Right on cue with the conclusion of Thursday’s rally between Hillary Clinton and First Lady Michelle Obama, CNN and MSNBC went numb in praising Obama’s “master class in political speech-making” and marveling at “even just the embrace, the way the two walked out the embrace between the two, the clearly — the gratitude, the heaping of praise from, you know, Hillary Clinton to the First Lady.”
NBC News correspondent Chris Jansing appeared on MSNBC Live immediately afterward and summarized the North Carolina event as “a master class in political speech-making” by the current First Lady proving why she’s “Clinton’s not-so-secret weapon.”
“Very few people who could do what she just did. She took a packed auditorium, held them in the palm of her hand. She delivered a concise and forceful argument for getting out the vote,” Jansing added.
MSNBC was similarly out of control as the pair were taking the stage with Jansing hyping that “[t]he place is going absolutely wild” and touted a hug as they emerged as “the big hug between arguably the two most famous political women in America.”
“Chris, this really is a big moment, as you said. We had the different lists of folks that were coming out. We were just listening to Donald Trump in Ohio and now these two women taking the stage,” 2:00 p.m. Eastern MSNBC Live host Thomas Roberts proclaimed.
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Over on CNN, host Brooke Baldwin appeared to have the same level of enthusiasm despite being in New York as she boasted that’s why “[t]hey call [Obama] ‘the closer’” and gushing over how “this is history, these two ladies, a former First Lady who would like to be president and the current First Lady here embracing, standing there on that stage in North Carolina side by side.”
Baldwin later turned to chief political analyst Gloria Borger with more acrimonies for what they watched down to oozing over the two hugging each other to which Borger deemed Michelle Obama should be deemed the top surrogate of the election:
BALDWIN: Gloria, let me just begin with you. I mean, even just the embrace, the way the two walked out the embrace between the two, the clearly — the gratitude, the heaping of praise from, you know, Hillary Clinton to the First Lady, what did you make of the whole thing?
GLORIA BORGER: Well, first of all, I think you have to say bar none Michelle Obama gets the prize of being the surrogate of the year.
To further illustrate the intrigue, Baldwin tossed to correspondent Jeff Zeleny in the Tar Heel State by telling viewers “[h]e was there, he felt the crowd” and asked him to give them a feel for what it was like to physically be there.
Moments after Zeleny, Borger rewound to when the Access Hollywood tape of Donald Trump and Billy Bush surfaced to make the point that “Michelle Obama really found her own voice in this campaign” when that happened and provided “the speech I think of her life about what that meant to her.”
The relevant portion of the transcript from MSNBC Live with Kate Snow on October 27 can be found below.
MSNBC Live with Kate Snow
October 27, 2016
3:19 p.m. Eastern
CHRIS JANSING: What we saw was a master class in political speech-making. There is a reason people are calling the First Lady Hillary Clinton’s not-so-secret weapon. Very few people who could do what she just did. She took a packed auditorium, held them in the palm of her hand. She delivered a concise and forceful argument for getting out the vote, talking about how her husband could have lost here in 2008 but by two votes per precincts and that he could have won, but, 17 votes per precincts in 2012 and she focused on children, something that allowed her without naming him by name to go after the decisive rhetoric of Donald Trump. She knows her audience as well and there is a large after African-American population here. She talked about fighting the people who had fought for the right to vote and how it’s important for them to get out and vote.
The relevant portions of the transcript from CNN Newsroom with Brooke Baldwin on October 27 can be found below.
CNN Newsroom with Brooke Baldwin
October 27, 2016
3:19 p.m. Eastern
BROOKE BALDWIN: They call her “the closer.” A hug of thanks, of gratitude between two women who have both raised children in the White House. Folks, this is history, these two ladies, a former First Lady who would like to be president and the current First Lady here embracing, standing there on that stage in North Carolina side by side, former first lady who’s now the first female to stand as a major party presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama together for the first time on the campaign trail, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, the major moment strategically set in the south in North Carolina.
(....)
BALDWIN: Gloria, let me just begin with you. I mean, even just the embrace, the way the two walked out the embrace between the two, the clearly — the gratitude, the heaping of praise from, you know, Hillary Clinton to the First Lady, what did you make of the whole thing?
GLORIA BORGER: Well, first of all, I think you have to say bar none Michelle Obama gets the prize of being the surrogate of the year.
BALDWIN: Super surrogate.
BORGER: There is nobody that can talk about this race the she can. First of all, humanizing Hillary Clinton, calling her the daughter of an orphan was so striking to me — talking about how Hillary Clinton grew up and what her mother — that her mother was the daughter of an orphan sorry how Hillary Clinton grew up and how her mother raised her.
(....)
BALDWIN: Let's pivot into the arena. Jeff Zeleny is now ready to roll. He was in there, he felt the crowd. Jeff Zeleny, I mean tell me what that was like to hear it firsthand.
(....)
BORGER: You know, my — my impression is that Michelle Obama really found her own voice in this campaign after the now-infamous videotape came out and —
BALDWIN: Remember her speech in — what was it New Hampshire this month?
BORGER: Exactly. Exactly, when she called over to the campaign and said, hey, do you mind if I give this speech? And she then sort of stunned everybody when she spoke to women and she gave the speech I think of her life about what that meant to her and what that meant to her daughters and what that should mean to women.
