Republican strategist Ron Christie on Monday demonstrated why Keith Olbermann is smart to not have conservatives on his program, for most MSNBC hosts are just not up to the challenge.
Appearing on the "Ed Show" to address some comments Newt Gingrich recently made about President Obama, Christie refuted former Air America host Jack Rice's contention that Gingrich was being racist.
"I disagree with what he had to say this past weekend, but to suggest that the former Speaker of the House is trying to say, 'Oh the President of the United States is black and and I'm white' I think is so far out of bounds and so untrue," scolded Christie. "This has to stop."
Minutes later, when the host asked his Republican guest what the "con" was that Gingrich accused Obama of perpetrating on the American people, Christie hit the ball so far out of the park that by the end of the segment, his liberal antagonists were left laughing in astonishment (video follows with transcript and commentary):
JACK RICE, FORMER AIR AMERICA HOST: You don`t have to be a racist and disagree with this president, but when you start bringing up the question of him being born in Mombassa, Kenya, again and again and again, when all of the facts are clear, it seems to me, there`s only one reason that you would do that, it`s synonymous with racism, it just is.
RON CHRISTIE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I totally disagree with you. Look, I`ve known Speaker Gingrich for almost 20 years now. I know him to be a man of character and principle. I disagreed with what he say this past weekend, but to suggest that the former Speaker of the House is trying to say, oh the President of the United States is black and I'm white, I think is so far out of bounds and so untrue. This has to stop. You could disagree with the man on policy.
(CROSSTALK)
ED SCHULTZ, HOST: I`m curious.
CHRISTIE: But has to stop.
SCHULTZ: Gentlemen, I`m curious, Newt Gingrich calls President Obama a conman in an interview with "The National Review." He says, "This is a person who is fundamentally out of touch with how the world works, who happened to have played a wonderful con, as a result, which he is now president." What con? What are we talking about -- what`s he talking about here, Ron?
CHRISTIE: Well, the President of the United States said that he was going to change the tone of Washington and he was going to bring civility back. We're at the most polarized I think we`ve been in the country. The President said that his stimulus package.
SCHULTZ: That`s his fault? That`s President Obama`s fault.
CHRISTIE: Yes, actually, I do think that it`s President Obama`s fault.
SCHULTZ: Is that before or after the health care meeting? Come on now, Ron, you`re being a little tough on the president. He has reached out time and time again.
CHRISTIE: Let me answer your question, Ed.
SCHULTZ: All right, all right.
CHRISTIE: The fact of the matter is a President of the United States can change the tone, the way that leaders on both sides of the aisle deal with civic disagreements. I think if you look at President Bush and what we did with No Child Left Behind, he brought Ted Kennedy, a very liberal former senator. He brought George Miller, a former liberal congressman.
(CROSSTALK)
SCHULTZ: I got what you`re saying. So, how should President Obama have responded to Senator DeMint`s comment over a year ago that if this is his waterloo, if we could break him? How was the president supposed to -- he should have cut off all of the olive branches right there and he didn`t, you know.
CHRISTIE: I would have ignored it.
SCHULTZ: You would have ignored it but it was said on the right, Ron. It was said on the right, no doubt about it.
CHRISTIE: So what, Ed? So, what?
SCHULTZ: Are you talking about a dialogue in Washington? I want to know, where is the con? Where was the con? What was the big con that was committed by President Obama? And you`re saying.
CHRISTIE: The big con was perpetuated -- Jack, let me say one thing.
RICE: Yes.
CHRISTIE: The big con that was perpetuated was this President and his economic team, unemployment when he came on office was 6.7 percent. He said, if he spent nearly a trillion dollars, he`ll keep it beneath eight percent, now it`s at 9.6 percent. That is a con, that`s disingenuous.
SCHULTZ: That`s not a con. That`s a mis-projection. And the Bush people did it all of the time and you know it. Jack, you got final comment.
RICE: Yes, you`re absolutely right. At the end of the day, you turned around and blame President Obama for this. Was it his fault too that people were marching up and down in Washington with pictures of President Obama, with mustaches? That was his problem too, that was his fault?
CHRISTIE: They did it to Bush.
RICE: Yes, he is the one who changed all this.
CHRISTIE: Well, all I have to say is both sides need to cut it out. He`s an American citizen. Let`s finally get to work for the American people. That`s what we elected these people to do.
SCHULTZ: All right. Let`s talk about the Pelosi ad. Here it is, this is her opponent putting up an ad claiming that she`s a wicked witch. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: I wish there was a political party they could vote for with a.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: More courage.
UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: I don`t care about political parties. I just want a home that isn`t blown away by debt.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Hello, my pretty. I will say you from those evil republicans. But first, pay $18,000 for my downtown office and go into massive debt. The Wall Street bailouts and here are my monkeys to make you pay for it all.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Step back, everyone.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Oh, I`m melting.
UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: Thank you for saving us, who are you?
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: I`m John Dennis, I`m running for Congress.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Jack Rice, your thoughts on that.
RICE: Thank you for saving us. Yes that`s right, it was President Obama`s fault that he didn`t change the tone in Washington. Yes, this is reminiscent of what we have seen in the past. Again, this is that standard personality attack, a character attack that we`ve seen, rather than saying OK, let`s dig down to the facts. Now if that`s what we`re talking about, notice that this ad does none of that. Instead, it goes back to the things we heard before and I guess they`re pulling them out again because the midterms are here and that`s what they do.
SCHULTZ: Ron is that ad demeaning to women?
CHRISTIE: Oh, I don`t think that ad is demeaning to women. I just think it`s kind of dumb. I mean, it`s funny but I think that you should be campaigning for what you are for rather for what you`re against. You should be laying out a positive vision.
SCHULTZ: Wait a second. That`s what the republicans have been doing for the last three years is basically saying no.
CHRISTIE: Give me a break. I`m so tired of all the effigies that President Bush that were burned. That we never heard about anything from the left. They did it to Dick Cheney, they did it to Dr. Condoleezza Rice. I`m saying, the president of the United States needs to lead by example. His going around in Ohio and saying, people threat him like a dog. That`s not presidential. People want to hear the president talk in very confident tones and he sounds like a very thin-skinned individual.
SCHULTZ: Ron, you`re amazing, sir.
CHRISTIE: I`m sorry. He is.
(LAUGHTER)
SCHULTZ: You definitely got it down, Ron. I`ll give you credit.
Marvelously played, Mr. Christie.
In fairness to Schultz, unlike the cowardly Olbermann, he does bring on conservative guests. Christie is a frequent contributor to the "Ed Show," and is normally an oasis in the middle of a liberal desert.
Maybe if all the MSNBC hosts were required to have at least one conservative guest on each evening, the network's ratings would improve.
On the other hand, as Christie demonstrated, all it takes is one intelligent, right-thinking person on the set to expose the fallacies being conveyed by most of the anchors on this pathetic network.
