On her 12 p.m. ET hour MSNBC show on Tuesday, host Andrea Mitchell woefully complained that the reopened FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton’s e-mails was like a “punch in the gut” to the Democratic nominee and prevented the campaign from pushing an “uplifting message” in the final days before the election.
Commiserating with the Huffington Post’s Sam Stein, Mitchell lamented: “I’ve got to tell you that the mood on this campaign plane has changed dramatically since Iowa, since Friday, when they were just hit, I’ve described as a punch in the gut. This unexpected FBI turn, going back to the e-mail controversy which they thought they had put to rest. They were already moving towards an uplifting message for the closing days....they’re going back to attack mode.”
Stein sympathized: “...they are a bit shell-shocked. They obviously did not want to spend the closing week going to war with the FBI director. But it’s the hand they’ve been dealt...”
He then touted: “They do feel semi-confident that they’ve turned the conversation a bit away from the investigation and more to the conduct of FBI director Comey. But it’s not the, you know, uplifting, promising message that they wanted to close out on.”
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The reason for that confidence is that the press happily did the Clinton campaign’s bidding in bashing Comey by a 3 to 1 margin in coverage of the e-mail scandal development.
Here is a transcript of the November 1 exchange:
12:53 PM ET
(...)
ANDREA MITCHELL: And, Sam Stein, the mood in the campaign – let me show you a picture, you guys, a picture of last night, Halloween night, the flight back from Cleveland, Ohio. The candidate was obviously having a good time with her staff. Yet, I’ve got to tell you that the mood on this campaign plane has changed dramatically since Iowa, since Friday, when they were just hit, I’ve described as a punch in the gut. This unexpected FBI turn, going back to the e-mail controversy which they thought they had put to rest. They were already moving towards an uplifting message for the closing days and now yesterday they went after Donald Trump on his ability to handle nuclear weapons. Today it’s going to be Alicia Machado and everything that he has said about women, they’re going back to attack mode. They are trying to close this out now against some head winds.
SAM STEIN [HUFFINGTON POST]: Yes, well, I couldn't see the image you put up because I don't have a monitor here, but I’m assuming it’s of the Clinton campaign. No, it seemed like a great image the way you described it.
I can tell you from my talks with people on the campaign they are a bit shell-shocked. They obviously did not want to spend the closing week going to war with the FBI director. But it’s the hand they’ve been dealt and they feel this is the card, you know, this is what they have to do. They do feel semi-confident that they’ve turned the conversation a bit away from the investigation and more to the conduct of FBI director Comey. But it’s not the, you know, uplifting, promising message that they wanted to close out on. You know, it is what it is for them.
They have structural advantages that Chris [Cillizza] alluded to. But even those have been a little bit disconcerting in recent days, particularly African-American turnout in some critical states is lagging a bit behind what was witnessed in 2012. Now they respond by saying, “Listen, you can't judge everything by early vote turnout.” Some of these states have laws that limited the number of days available for African-American turnout and, of course, you have this upcoming weekend before the election where African-American turnout tends to be more populous on the weekends. So, wait and see. And on top of that, Hispanic turnout is up.
But yeah, this is not what they wanted to be doing. They didn't want to be going to war with the FBI director. They’re hopeful to change the conversation in the next couple of days. And you know, they’ve just got to sort of run through it, I guess.
(...)
