Nicolle Wallace has yet again demonstrated why she's a Morning Joe kind of Republican.
Two weeks ago, even after the disastrous rollout of Obamacare, Nicolle Wallace wasn't sure she opposed the big-government monstrosity. Today, when Joe Scarborough alluded to Clinton's infamous "what difference does it make?" line about Benghazi, there was Wallace riding to Hillary's defense: "I don't think she meant it that way." View the video after the jump.
The issue had arisen in the context of the revelation in Mark Halperin and John Heilemann's soon-to-be-released book about the 2012 presidential election that the Obama campaign had considered replacing Joe Biden with Hillary as the veep candidate. Biden's spot was saved by the fact that research revealed that Hillary wouldn't help the ticket much. When Mika Brzezinski wondered why, Scarborough suggested as an explanation Hillary's mishandling of Benghazi, citing her infamous "what difference does it make?" [which he slightly mis-remembered as "what does it matter?]
That's when Wallace weighed in to help Hillary off the hook.
For good measure, Wallace gleefully joined in a shot Scarborough took at Sarah Palin. When Scarborough suggested that vice-presidential candidates can hurt a campaign, Wallace, who famously warred with Sarah Palin while acting as her putative advisor during the 2008 campaign, broke into the big grin shown in the screencap, adding: "I edited myself on that, but thank you, there's that."
Think what a better show Morning Joe would be if Wallace were replaced by a real conservative. My nominee: Mark Levin. Yours?
Note: although Scarborough cited Benghazi as a real electoral vulnerability for Clinton, he actually agreed with Wallace's claim that "what difference does it make?" was not what she meant.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Fortunately for Vice-President Biden, research suggested the move wasn't going to help the president's chances. I wonder why?
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Hillary Clinton's approval rating is down to 46% right now, I saw. Hillary Clinton
--
BRZEZINSKI: This is so interesting.
SCARBOROUGH: I have great admiration for her.
BRZEZINSKI: I do, too. I think she's going to run.
SCARBOROUGH: I think Benghazi, though, is a serious-- it's a lot more difficult for her to get around that than the mainstream media want to admit. They think it's some crazy right-wing conspiracy, no it's not. And I'll tell you, that moment she said what does it matter, I'm telling you --
BRZEZINSKI: About the Pakistan? What was it?
SCARBOROUGH: No, no: Benghazi.
BRZEZINSKI: Oh, it was Benghazi, yeah.
NICOLLE WALLACE: I don't think she meant it that way.
SCARBOROUGH: She didn't, but it's one of those lines she will regret.
WALLACE: The other thing is, it doesn't make a difference. I think that at the end of the day, swapping out your Vice-President looks more desperate than the benefit you may gain from having a different person on the ticket.
SCARBOROUGH [laughingly gesturing to Wallace]: Vice-presidential candidates can hurt, right?
--
WALLACE [laughing]: I edited myself but thank you. There's that.
BRZEZINSKI: That's a good point.
