Feigning interest in Republican presidential prospects, on Monday night NBC Political Director Chuck Todd contended the decisions by Donald Trump and Mike Huckabee to forgo presidential runs leaves “an opening now for the economic populous, a sort of confrontational fire-breather, if you will, in the Republican Party.”
Todd soon repeated his disparaging “fire-breather” formulation: “There is a vast opening now for the social conservative, sort of what Pat Buchanan was in 1992, this fire-breathing, pitch-fork carrying, I'm mad and heck and not going to take it anymore Republican.”
Just the kind NBC News staff would be sure to denigrate and ridicule.
From the Monday, May 16 NBC Nightly News:
CHUCK TODD: ...Both candidates leave an opening now for the economic populous, a sort of confrontational fire-breather, if you will, in the Republican Party, that's missing.
BRIAN WILLIAMS: Well, who do we have and who now emerges because of these two, call them vacancies?
TODD: Well, we have two questions marks. Number one, on the establishment side of the aisle, it’s this Mitch Daniels question. He’s the Governor of Indiana, a lot of former Bush 43 officials are pushing him hard to run. He hasn't made a decision. It's a family decision. If he doesn't run, you're going to see a lot of pressure being put on New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. In this economic populous wing of the party, this sort of blue-collar wing of the party, Michele Bachmann, the Minnesota Congresswoman, she’s now leaning more closely toward running.
Of course, we haven't heard from Sarah Palin. At some point, she is going to announce she's not going to run, or maybe she decides to do this, but there is a vast opening now for the social conservative, sort of what Pat Buchanan was in 1992, this fire-breathing, pitch-fork carrying, I'm mad and heck and not going to take it anymore Republican.
