While not in any way a conservative Republican, it’s amazing to consider how insufferably liberal former Bush administration official and failed McCain campaign hand, Nicolle Wallace had become and such a reliable lefty for MSNBC.
Tuesday’s post-debate coverage provided numerous examples of her progressivism, including her gripe that the debate insufficiently covered impeachment ,and voicing support for Senator Kamala Harris’s pleas for Twitter to ban President Trump.
In a segment around the 11:40 p.m. Eastern mark, Wallace boasted to The Washington Post’s Robert Costa that, for her pitfalls in the debate, “Elizabeth Warren was I believe the first or among the first to call for Donald Trump's impeachment and again, when she got to that tonight, she seemed to just cut through all of the noise and I think that stands out for anyone watching each candidate's individual moments.”
With that praise for Warren, Wallace used that to knock those on-hand (so both the candidates and presumably organizers CNN and The New York Times) for not focusing enough on impeachment even though the first 19 minutes were dedicated to the topic:
Were you surprised, though, that, as a room and as a three-hour plus event, they've now got Donald Trump on the ropes with a parade of witnesses from inside the executive branch testifying to this clearly corrupt quid pro quo of a meeting for the Ukrainian president in exchange for dirt on Hunter Biden. Were you surprised that case wasn't prosecuted more forcefully?
A few minutes later, after Harris spoke in the spin room to Chris Hayes and touched on her calls to ban Trump from Twitter due to what she believes was a threat to humanity, Wallace proclaimed that “she is still having a good night” and “just made that argument even better there than she did on the debate stage, and she made it pretty well on the debate stage, but her point is not abstract.”
Citing the July and August 2018 mail bomber, Wallace took up the mantle of Harris campaign spokesperson (click “expand”):
I mean, there are people seeking to carry out violence who, on their most readily access to Donald Trump's words, are on his Twitter feed. She’s been proven — I mean, her point is an accurate one beyond debate. So I think she's making a defensible point. I also love, love, love that she refuses to lower the bar for Donald Trump. Should we do more than just his tweet? Well, sure, but we have to start somewhere. I mean, he doesn’t — and when you look at what's going on, and you look at Republicans finally waking up or getting some religion on his conduct or his misconduct around foreign policy, I mean, the idea that he didn't know what he was doing, and that seems to be the White House position about the slaughter of America's allies in Syria, the Kurds, that he just, you know, hello, you can imagine him in sweats or something talking to Erdogan with nobody listening who understood that he was green lighting a deadly military operation. I mean, I think all those points right there are spot-on and I hope if they get down to four or five, she’s one of them.
Also on that topic, co-host Lyin’ Brian Williams turned to Claire McCaskill by stating that “we all know people in our lives who have been forced to add security to their lives personally, their homes, their families” whose lives were “trashed” like “Michael Cohen’s family members” because the President attacked them on Twitter.
Cohen broke the law, so his family were already going through plenty of storms as it was, so maybe not the best example, Brian. Then again, this was a news media that routinely tars and feathers innocent people like Brett Kavanaugh, Carson King, Nicholas Sandmann, and a grandma sharing memes.
Ignoring those points, McCaskill unsurprisingly concurred, thus continuing the proverbial conga line of uniformity on MSNBC:
Yeah. I think her point is a valid one in that this is a President who has no concern for anyone or anything other than himself and therefore, he doesn't think about the consequences of what he says and does and sometimes it's a little stuff [sic], like stupid tweets that are mean and inappropriate, and sometimes it's really big stuff like the killing of 11,000 of our allies who — allowing the killing of our allies who had lost 11,000 people fighting with us against ISIS[.]
>>Help fight back against the media's impeachment crusade.<<
To see the relevant transcript from MSNBC’s Decision 2020: Debate Analysis on October 15, click “expand.”
MSNBC’s Decision 2020: Debate Analysis
October 15, 2019
11:40 p.m. EasternROBERT COSTA: Across my Democratic sourcing world, you see a real impression tonight about Mayor Buttigieg trying to compete for that Biden vote, making a case that he is the Midwestern candidate, that he can try to consolidate some of those Midwestern more centrist voters as Vice President Biden faces different challenges right now in the race. It's a lifetime between now in Iowa and the New Hampshire primary in American politics. Senator Warren, though, as much as she was attacked tonight and how she would pay for medicare for all, continues to have a consistent message, economic populism that is really speaking to the grievance about the global economy.
NICOLLE WALLACE: Bob Costa, Elizabeth Warren was I believe the first or among the first to call for Donald Trump's impeachment and again, when she got to that tonight, she seemed to just cut through all of the noise and I think that stands out for anyone watching each candidate's individual moments. Were you surprised, though, that, as a room and as a three-hour plus event, they've now got Donald Trump on the ropes with a parade of witnesses from inside the executive branch testifying to this clearly corrupt quid pro quo of a meeting for the Ukrainian president in exchange for dirt on Hunter Biden. Were you surprised that case wasn't prosecuted more forcefully?
COSTA: That, for many Democratic candidates, when you talk to their top strategists, that debate about impeachment, it's relatively over. That's why the first ten, 15 minutes of the debate were quiet. All these Democratic candidates have generally taken the same position. They support the impeachment inquiry, and they know Chairman Schiff and Speaker Pelosi are essentially the strategists for the entire party. The fault lines in this Democratic Party are in health care policy, on economic policy, and that's where the battles will be fought in a race that's somewhat isolated from the impeachment battle.
(....)
11:47 p.m. Eastern
WALLACE: Well, she is still having a good night. I mean, I think she just made that argument even better there than she did on the debate stage, and she made it pretty well on the debate stage, but her point is not abstract.
BRIAN WILLIAMS: No.
WALLACE: Caesar Seyoc, I mean, there are people seeking to carry out violence who, on their most readily access to Donald Trump's words, are on his Twitter feed. She’s been proven — I mean, her point is an accurate one beyond debate. So I think she's making a defensible point. I also love, love, love that she refuses to lower the bar for Donald Trump. Should we do more than just his tweet? Well, sure, but we have to start somewhere. I mean, he doesn’t — and when you look at what's going on, and you look at Republicans finally waking up or getting some religion on his conduct or his misconduct around foreign policy, I mean, the idea that he didn't know what he was doing, and that seems to be the White House position about the slaughter of America's allies in Syria, the Kurds, that he just, you know, hello, you can imagine him in sweats or something talking to Erdogan with nobody listening who understood that he was green lighting a deadly military operation. I mean, I think all those points right there are spot-on and I hope if they get down to four or five, she’s one of them.
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: Yeah. I agree. She had a very strong night. We talked about Klobuchar. We talked about Pete Buttigieg, but I think Harris had a really strong night tonight. I think what we saw from her is, you know we saw her during the Kavanaugh hearings and then the Judiciary Committee and you almost saw that Kamala Harris on stage.
WALLACE: With Bill Barr.
JEAN-PIERRE: Again, with Bill Barr, and you saw that person on stage tonight and I thought, you know, hopefully she can continue that.
WILLIAMS: Senator we all know people in our lives who have been forced to add security to their lives personally, their homes, their families. We've seen people's lives trashed, innocent family — Michael Cohen's family members were trashed by the — the President on Twitter and on and on and on.
CLAIRE MCCASKILL: Yeah. I think her point is a valid one in that this is a President who has no concern for anyone or anything other than himself and therefore, he doesn't think about the consequences of what he says and does and sometimes it's a little stuff [sic], like stupid tweets that are mean and inappropriate, and sometimes it's really big stuff like the killing of 11,000 of our allies who — allowing the killing of our allies who had lost 11,000 people fighting with us against ISIS and letting — you know, and I keep making this point because it's an important one. The Republicans have gone to the mat for 40 people in Guantanamo and the President just let over 10,000 walk out of prison and they are much more dangerous terrorists than what we have in Guantanamo. The people that he allowed to walk out of prison and by the way, the Republicans are now softening their criticism today.
