Aided by its simpatico allies at MSNBC, the Obama campaign has swung into action to contain yet another unfortunate outbreak of candor.
That an affinity of soulmates exists between Obamists and MSNBCers was never more evident than yesterday in the wake of Newark mayor Cory Booker appearing on "Meet the Press" and opining that the Obama campaign vilifying Mitt Romney for his work at Bain Capital was as "nauseating" as a proposed GOP ad campaign on President Obama's erstwhile ties to radical cleric Jeremiah Wright. (video clip after page break)
A chastened Booker appeared on Rachel Maddow's show last night to provide clarification where none was needed, though not until ticking off Maddow's colleague Ed Schultz by prudently declining Schultz's request for an interview.
In the course of a 12-minute interview, Maddow somehow, go figure, never managed to ask Booker about his views on private equity firms, lest it be revealed that Booker isn't opposed to people making money, preferably plenty, especially in a state with confiscatory tax rates.
Maddow's slow-pitch interview with Booker was quickly followed by her showing a three-minute unbroken clip of Obama speaking at the NATO summit in Chicago about Booker's criticism. On a more forthright media outlet, this would be deemed an in-kind political donation that would cost the campaign dearly if it actually bought the airtime instead.
After the unacknowledged Obama commercial, Maddow interviewed MSNBC colleague Andrea Mitchell about Obama's take on Booker's heresy. One couldn't really describe the conversation as damage control seeing how it added to the damage --
MITCHELL (initially alluding to Obama's remarks at NATO summit): Making money is not the business of the president of the United States. That is the way President Obama framed it. That is the message that they believe is resonating in the key battleground states across the Midwest, across what we used to call the Rust Belt. And that is what they believe was badly damaged by Cory Booker, as their eventual endorsement of gay marriage was damaged by another, even more prominent surrogate, Joe Biden, also I should point out on "Meet the Press."
So, it's surrogates sort of speaking honestly, speaking from the heart and saying what they really believe, and that is a problem for this campaign. They're just sort of shaking their heads, but they were, they were deeply upset.
If campaign surrogates "speaking honestly" is a problem, what does this say about this campaign?
"What we used to call the Rust Belt"? What, before 2009?
