“Overkill” from “right-wing radio,” in criticizing Senator Hillary Clinton, is her “secret weapon” that will “transform her into a figure of sympathy by a majority of people” -- and presumably help elect her President -- syndicated columnist and PBS NewsHour political analyst Mark Shields contended Friday night. On Inside Washington, a weekly panel show produced by ABC's Washington, DC affiliate which airs it on Sunday mornings after it first runs Friday night at 8:30pm on DC's PBS affiliate, WETA-TV channel 26, Shields argued: “I think the secret weapon for Senator Clinton, if she is the Democratic nominee, is not simply Rudy's shortcomings, the perceived shortcomings of her opponent, I think you'll see on the part of right-wing radio -- conservative talk, however you want to call it -- such overkill that it will make her, transform her into a figure of sympathy by a majority of people.”Video clip (23 secs): Real (750 KB) or Windows Media (850 KB), plus MP3 audio (140 KB)
NPR's Nina Totenberg then chimed in: “That happened in her first Senate run.”
In addition to appearing weekly on the PBS NewsHour and Inside Washington, before CNN canceled it, Shields was a regular on Capital Gang. Inside Washington also airs over the weekend on NewsChannel8, the DC area all-news cable channel operated by Allbritton Communications which also owns the local ABC affiliate, WJLA-TV channel 7.
