Fox News analyst Juan Williams re-appeared on the radio network that fired him (NPR) on Friday. Halfway through the domestic-politics hour on the Diane Rehm show, they discussed the hullaballoo Karl Rove started by questioning Hillary Clinton’s transparency on her health.
While former Fox reporter Major Garrett said Democrats railed against Rove for "a completely illegitimate and, you know, indefensible approach to politicking," Williams insisted that the first-woman-president appeal of the Hillary 2016 campaign is a “steamroller” that is too strong for Republican criticism:
WILLIAMS: Well, I think that Bill Clinton though was very forceful in saying, this is part of a Republican attack on a candidate that looks at this point as if she would steamroll to the presidency in '16.
TOM GJELTEN, fill-in host: The polls show her running strongly against every Republican, right?
WILLIAMS: There is no Republican that's even close. Jeb Bush would be the closest. Chris Christie has appeal to independents, but that has been sagging, especially in recent days with all the budget troubles in New Jersey. And, you know, I'm not even mentioning the Bridgegate scandal. But the larger point here is that Republicans are looking for every way in which they can undermine the potential Hillary Clinton candidacy.
I mean, everything is directed at Hillary Clinton. And don't forget that, when Hillary Clinton -- this is what Bill Clinton said -- when they asked her to come testify and she -- at the time, that's when she had the concussion -- you know, they said, oh, she's faking it. She really doesn't have a concussion. But now they're saying, oh, yeah, now -- she had a terrible concussion, and she may be damaged. So it goes both ways, but it always comes back to the central point, Tom. They're attacking and undermining a potential candidacy by someone who looks as if -- as the potential first woman president would be a steamroller.
