NBC - The McLaughlin Group

On NBC’s McLaughlin Group, Pat Buchanan and guests talk about Obama, Jesse Jackson and McCain. At the end of the clip Pat is asked to makes a prediction:

“The Republican Convention is going to have an exciting side convention. I think Ron Paul’s crowd is coming out. They could have 6,000 to 10,000 there for the Campaign for Liberty; a big rally Tuesday of the Republican Convention. I don’t think Ron Paul is going to endorse the Republican candidate.”

PARTIAL TRANSCRIPT - July 11, 2008:

DR. MCLAUGHLIN: Issue Two — I’m Sorry, So Sorry.

REV. JESSE JACKSON: (From videotape.) In this thing I have said in a hot-mike statement that’s contributed as a distraction, I offer an apology for that, because I don’t want harm nor hurt to come to this campaign. It represents too much of the dreams of so many who paid such great prices.

DR. MCLAUGHLIN: Reverend Jesse Jackson delivered this apology after this unfortunate remark about Barack Obama was caught on a live camera and microphone.

REV. JACKSON: (From videotape.) Barack has been talking down to black people. I want to cut his — (deleted) — off. Barack, he’s has been talking down to black people.

DR. MCLAUGHLIN: Question — Does this contretemps help or hurt Obama? Michelle Bernard.

MS. BE
RNARD: Oh, I think this is — I said earlier this week, Jesse Jackson is the gift that just keeps giving for Barack Obama. I think this is absolutely nothing but good news for Barack Obama.

DR. MCLAUGHLIN: Why? Why? MS. BERNARD: Because he is the presumptive Democratic nominee. If he wins the election, his challenge will be not only to represent African-Americans, but he will be representing the entire nation. He represents a completely different generational shift from what we saw coming out of our 1960s civil rights black leadership in the sense that he has no fear about going out in public and talking about the importance of personal responsibility, not only for the nation as a whole, but for the black community. And that is completely different than Jesse Jackson.

DR. MCLAUGHLIN: Okay, let’s nail this thing down. And here’s a sample of what Jackson apparently sees as Obama’s disparaging the black community.

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESUMPTIVE DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: (From videotape.

) If we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll admit that too many fathers are also missing. Too many fathers are MIA. Too many fathers are AWOL — missing from too many lives and too many homes. They’ve abandoned their responsibilities. They’re acting like boys instead of men. And the foundations of our family have suffered because of it. You and I know this is true everywhere, but nowhere is it more true than in the African-American community.

DR. MCLAUGHLIN: Question — Does it frost Jackson, Jesse Jackson, that someone like Obama, who fits the stereotype blacks once labeled as an “Oreo” — a black on the outside, a white on the inside — that an “Oreo” should be the beneficiary of the long civil rights struggle, which Jesse Jackson spent his lifetime fighting for? Peter Beinart.

MR. BEINART: Who knows what Jesse Jackson is thinking? But that’s a completely unfair depiction of Barack Obama. The genius of Barack Obama is that he moves seamlessly between the African-American world and the white world in a way that even Bill Clinton couldn’t possibly match.

And the tragedy of this experience is that you know who’s spoken very eloquently for many, many years about personal responsibility in the black community? Jesse Jackson. He of all people should recognize, in fact, that what Barack Obama is saying is not contrary to the message of the civil rights movement. It is in keeping with that message.

DR. MCLAUGHLIN: Let’s nail it down a little bit more for the sake of Jackson. The question is this. Jackson’s point of contention is this. This is the exit question. The point of contention is that instead of Obama solely lecturing African-Americans on parental duty, particularly fathers, he should also give equal attention to the large and, many believe, prejudicial incarceration rate for blacks, their lack of economic opportunities and other public policy issues that limit choices for black males. Why doesn’t Obama hit that as hard as he hits individual parental responsibility? That’s what Jackson is complaining about.

MR. BEINART: Barack Obama doesn’t talk about jobs and health care? He talks about it all the time. If you want him to talk about the fact that there are too many people in prison, then you’re asking him to do something that will lose him the election. That is politically — no serious political strategist –

DR. MCLAUGHLIN: Oh, oh. So he’s — (inaudible).

MR. BEINART: He’s a man trying to win the presidency, John.

DR. MCLAUGHLIN: He’s exactly what Jeremiah Wright says he is. He will do whatever is necessary to win.

MR. BEINART: He’s a practical politician.

MS. BERNARD: He has been saying this forever.

MS. CLIFT: This is a generational shift. Jesse Jackson Jr. put out a statement basically saying, “Dad, time to leave the stage.” There is a disconnect in terms of style and tactics from the older civil rights generation to the generation that Obama is from and that he’s trying to attract.

DR. MCLAUGHLIN: Does Jackson have a legitimate point?

MR. BUCHANAN: No, he doesn’t.

DR. MCLAUGHLIN: Why?

MR. BUCHANAN: I’ll tell you why, John. Here’s why. What Barack Obama is saying is a message that needs to be heard. It’s the Bill Cosby message. It is “Look, this is our responsibility. These are our families. The white society is not responsible for our kids dropping out of schools or using drugs or going on welfare. We are.” What Jesse Jackson says is, “The white community is responsible, and they’ve got to solve our problems.”

DR. MCLAUGHLIN: Isn’t this the oddity of the century where a Barack Obama is a conservative and Jesse Jackson is a liberal?

MR. BUCHANAN: Well, Jesse Jackson used to talk this way.

DR. MCLAUGHLIN: Isn’t that an oddity?

MS. BERNARD: It is an oddity, but I want to go back to the point you made about whether or not Barack Obama is an “Oreo,” because if Barack Obama is an “Oreo,” then every member of this generation of African-Americans is an “Oreo,” because we stand on the shoulders of the people who fought for our rights. And all of us say that you cannot blame “the man” or white racism for everything that ails the black community.

DR. MCLAUGHLIN: But what about changing public policy where it needs to be changed?

MR. BUCHANAN: Well, public policy isn’t the problem. MS. CLIFT: As a former –

MS. BERNARD: If I could finish my point, when Jesse Jackson came out and said when he gave his, quote-unquote, “apology” the next day was, “Barack Obama should be demanding more government programs for African-Americans.” And that’s wrong.

MS. CLIFT: And Jack White, a former Time Magazine writer, says that it’s disorienting for the black community when “the man” might be the guy in the Oval Office. And so everybody’s making some adjustments here. But Barack Obama is handling his role beautifully, and that is to relate to America as a broad population.

DR. MCLAUGHLIN: Issue Three — McCain in the Gaffe Grinder.

Another gaffe this week, this time from one of Senator John McCain’s senior advisers, Phil Gramm, who played down the economic woes facing Americans.

FORMER SENATOR PHIL GRAMM (R-TX): (From videotape.) You’ve heard of a mental depression. This is a mental recession. We’ve never had more natural advantages than we have today. We’ve sort of become a nation of whiners.

DR. MCLAUGHLIN: McCain quickly drew a red line separating himself from Gramm.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ, presumptive Republican presidential nominee): (From videotape.) Phil Gramm does not speak for me. I speak for me.

DR. MCLAUGHLIN: Did McCain have to be so definitive because of the following remarks made five months ago?

SEN. MCCAIN: (From videotape.) There is no one in America that is more respected on the issue of economics than Senator Phil Gramm. So I’m honored that you are here, Phil.

DR. MCLAUGHLIN: McCain was then asked whether there was a place for Gramm in the McCain administration.

SEN. MCCAIN: (From videotape.) I think Senator Gramm would be in serious consideration for ambassador to Belarus.

DR. MCLAUGHLIN: Clever on McCain’s part, but Obama may have been cleverer.

SEN. OBAMA: (From videotape.) America already has one Dr. Phil. (Laughter.) We don’t need another one when it comes to the economy. We need somebody to actually solve the economy. It’s not just a figment of your imagination. DR. MCLAUGHLIN: Question — McCain once said that he didn’t know much about economics. Is the combination of that admission, compounded with the Gramm fiasco, plus Obama’s witty and sarcastic exploitation of it, altogether a mortal blow to John McCain’s candidacy? Peter Beinart.

MR. BEINART: That’s a little bit too strong, but I don’t think that much too strong. I mean, I think this is devastating.

DR. MCLAUGHLIN: Economy is the number one issue facing America.

MR. BEINART: John McCain cannot win the presidency unless he wins the economy. This reminds me of Jimmy Carter’s “malaise” comment. When you start blaming the American people for the fact that the American people are struggling –

MS. CLIFT: Right.

MR. BEINART: First of all, it shows the McCain campaign cannot get its act together. It’s been terribly managed from the beginning. They’ve got surrogates going all over the place.

DR. MCLAUGHLIN: What should McCain do now with regard to this economic problem that he has?

MR. BUCHANAN: Hey, John –

MR. BEINART: Something he’s not capable of doing, which is speaking compellingly himself about the economy. (Laughter.)

DR. MCLAUGHLIN: He’s got to get rid of his current staff, economic staff, and get some new people in there who can give him the look, at least –

MR. BEINART: The big problem is himself.

MR. BUCHANAN: I’ll tell you why this is deadly, John. This is deadly because McCain, to win, has got to have Michigan, Pennsylvania and Ohio, two of those three. Those people can’t stand NAFTA. And he was up there trying to court them at the same time Gramm says, “It’s a figment of your imagination and it’s a mental recession you’ve got.” I don’t see how McCain can do it. The way he could do it is get rid of –

MS. CLIFT: This is deadly.

DR. MCLAUGHLIN: Before you go completely bananas about the negatives of McCain on this issue, bear in mind that June was his best fund-raising month. He got $22 million. Did you know that?

MR. BEINART: Barack Obama got that in an hour. MS. CLIFT: Yeah, and that was Barack Obama’s worst month.

MR. BEINART: He got that in an hour.

MS. CLIFT: This is deadly for McCain because this is an election that’s going to turn on the economy. And he has been good friends with Phil Gramm for 25 years, and what Gramm said is a window into the thinking of a lot of Republicans, mind you.

MR. BUCHANAN: I’m afraid it is.

MS. CLIFT: And I’m not sure that McCain is that much out of touch, but he sure looks it.

DR. MCLAUGHLIN: McCain has minueted from the left to the center and over to the right.

MS. BERNARD: Yes.

DR. MCLAUGHLIN: You know the whole list of items in that category, right?

MS. BERNARD: Yes.

DR. MCLAUGHLIN: Do you think that Obama is fading a little because of that?

MS. BERNARD: (Laughs.) No.

DR. MCLAUGHLIN: Do you see any signs of that at all?

MS. BERNARD: Obama fading? No, I absolutely –

DR. MCLAUGHLIN: Because McCain continues to hurt himself –

MS. BERNARD: Yeah. Look –

DR. MCLAUGHLIN: — or because Obama has –

MS. BERNARD: It’s Christmas in July for Barack Obama this week, particularly between Jesse Jackson and Phil Gramm’s statements. It’s like talk about death for surrogate for John McCain. I mean, he has a compelling story to tell, but when it comes to the economy and also making the American public feel that Republicans understand your pain, the message has been completely lost. They need to get rid of the surrogates and teach John McCain how to speak in a compelling manner.

DR. MCLAUGHLIN: We’ll be right back with predictions.

(Announcements.)

DR. MCLAUGHLIN: Predictions. Pat.

MR. BUCHANAN: The Republican Convention is going to have an exciting side convention. I think Ron Paul’s crowd is coming out. They could have 6,000 to 10,000 there of a Campaign for Liberty; a big rally Tuesday of the Republican Convention. I don’t think Ron Paul is going to endorse the Republican candidate.

DR. MCLAUGHLIN: Eleanor.

MS. CLIFT: With Ted Kennedy in his last term in the Senate, the new populist liberal lion in the Senate will be Virginia Senator James Webb.

DR. MCLAUGHLIN: Michelle.

MS. BERNARD: I think that we will continue to see the House Democrats bring legislation forward and that people who previously supported Barack Obama — namely, Hillary Clinton — will continue to take opposite votes of what Senator Obama does.

DR. MCLAUGHLIN: Peter.

MR. BEINART: The person who’s getting more and more public talk in terms of Barack Obama’s vice presidential nominee is Al Gore.

DR. MCLAUGHLIN: Interesting. The Russian-Georgian inflamed and potential flash-point standoff on the region of Abkhazia on the Black Sea will be settled by the two nations, with Georgia pertaining sovereignty but Abkhazia itself almost totally autonomous.

Bye-bye.

SOURCE: http://www.mclaughlin.com/library/transcript.htm?id=669