuchar is because of their gender.
Mitchell began by asking about how Bernie Sanders became the frontrunner. After referencing Warren's "collapse," Palmieri declared that collapse was due to Warren being treated unfairly as a woman, "I think -- I think there's -- it's interesting. Why did that happen to Elizabeth Warren? I do think the I think her gender had a lot to-- there's a lot to unpack with how she was treated."
At that point Mitchell interrupted to agree and hype Palmieri's book, Dear Madam President. Palmieri then continued, throwing in a shoutout for her latest book, She Proclaims, "because there's -- there's a lot of questions about that."
She then went to declare that the Democratic primary is looking like it will come down to a "Bernie versus Bloomberg" and that the first year of campaigning didn't matter.
Mitchell picked up the sexism card and played it to hype of Klobuchar's campaign, lamenting that, "It did matter in that Klobuchar, speaking of gender, did not get the attention that a person of her qualifications really deserve. She didn't get that attention on debate stages"
Warren didn't collapse because she's a woman. She collapsed because she has a difficult relationship with the truth and a problem with flip-flopping. As for Klobuchar, she had roughly the same qualifications as Michael Bennet (senators since elected in 2007 and 2009 respectively and not much else) who is no longer in the race and whose campaign never got off the ground. For contrast, Joe Biden's Senate career began in 1973 and Sanders got his start in the House in 1991.
An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released on Tuesday stated that only 14% of voters would have an issue with female candidates. And these are feminist Democrats!
Here is a transcript for the February 19 show:
MSNBC
Andrea Mitchell Reports12:54 PM ET
JENNIFER PALMIERI: Bernie Sanders is the prohibitive frontrunner and it’s going to be very hard to stop him. That's the truth.
ANDREA MITCHELL: Is this partly because the moderates are fractured, and that Elizabeth Warren, the progressive competitor against Bernie Sanders, pretty much collapsed in New Hampshire?
PALMIERI: And yeah, I think -- I think there's -- it's interesting why did that happen to Elizabeth Warren? I do think the I think her gender had a lot to-- there's a lot to unpack with how she was treated.MITCHELL: That goes back to your book and--
PALMIERI: And another one that I’ve written, because there's -- there's a lot of questions about that. But I know she has a chance to shine tonight. She's good on the debate stage. She's trying to be the progressive that can unify the party. And then Klobuchar and Pete are going to try to make their arguments about why they're America's last best hope, but it is, it’s, I feel like we're just on a trajectory of Bernie versus Bloomberg. It's almost as if the first year of the Democratic Primary –
MITCHELL: Didn’t matter
PALMIERI : Didn't happen. Yeah.
MITCHELL: It did matter in that Klobuchar, speaking of gender, did not get the attention that a person of her qualifications really deserve. She didn't get that attention on debate stages. She didn't get the money, and now for Klobuchar, and even Buttigieg who’s done better in online fundraising, to compete in 14 states in a national primary, Mike, it's really, really tough.
