Mum’s The Word
by digby
When I saw the roundtable line-up this morning on Meet The Press, I was actually interested, for once. Since Monsignor Tim insists on having David Brody, a “journalist” from Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcast “Network” on, I thought at least we could get some inside information on the reported unhappiness among the religious right with the Republican front runner.
Russert didn’t even bring it up. Neither did Brody. Neither did anyone else.
They talked about many aspects of the presidential race but not that one, with Brody opining on both Romney and Thompson and their issues with “hypocrisy:”
MR. RUSSERT: And what generally happens in a campaign is that Giuliani’s opponent would say, “Hold on a second. Those aren’t the view you had when you were mayor of New York.” The difficultly is, Mitt Romney is one of his opponents, and Mitt Romney, when he was governor or Massachusetts, had many similar views. The Log Cabin Republicans, who are gay Republicans, have purchased an ad what they believe is the truth about Mitt Romney. Let’s watch that.
(Videotape of Romney political ad)
Voice #2: For years, he’s fought conservatives and religious extremists. Mitt Romney:
MR. MITT ROMNEY: I believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country. I believe that since Roe v. Wade has been the law for 20 years, that we should sustain and support it.
Voice #2: Mitt Romney opposed the gun lobby. Even Ronald Reagan.
MR. ROMNEY: Look, I was an independent during the time of Reagan-Bush. I’m not trying to return to Reagan-Bush.
Voice #2: A record fighting the religious right. A pro-choice record. Massachusetts values. Mitt Romney.
(End videotape)
MR. RUSSERT: David Brody:
MR. BRODY: Massachusetts values. You know, you know, I would say this, that listen, he has so many people against him, so many groups. I mean, it’s not just the Log Cabin Republicans, but it’s the Massachusetts Democrats, it’s the Democratic National Committee, it’s his fellow Republicans that are running against him. I mean, you can make the case that Mitt Romney has more people going—and groups going against him than Rudy Giuliani at this point. Now, the Romney campaign will say, “Well, that’s because they know he’s a threat and they know he’s going to win.” But what Mitt Romney needs to do is change the narrative. And the question is, has the flip-flop narrative that’s been so prevalent over the last six months, will that continue? He wants to make it on the competent CEO narrative. You know, the guy that’s a—that can come into Washington and change things. That will be very important as we go forward in Iowa.
First of all, it’s disgusting to hear any of these people, including the “journalists” get away with derisively using the term “Masachusetts values” on television without somebody calling them out for its divisiveness. It is a derogatory right wing talking point. The Larry Craig Republicans should be ashamed of themselves — the people of Massachusetts were the first in the union whose values translated to full equality for gay people.
But I digress. Here you have Brody talking about a GOP gay rights group and Mitt Romney. No mention of the Religious Right CNP confab last week where the Village clerics all went nuts and threatened a third party bid if the party nominated a pro-choice, pro gay marraige candidate. Romney’s flip flopping — and that ad — speak directly to that issue.
Then Russert called on him again to talk about Thompson, who is also suspect on the issue of choice because he once lobbied for Planned Parenthood — and for whom James Dobson seems to have a particular antipathy:
MR. RUSSERT: David Brody, Fred Thompson was in Des Moines talking about gay marriage, and his answer is that if the states decide they want gay marriage, and the legislature passes it, the governor signs it, so be it. How’s that going to play with evangelical Christians?
MR. BRODY: Yeah, I mean, I think to a certain degree it was a little flip, those words, “so be it.” You know, the reality is, the Thompson campaign will say, “Well, well, who’s the better choice?” I mean, I mean, they were concerned for a bit here with Mike Huckabee. But when those numbers came out where he raised about a million dollars, there seems to be more of a, of a, a wait and see attitude now with Huckabee. So there’s, there’s a concern, there’s no doubt about that. But I think with Thompson, you know, he’s trying to fit the federalism issue regarding marriage, and he’s trying to weave the two together. And you know, for Fred Thompson, this is all about first principles. I mean, what he’s going to say is, whatever the situation is, whether it be marriage or anything else, it’s going to fit my first principles. Will that be enough? Will this—the idea that it’s generic enough for the voters is—really does remain to be seen.
No mention in the entire round table of the Dobson op-ed in the NY Times, no mention of the threatened schism on the right. Even though they had a “journalist” from the religious right media there at the table, they didn’t say a word about the unrest among the powerful christian conservatives. Why not?
In any case, Brody should not be on the show after writing this anyway. He works for a crazy man who calls for foreign heads of state to be assassinated and says the US state department should be nuked. And this:
To see Americans become followers of, quote, Islam, is nothing short of insanity. Terry, you know, I’ve been in Africa many, many, many, many times, and you see people over here learning Swahili, for example. Swahili was the language of the slave traders. The Islamic people, the Arabs, were the ones who captured Africans, put them in slavery, and sent them to America as slaves. Why would people in America want to embrace the religion of the slavers, and the language of the slavers?
That a man who works for that lunatic’s alleged “news” network is now welcomed to MTP as one of the boys says to me that Russert, like the rest of the Village, is as usual way out of step with the rest of the country, which is no longer interested in catering to the Christian Right. Naturally, the media is determined to become even more hypocritically sanctimonious now that the public has tired of listening to it.
The Religious Right is threatening to bolt the Republican party and the flagship Village gasbag show doesn’t even mention it. This is the first show since September 9th that Russert hasn’t discussed the Move On ad.
*** Meanwhile you have Margaret Carlson going on about Fred Thompson being an intellectual, which is just funny. But then Margaret has always been hot for Frederick of Hollywood:
The New York Post, of all venues, reported recently that the Tennessee senator had of late become something of a sex object for “Capitol Hill hotties,” one of whom complained about “all these other women” who wouldn’t leave the senator alone. “I can’t get up to get a cocktail at a party without coming back and finding some girl sitting at my chair,” the woman was quoted as saying.
Margaret Carlson, the writer for Time and host for CNN, is described this way: “She calls his apartment all the time. It’s the joke all over Washington that Margaret has this huge crush on him. And Fred is clearly not interested.” (To which the gallant Thompson responded: “I generally don’t comment on these matters, but as it relates to the statements made about my friend Margaret Carlson, I should be so lucky.”)
The woman quoted in the first paragraph is reportedly his future wife and campaign manager, Jerri. I guess she put Margaret in her place, didn’t she? And once again, I wonder what is wrong with the Village that they ever thought Frederick was a “sex object.”
Who are these people?
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, about what it means to be a majority party Democrat living under the Big Tent. It requires coalition building and compromise and negotiation, for sure. But there are some issues that are so fundamental to what being a Democrat 