In preparation for Democrats possibly losing control of the Senate in the midterm election, Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd and his panel actually tried to preemptively spin such a defeat as a good thing for the Democratic Party. On Sunday, Todd proclaimed: "What everybody in Washington knows but won't say, and that is, secretly...I'm convinced, I think we know this, Hillary Clinton would love to see the Senate in Republican hands going into 2016, wouldn't she?" [Listen to the audio]
Politico's Jim VandeHei agreed: "I think a lot of Democrats would. They never say it in public. Because everybody knows virtually nothing is going to happen over the next two years, and Democrats, Hillary Clinton in particular, would love Republicans, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, to actually have to take ownership of some of the dysfunction."
Continuing on the assumption that GOP control of Senate would automatically result in Washington "dysfunction," liberal Republican strategist Mike Murphy chimed in: "There's also a fear that it'll just be the American Idol of grievance....it could read really bad." He outlandishly declared: "Harry Reid may throw the Senate, you can argue it's in his interest."
The Washington Post's Nia-Malika Henderson joined in the desperate effort to depict a huge potential Democratic loss as a setback for Republicans: "...if you're Marco Rubio, if you're any of these guys, Ted Cruz, who are thinking about running in 2016, you're going to have to run on that dysfunction. You're gonna need to run away from it as well."
Todd teed up New York Times writer Helene Cooper: "And Helene, a lot easier for Hillary Clinton to run against a Republican congress than play this weird Kabuki dance with Barack Obama."
Cooper gave a tongue-in-cheek response that prompted laughter from her fellow panelists: "Chuck, I believe that Hillary Clinton is not going to put craven politics over her wish for a better life for all of us as Americans."
Here is a transcript of the September 14 exchange:
11:27 AM ET
(...)CHUCK TODD: Alright, let me end with a little politics. [Mike] Murphy and [Jim] VandeHei, I'll give you guys the first shot at this. What everybody in Washington knows but won't say, and that is, secretly, VandeHei, I'm convinced, I think we know this, Hillary Clinton would love to see the Senate in Republican hands going into 2016, wouldn't she?
JIM VANDEHEI [POLITICO]: I think a lot of Democrats would. They never say it in public. Because everybody knows virtually nothing is going to happen over the next two years, and Democrats, Hillary Clinton in particular, would love Republicans, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, to actually have to take ownership of some of the dysfunction.
TODD: And just the reverse, secretly, there are a whole bunch of Republicans who are thinking to themselves, "Boy, if we come up a seat short, maybe it'll allow Democrats to share in the dysfunction."
MIKE MURPHY [REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST]: Yeah. There's a huge opportunity for us if we win the majority, and I think the odds are better we do than we don't, to grab the microphone and talk about middle class economics.
TODD: Oh, yeah, uh-huh. And they'll do that when?
MURPHY: That's the opportunity. There's also a fear that it'll just be the American Idol of grievance, and if we do that with the bad calendar we have in '16, the bad states in the Senate, it could read really bad. Harry Reid may throw the Senate, you can argue it's in his interest.
TODD: Well, and I wonder, there are some Republicans, Nia, who you think, they'd love to win the six seats and make sure it's not Mitch McConnell that's the face, too.
NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON [WASHINGTON POST]: Yeah, that's right. Because, you know, if you're Marco Rubio, if you're any of these guys, Ted Cruz, who are thinking about running in 2016, you're going to have to run on that dysfunction. You're gonna need to run away from it as well. So, you know, it's a dicey-
TODD: And Helene, a lot easier for Hillary Clinton to run against a Republican congress than play this weird Kabuki dance with Barack Obama.
HELENE COOPER [NEW YORK TIMES]: Chuck, I believe that Hillary Clinton is not going to put craven politics...
[LAUGHTER]
COOPER: ...over her wish for a better life for all of us as Americans.
TODD: Did you say with – okay don't – you're not supposed to smirk.
