On Monday, CBS This Morning did its best to play up how the current battle among House Republicans to pick their next Speaker could do lasting damage to the party’s 2016 White House chances. Co-host Anthony Mason introduced the segment by declaring “there is new concern that the Republican disarray on Capitol Hill could hurt the party's presidential chances.”
Mason then turned to reporter Nancy Cordes who continued to play up the alleged “disarray” among Republicans in Congress. After the CBS reporter stressed that Congressman Paul Ryan has so far refused to run for Speaker of the House, Cordes proclaimed the Wisconsin Republican “can't escape the desperate pleas from Republicans to lead their fractured party.”
Cordes then played a clip of Congressman Peter King (R-N.Y.) expressing the view that most of Paul Ryan’s colleagues think he’s a “good Republican” before the CBS reporter played up the problems the next Speaker of the House will face:
That’s been an occupational hazard for the current House Speaker must sometimes compromise with Democrats. According to the new CBS News poll just 23% of Republican voters approve of the job John Boehner is doing.
Later in the segment, Cordes noted that the battle for Speaker of the House comes as “House Republicans are also dealing with new accusations that the House Benghazi committee has been too focused on Hillary Clinton and the State Department.”
The CBS reporter went on to note that “[i]n a civil complainant, a former committee investigator and Air Force reservist named Bradley Podliska accuses Republican leaders to “pressure him to focus his investigation on Secretary Clinton.” For her part, Cordes did conclude her piece by quoting Chairman Trey Gowdy who rejected the accusations:
But in a statement, the committee's chairman Trey Gowdy, aggressively denied Podliska's claim saying that “he himself he was focused on Clinton improperly” and that Podliska was instructed to stop.
See relevant transcript below.
CBS This Morning
October 12, 2015
ANTHONY MASON: Our new poll shows that two outsider Republicans, Trump and Carson, are well ahead of the rest of the field. Texas Senator Ted Cruz is in third place with just 9% support. Cruz is followed by Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, and Carly Fiorina but there is new concern that the Republican disarray on Capitol Hill could hurt the party's presidential chances. Nancy Cordes is on Capitol Hill. Nancy good morning.
NANCY CORDES: Good morning. And Congress left town for a week without any resolution on who will hold arguably the most powerful position on Capitol Hill. An aide to Wisconsin's Paul Ryan tells me that over the weekend, he listened to all of the calls from people begging him to get into the Speaker's race but that, so far, he has not changed his mind.
PAUL RYAN: Right now I'm just going to catch my flight so I can make it home for dinner.
CORDES: He may have left Washington, but Ryan can't escape the desperate pleas from Republicans to lead their fractured party.
PETER KING: It will be hard for people to confront Paul Ryan and say he is not a good Republican.
CORDES: That’s been an occupational hazard for the current House Speaker must sometimes compromise with Democrats. According to the new CBS News poll just 23% of Republican voters approve of the job John Boehner is doing.
DONALD TRUMP: The Republicans never win.
CORDES: The party's presidential front-runner was lukewarm on Ryan too when he sat down with Face the Nation’s John Dickerson.
JOHN DICKERSON: So, you’d be okay with Speaker Paul Ryan?
TRUMP: I would be okay. I would be okay. It may not be him. I mean, they have a couple of people in there, I’m not going to mention names, people I know that are really tough and really smart.
CORDES: House Republicans are also dealing with new accusations that the House Benghazi committee has been too focused on Hillary Clinton and the State Department.
BRAD PODLISKA: This has become a partisan investigation.
CORDES: In a civil complainant, a former committee investigator and Air Force reservist named Bradley Podliska accuses Republican leaders to “pressure him to focus his investigation on Secretary Clinton.”
PODLISKA: I was fired for trying to conduct an objective nonpartisan thorough investigation.
CORDES: But in a statement, the committee's chairman Trey Gowdy, aggressively denied Podliska's claim saying that “he himself he was focused on Clinton improperly” and that Podliska was instructed to stop.
