On MSNBC’s 11th Hour Wednesday night, just hours before Thursday’s horrific ISIS terrorist attack in Kabul that killed 13 U.S. service members and over 100 Afghans, host Brian Williams and professional Democratic Party hack James Carville whined about rightfully critical media coverage of President Biden’s disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal. Williams even called for “more friends” of the President to rush to his defense.
“On the political fallout for Joe Biden, our friend John Allen writes this today, quote, ‘The damage from bipartisan criticism – and the potentially long arc of the war’s aftermath – could put his fellow Democrats in further jeopardy in next year’s midterm elections and harm his agenda if they see a need to distance themselves from him,’” Williams noted at the top of the segment, citing an NBCNews.com article from Allen.
However, just moments later, the liberal anchor dismissed the analysis of his network colleague as he turned to Carville: “James, do midterm voters in 2022 carry foreign policy along with them when they go to vote?” Predictably, the longtime Democratic strategist and Clinton hatchet man lashed out at anyone trying to hold Biden accountable for his massive foreign policy failure, particularly the press:
First of all, there’s no elegant way to lose a war. We lost this war 15 years ago. All Joe Biden was doing is telling us what time it is. And the hysterical and stupid coverage of the mainstream press just has been awful....One of the few people in this whole establishment that recognized the fact that this was a lost war is Biden, didn’t do anything but tell us the truth. And the evacuations are actually going much better than a lot of people expected.
In his tirade, Carville kept repeating that “there’s no good way to lose a war,” as if the catastrophic execution of Biden’s shameful surrender to terrorists was somehow inevitable.
Later in the discussion, the pity party for Biden continued, with Williams urging: “Does Biden need more friends, and more vocal friends, in Washington to point all this out?” Carville repeated: “Well, first of all, he would be greatly benefitted if the press would cover this accurately.” He then even attacked his fellow Democrats:
And yes, you always have mealy-mouthed Democrats. And I can’t tell you the number of phone conversations – “Well, James, I mean, damn man, you know, he did the right thing by getting out but he’s gone about it in the wrong way.” And I’ve said, do they teach a course at West Point or Annapolis or Johns Hopkins on how to lose a war? No. There’s no good way to lose a war. We lost this war, we lost it a long time before Joe Biden became president. All he’s doing is getting us out of there.
Finally, Carville scolded America: “And I’m sorry, this is not the battle of Midway, alright? This is a defeat. And we got to understand that as a country.”
The political fallout and bad press for Biden were the biggest concerns for Williams and Carville on the eve of a terrorist attack that killed brave U.S. military personnel as well as scores of innocent men, women, and children just hoping to escape the brutality of the Taliban. While most of the media are covering the Afghanistan debacle as it needs to be covered, some leftist hosts and pundits are desperately trying to turn the page in the middle of the deadly crisis.
This crass demand for Biden’s “friends” to protect him from criticism was brought to viewers by Allstate and BMW. You can fight back by letting these advertisers know what you think of them sponsoring such content.
Here is a transcript of the August 25 segment:
11:22 AM ET
BRIAN WILLIAMS: On the political fallout for Joe Biden, our friend John Allen writes this today, quote, “The damage from bipartisan criticism – and the potentially long arc of the war’s aftermath – could put his fellow Democrats in further jeopardy in next year’s midterm elections and harm his agenda if they see a need to distance themselves from him.”
So back with us tonight, James Carville veteran Democratic strategist who rose to national fame with the Clinton campaign effort, he is co-host of the politics War Room podcast. And Mike Murphy, veteran Republican strategist, co-director of the Center for the Political Future at the University of Southern California. He is co-host of the Hacks on Tap podcast. Gentlemen, good evening to you both. James Carville, let’s get right to the politics of that. You heard [Kevin] McCarthy, “Biden has embarrassed the United States on the world stage.” Speaking on a network that has consistently covered this along these lines: “Joe Biden has turned his back on these people, but we do not want any of them coming here.” James, do midterm voters in 2022 carry foreign policy along with them when they go to vote?
JAMES CARVILLE: First of all, there’s no elegant way to lose a war. We lost this war 15 years ago. All Joe Biden was doing is telling us what time it is. And the hysterical and stupid coverage of the mainstream press just has been awful. Just read New York Magazine’s Josh Marshall at Talking Points. What’s hurting Biden more than anything is this virus that has come back, and people thought it was not. But it’s kind of hard to know – Admiral Mullins, one of the most courageous people in uniform, who said, “Look, I was just wrong about this in 2011.” One of the few people in this whole establishment that recognized the fact that this was a lost war is Biden, didn’t do anything but tell us the truth. And the evacuations are actually going much better than a lot of people expected. But there's no good way to lose a war, Brian. I didn’t serve in Vietnam, but I was in the Vietnam era, and we lost that war. It looks bad. The country looks bad. When you lose a war, you don’t look good. This war was lost a long time ago and Joe Biden had nothing to do with it. He wanted us out before this.
WILLIAMS: Mike Murphy, here’s a quote from The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board, “Mr. Biden is bowing to Taliban demands, reiterated on Tuesday, not to extend the deadline. He is rejecting the advice of such G-7 leaders as Britain’s Boris Johnson and Emmanuel Macron of France to stay longer to get more people out of the country safely. And he is abandoning thousands of Afghans who fought with the U.S. and NATO to the Taliban’s brand of retribution. Mr. Biden has negotiated with the Taliban from a position of weakness.”
There’s a lot there, Mike, including, imagine ignoring the advice of Boris “It’s the same as the flu” Johnson. And imagine pointing out that the deal came during the Trump administration. Are Republicans right to weaponize this, knowing the pictures of Pompeo, knowing the role the Trump administration played?
MIKE MURPHY: Well, you know, the old, are they right to weaponize it in politics question kind of pulls at the thread of the big sweater for either party. Because parties weaponize moments where the opponent is in trouble. It’s absolutely true that Donald Trump started this. He sent the flowers to the Taliban, they gave him a phony peace in exchange for a slow motion surrender, and Biden has caught it.
But the politics are also that the clumsiness of all this is a real problem for Biden. Plus, he’s going to own Afghanistan going forward, which is a thorny mess you don’t want to own. He can debate the larger question, should we be out? I think most people agree with Biden that we had to get out. But that’s not where the debate is, the debate is the status quo.
You know, Biden did a good job, earlier in his term, of going and starting to repair some of the damage Trump had done with the Europeans. But the way this was conducted, where they feel totally mugged and not like they were in a partnership, is a big problem. And I think the optics are terrible, and frankly the policy is terrible. Send the head of the CIA down there to talk to the Taliban, and at least have the media framing, and you know, maybe it’s fair, maybe it isn’t, that they said boo and now we’re cutting out even when our European allies, who we ought to get closer to, say we ought to play a stronger hand for a little more time to try to do a full evacuation.
Now that said, the mid-level people in the military are doing an incredible job. Biden should be proud of these numbers. I think he’s more of a recipient of that good news than a cause for it. But you’ve really got to hand it to the military forces, the Department of State, for the amazing numbers they’ve done. And maybe that does give Biden a little bit of cover now. We’ll see.
WILLIAMS: So, James – James, same question I asked Claire. Does Biden need more friends, and more vocal friends, in Washington to point all this out?
CARVILLE: Well, first of all, he would be greatly benefitted if the press would cover this accurately. And yes, you always have mealy-mouthed Democrats. And I can’t tell you the number of phone conversations – “Well, James, I mean, damn man, you know, he did the right thing by getting out but he’s gone about it in the wrong way.” And I’ve said, do they teach a course at West Point or Annapolis or Johns Hopkins on how to lose a war? No. There’s no good way to lose a war. We lost this war, we lost it a long time before Joe Biden became president. All he’s doing is getting us out of there.
And I’m sorry, this is not the battle of Midway, alright? This is a defeat. And we got to understand that as a country. Of course we plowed right after this after we did Vietnam, after we did Iraq. Warren Buffet said “The only thing people learn from history is people never learn from history.” I hope that some of these images will cause us to take a deep breath before we go off on some other Wall Street Journal-sponsored adventure around the world.
WILLIAMS: Over the door of the National Archives is says “Past is prologue.” And it’s written there – it’s chiseled there for good reason.
