On Monday's NBC Today, following a report on the latest fallout from the Anthony Weiner sexting scandal, Hillary Clinton sycophant Andrea Mitchell fretted over the impact of the controversy on the former secretary of state: "This is terribly painful....this is getting to the point where it is really splashing up against the Clintons because it's almost unavoidable that people are making comparisons to the way Hillary Clinton handled Bill Clinton's difficulties in the 1992 campaign." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]
On July 24, it was Today making that comparison between Wiener and Clinton, with chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd observing: "But you can't help but remember, [Weiner's wife] Huma [Abedin] works for Hillary Clinton. Is that her political role model? Is that her political role model as a spouse? Is that where she's getting her advice? Well, we know what Hillary Clinton did as a political spouse in the same situation."
On Monday, Mitchell continued to ring her hands over the difficult political situation for the Clintons rather than the scandal itself: "They are not at all happy. They're loyal to Huma, but at this point, even some friends, mutual friends, are saying, 'Why is she letting this happen to Hillary Clinton, her long-time mentor?'"
While discussing an upcoming lunch between Hillary Clinton and President Obama later in the segment, Mitchell proclaimed:
And you can't imagine this conversation taking place without the elephant in the room being addressed, which is of course, "What do we do about getting Weiner out of the race?" What Clinton doesn't want to appear is that she tried to – what the Hillary Clinton supporters don't want to appear is that she tries to get him out of the race to help herself and is disloyal to Huma. That would only be even worse for Hillary Clinton.
Mitchell's obsession with what would look good or bad for the Clintons echoed concern from CBS Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer, who on Sunday declared:
...people are talking about Weiner's wife, Huma as – Hillary Clinton was her mentor, She was a very close aide to her and now some say she's taking a page from Hillary Clinton's book to stand by your man. My sense of it from just a politics point of view, she's doing Hillary Clinton no favors whatsoever if Hillary Clinton is planning to run for president herself, bringing this all up again and reminding people of it is not helping her mentor.
Here is a full transcript of Mitchell's July 29 report on Today:
7:07AM ET
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: We want to bring in NBC's Andrea Mitchell. Andrea, good morning to you.
ANDREA MITCHELL: Good morning, Savannah.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Weiner Scandal Fallout; Clinton Camp Reacts to Latest News]
GUTHRIE: As we all know, Huma Abedin, Anthony Weiner's wife, is a very close aide to Hillary Clinton. In fact, Hillary Clinton has said she's like a daughter, which has a lot of people wondering, where are the Clintons on all this? How do they feel about Weiner and this continued campaign?
MITCHELL: This is terribly painful. From people close to the Clintons, friends of both, they care deeply about Huma, but this is getting to the point where it is really splashing up against the Clintons because it's almost unavoidable that people are making comparisons to the way Hillary Clinton handled Bill Clinton's difficulties in the 1992 campaign. And it's just only going to reach a further point if he stays in this race. So they are not at all happy. They're loyal to Huma, but at this point, even some friends, mutual friends, are saying, "Why is she letting this happen to Hilary Clinton, her long-time mentor?"
GUTHRIE: And speaking of Hillary Clinton, she's got a lunch today at the White House with President Obama. What's the back story there? I guess you don't know what's on the menu, food-wise or otherwise.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: High Profile Lunch Date; Pres. Obama & Hillary Clinton's Private Meeting]
MITCHELL: Otherwise or food-wise, in fact. Aides to both say that this is just a catch up, that they've met three times since she left the cabinet. But the timing is certainly auspicious, it's the day when the Middle East negotiators are arriving in Washington. John Kerry, her successor, has made six shuttle trips to the region and finally getting them here, it's the resumption of talks after three years.
So they'll talk about that, they'll talk about Egypt, certainly, blowing up, they'll talk about Vladimir Putin I would suspect, the economy, maybe he wants her opinion about who to put in as the new Fed chair, that's a big fight going on in Washington.
And you can't imagine this conversation taking place without the elephant in the room being addressed, which is of course, "What do we do about getting Weiner out of the race?" What Clinton doesn't want to appear is that she tried to – what the Hillary Clinton supporters don't want to appear is that she tries to get him out of the race to help herself and is disloyal to Huma. That would only be even worse for Hillary Clinton.
GUTHRIE: Well, never a shortage of topics. Andrea Mitchell, thank you very much.
MITCHELL: Indeed.
GUTHRIE: Appreciate it.
MITCHELL: You bet.
