Of course, the journalists at MSNBC on Wednesday had to psychoanalyze the body language of the Presidents attending the funeral of George H.W. Bush. Chris Matthews weirdly compared, “I think Prince Charles felt more comfortable in New Guinea than this President felt here today.”
Brian Williams uncomfortably described the current Commander in Chief as a “presence,” deriding how “there was a presence in the front row that needs to be discussed and that was the current President.”
Nicolle Wallace sneered at the supposedly unspoken messages being sent:
Even his presence said more about the 41st president and the Bush family than it did about him. He was a good guest. And I think that's all we need to say about him right now. But it became uncomfortable when every one of the people who eulogized the 41st president talked about civility, talked about generosity.... I don't think it was quite a rebuke but it was such an obvious, an obvious contrast to what we see now in the Oval Office.
Prior to the funeral, NBC used the funeral as a way to bash George Bush senior’s vice president, Dan Quayle. Andrea Mitchell called him “hardly the best.”
A partial transcript is below. Click "expand" for more.
MSNBC Live coverage
12/5/18
1:38 p.m. Eastern
BRIAN WILLIAMS: Nicole, just from the coverage, from social media, from communication with people watching, there was a presence in the front row that needs to be discussed and that was the current president, whose job today was to show up, to attend — He did not have a speaking role — and to be respectful.
NICOLLE WALLACE: Even his presence said more about the 41st president and the Bush family than it did about him. He was a good guest. And I think that's all we need to say about him right now. But it became uncomfortable when every one of the people who eulogized the 41st president talked about civility, talked about generosity. You could feel the unstated — it was a contrast. It was — I don't think it was quite a rebuke but it was such an obvious, an obvious contrast to what we see now in the Oval Office.
CHRIS MATTHEWS: I think Prince Charles felt more comfortable in New Guinea than this President felt here today.
WILLIAMS: Michael? You're not going to get out of this round of questioning.
MICHAEL STEELE: Look, I agree. I agree with both Chris and Nicole here. I believe that, again, there were those moments during those eulogies that spoke about the character of not just a man but a president who leads a country. In good times and difficult and if you have paid attention at all in the last of the events of two years you could not help but have that moment of contrast and say to yourself, I mean, even, even, Brian, to the arrival of the President with four other presidents sitting there, it was — it was stark the difference when he arrived. They all, all the other presidents — they just turned and looked straight ahead. No acknowledgment.
BRIAN WILLIAMS: No greeting.
