MSNBC's Keith Olbermann, who never accuses Democrats of "playing politics" with Iraq and the war on terrorism, opting instead to join them in attacking President Bush, continued to slam Bush for "playing politics" with terrorism, which Olbermann labelled as "something that should matter to all of us." The Countdown host, who regularly signs off his show by recounting the number of American troops killed "since the declaration of 'Mission Accomplished' in Iraq" to embarrass Bush, on Wednesday's show highlighted recent comments by former President Clinton accusing Bush of "playing politics" with the London plane bombing plot. Guest Dana Milbank of the Washington Post lamely joked that "it's a matter of time until the whole JonBenet lead turns into an al-Qaeda business." (Transcript follows)
As Olbermann spent most of the show covering developments in the JonBenet Ramsey murder investigation, Olbermann plugged the segment on Clinton's comments several times, during one of which he opined that Clinton's comments accusing Bush of "trying to make political hay" out of the bomb plot was "something that should matter to all of us." Olbermann: "And something that should matter to all of us: Terror threats and politics, President Clinton warning President Bush about trying to make political hay out of the purported liquid bomb plot, while this President continues the campaign tour."
In spite of Olbermann's repeated comments since the day the London terror story broke about Bush trying to exploit the bomb plot politially, even suggesting that Bush went against the wisdom of British authorities and timed the arrests too soon just to bolster his attacks on anti-war Democrats after they denied renomination to pro-Iraq War Senator Lieberman, Olbermann sought to distance himself from Clinton's accusation during one of the plugs, saying that it was "not a conclusion from this reporter." Olbermann: "Also tonight, playing politics with terror, not a conclusion from this reporter, an accusation by former President Bill Clinton."
As Olbermann introduced the segment, he referred to Bush having "ridden the British terror arrests for a week," before relaying that the "purported London bomb plot, the war on terror and al-Qaeda" dominated Bush's speech at a fundraiser for a candidate for Pennsylvania governor. Olbermann went on to quote Clinton remarks "taking [Bush] to task for politicizing terrorism." Olbermann: "Meantime, Mr. Bush's predecessor in the Oval Office taking him to task for politicizing terrorism. Former President Clinton criticizing the Bush administration for linking the purported London bomb plot and the war on terror to the war in Iraq. Quoting Mr. Clinton, 'I don't think the foiling of that London bomb plot has any bearing on our Iraq policy. The Republicans should be very careful in trying to play politics with this London airport thing because they're gonna have a hard time with the facts.'"
After relaying the latest on Republican Senator George Allen's 'macaca' remark, the Countdown host brought aboard Dana Milbank of the Washington Post to further discuss the stories. Olbermann began the interview wondering about the coincidence of Bush's team started to campaign so soon after the terror plot story came out. Olbermann: "Senator Allen in a moment, because we want to give him a chance to change the story again, but first, pretty much the entire White House on the campaign trail today, the President, the Vice President, the First Lady. A, their party's been taking a pounding in these campaigns; B, the purported terror plot arrests happened; C, the administration's big three hit the campaign trail: Coincidences?"
Milbank discredited some of Olbermann's conspiracy theory by pointing out that the recent Republican fundraisers are planned far ahead of time, although Milbank seemed to take exception with Bush's terrorism-based message at the events: "In fairness to the White House, a lot of these are fundraisers, and they are organized well in advance, just so you can round up all the people who are going to give you the money. It's not the events themselves, it's the message that's being put out there, and it's that you should be very afraid and you should be particularly afraid that the Democrats are not going to protect you." Referring to Bush's "message of terrorism" during the campaign, Milbank mocked Bush by commenting that "it's a matter of time until the whole JonBenet lead turns into an al-Qaeda business."
Below is a transcript of relevant portions of the August 16 Countdown show:
Keith Olbermann, in opening teaser: "The continuing nexus of politics and terror: Former President Clinton says his successor may be, quote, 'trying to play politics with this London airport thing.'"
...Olbermann, introducing the opening segment on JonBenet Ramsey: "Good evening from Los Angeles. Ultimately, this story does not matter. It cannot compare in importance to a sitting President accused by the previous President of trying to play politics with terror, specifically, the arrests in the purported liquid bomb plot. It does not even overshadow a would-be future President backing away from his own apology for an apparent ethnic slur by blaming media misinterpretation. But in our fifth story on the Countdown, the news nonetheless resonates in a way that rivals even those stories, to which we will devote full and serious coverage presently."
...Olbermann, before commercial break at 8:14 p.m.: "And the other news of an extraordinary day, the nexus of politics and terror, a warning for President Bush and the GOP about politicizing the latest arrests in the London purported bombing case. That warning from none other than former President Bill Clinton."
...Olbermann, before commercial break at 8:25 p.m.: "And something that should matter to all of us: Terror threats and politics, President Clinton warning President Bush about trying to make political hay out of the purported liquid bomb plot, while this President continues the campaign tour."
...Olbermann, before commercial break at 8:27 p.m.: "Also still ahead of us tonight, the nexus of politics and terror revisited: This time by former President Clinton, who suggests the administration may be trying to play politics with terror. And there is a would-be President now playing ‘blame the media' after he called an American of Indian descent 'Macaca.'"
...Olbermann, before commercial break at 8:40 p.m.: "Also tonight, playing politics with terror, not a conclusion from this reporter, an accusation by former President Bill Clinton. And a prospective presidential candidate goes from saying he didn't know what the ethnic slur meant to apologizing if the man he said it about was offended to apologizing for how the media misinterpreted the word."
...Olbermann, during commercial break at 8:42 p.m.: "The nexus of politics and terror: The administration called out by former President Clinton for trying to link this latest terror scare in Britain to supposed success in Iraq. That's next. This is Countdown."
...Olbermann, at 8:44 p.m.: "Some nights the political metaphors can be hard to come by, and some nights they simply write themselves. Our second story in the Countdown, going whole-hog into the nexus of politics and terror, now apparently literally does mean going whole-hog. President Bush ostensibly putting the breaks on his summer '06 terror tour to hop a Harley today at a motorcycle factory in central Pennsylvania, after having metaphorically ridden the British terror arrests for a week."
Olbermann: "The purported London bomb plot, the war on terror and al-Qaeda all back to forming the bulk of Mr. Bush's remarks earlier this evening at a fundraiser for the Republican candidate for governor in Pennsylvania, former Pittsburgh Steelers player Lynn Swann, even as Scotland Yard was saying tonight from London that a second suspect in the purported plot, one arrested yesterday, has now been released."
Olbermann: "Meantime, Mr. Bush's predecessor in the Oval Office taking him to task for politicizing terrorism. Former President Clinton criticizing the Bush administration for linking the purported London bomb plot and the war on terror to the war in Iraq. Quoting Mr. Clinton, 'I don't think the foiling of that London bomb plot has any bearing on our Iraq policy. The Republicans should be very careful in trying to play politics with this London airport thing because they're gonna have a hard time with the facts.'"
Olbermann: "Dana Milbank of the Washington Post joins me in a moment for more on that, and on the fluidity of the facts in the case of Republican Senator George Allen of Virginia. Last Friday, on videotape, Allen called a young man of Indian decent 'Macaca' before welcoming the American-born citizen to America. Senator Allen's use of that word 'Macaca,' twice, now threatening to derail his designs on the White House because of the obscure word's multiple meanings, any one of which could be construed as a racial slur. The Senator has issued many apologies. Today two Republicans associated with the Senator's campaign told the political journal Hotline that the Senator was, in fact, trying to say both the word 'mohawk' and the word 'caca' in some kind of mash-up that means, well, you can guess what it means. The latest actual statement from the Senator: 'I'm concerned that my comments have been greatly misunderstood by members of the media. Yesterday, I apologized to anyone who may have been offended by the misinterpretation of my remarks.'"
Olbermann: "As promised, Washington Post national political reporter Dana Milbank joins us now. Good evening, Dana."
Dana Milbank, Washington Post: "Hello, Keith."
Olbermann: "Senator Allen in a moment, because we want to give him a chance to change the story again, but first, pretty much the entire White House on the campaign trail today, the President, the Vice President, the First Lady. A, their party's been taking a pounding in these campaigns; B, the purported terror plot arrests happened; C, the administration's big three hit the campaign trail: Coincidences?"
Milbank: "I expect by the end of the week we'll have the White House pastry chef out there and possibly the gardener. In fairness to the White House, a lot of these are fundraisers, and they are organized well in advance, just so you can round up all the people who are going to give you the money. It's not the events themselves, it's the message that's being put out there, and it's that you should be very afraid and you should be particularly afraid that the Democrats are not going to protect you."
Olbermann: "Eighty-three days to go until the election, have the midterms actually kicked off already? And would they normally have interrupted the President's vital vacation to kick off this early?"
Milbank: "Well, the midterms began the day after the election in 2004. So what's happening here is since the disruption of that plot in London, the Republicans see an effort to change the debate. The debate had been going in the Democrats' favor, so what you're hearing again, and as Karl Rove predicted you would, is this message of terrorism, terrorism over and over again. I think it's a matter of time until the whole JonBenet lead turns into an al-Qaeda business."
Olbermann: "Former President Clinton's remark about politicizing terror, those statements are remarkably telling, are they not?"
Milbank: "Well, I think what he's doing is voicing the Democratic message here in a way that, as unusual, other Democrats have not been quite as able to say. They're saying, look, if you are saying this is about al-Qaeda, then why do we have seven times the number of troops in Iraq as there are in Afghanistan if al-Qaeda is actually the problem? That may be a cogent message. The problem is it's a very hard one to make for the voters, and it's hard to compete with that sort of visceral appeal of the Cheney argument that the Democrats just can't protect you."
Olbermann: "Do you expect that the Democrats will follow Bill Clinton's lead on this? Will we be hearing more people at least attempting to point these two things out?"
Milbank: "Well, I think they are attempting to, but you know, as I say, it's sort of a bank shot. It's very difficult to make these points. They've been trying over and over again to disentangle Iraq from the war on terrorism generally. By and large, they had lost that. They were making some grounds here, and it's possible that the administration will now return itself to that stronger ground."
Olbermann: "All right, if you are Senator George Allen, is there any way to undo the damage of his 'macaca' remark? Does not now pinning it on the media ring hollow and also encourage the media to keep updating the story?"
Milbank: "Well, we've gone from the mullet to the mohawk, then to the 'mohawk-caca.' What's happening here is that, I think, Senator Allen is in a very bad position. It's not going to hurt him, he's going to most likely win his reelection as a Senator. But when we're looking at the presidential race, and it's not a good thing if the people in Washington are saying, look, is he a racist or has he just done something extremely dumb? You don't want to really be in either of those camps right now, but I think we're looking at a dramatic gesture here, maybe the Senator might want to actually put his hair into a mohawk."
Olbermann: "And then have somebody turn around and make the inference using the mohawk and caca combined was a reference not to someone being a crap head, but having a crappy haircut, right?"
Milbank: "It would be a very sensible demonstration."
Olbermann: "It may be argued that he has one already, but we'll leave that for the fashion stylists. Dana Milbank of the Washington Post and of MSNBC on another busy day in the political world. As ever Dana, great thanks."
Milbank: "Thanks a lot, Keith."
