Keith Olbermann has been tough on Senator Hillary Clinton during the Democratic presidential primary, but on the eve of the Pennsylvania primary, she appeared on Countdown to talk about the campaign, her policies and some of the back and forth with Senator Barack Obama. Olbermann gave Clinton ample time to make her points — which she used to her advantage — and asked her a few tough questions, but no follow ups, by his own admission later in the show.
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Olbermann asks Clinton about her response to Barack Obama’s comment that all three candidates are better than George Bush, and about her presidential threshold comment. Hillary chose to focus more on Senator McCain, saying his views on issues like Iraq and the economy would actually make him worse than Bush:
“…The problem is that he has the wrong ideas. He would continue the Bush policies on Iraq, which I think is wrong for the country. And, in fact, his statement about his being willing to leave troops in Iraq for up to 100 years is something I absolutely reject. That would be worse than President Bush.”
UPDATE: (Nicole) Although Olbermann acknowledged that the limited time frame from which he was working hampered his ability to ask follow up questions, the fact that he allowed Clinton without pause to continue with her aggressive statements against Iran based on false allegations of a restarted nuclear weapons program (which he also mentioned after the interview was contradicted by the intelligence) is really unacceptable, especially after giving George Stephanopoulos and Charles Gibson a hard time for their debate moderation. According to The Politico (I know, I know):
Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson said earlier that Clinton didn’t intend to refer to nuclear weapons in her first discussion of Iran today, but later on Olbermann, she made what seemed like a very clear nuclear threat against the gulf state.
“Massive retaliation,” as a reader pointed out, is a term of art in nuclear strategy.and a cornerstone of nuclear deterrence…
Filed Under: Campaigns/Elections, Countdown/Keith Olbermann, Election 08, Hillary Clinton, MSNBC
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KO, you’re not getting soft on us, are you? Say it ain’t so!
KO wussed out.
Shame on that olberman! He should have used Obama talking points! Obama supporters are becoming more and more cry babies about these things. Do they actually think the Republican’s WON’T land on Obama with both feet if he becomes the Democratic nominee for president? Please…Brealistic!
Is it me, or does HRC’s mouth look like that of a ventriloquist’s dummy?
It’s moot anyway, if Iran attacks Israel, we won’t have to do anything…Israel will level Teheran.
andrew @ 5:
Gold star 4 u, Andrew. This country is so war hungry it’s disgusting.
I’m surprised he did not hand her a check and say “here is for seven more schools” like he did with Bubba last year. This clown is a feckless panty waist and nobody here will admit it.
What I found funny about the whole “commander-in-chief” test, and the lack of follow-up from KO was very disappointing in this regard, is that she basically did an about face. She said what’s really important isn’t experience. What is important is judgment. Sure, we all know John McCain has lots of experience but look how bad his judgment is. But by the way, even though Obama’s judgment has been even better than mine, look at how much more experience I have than Obama.
This woman is a snake.
I could not believe my ears — I didn’t hear any follow-up questions about Iran. Keith, you just let her drone on about Iran building up its nuclear weapons. You gotta do better.
I was thinking that KO was really letting her just go on and on when I was watching the rerun online. A shame…
I was also disappointed in the interview because Hillary was allowed to drone on and on, thereby only answering a few questions instead of many. I did, however, like the remarks afterward with Alter and Robinson that I thought brought up some good points. If he had nailed her, it would have backfired on him I am afraid. While I wish he could have been tougher, the end game comments somewhat salvaged the show.
“All three of us are better than Bush.” -Obama
DUH! But not a smart thing to say. Especially when Hillary said nice things about McCain (also stupid), Obama went apoplectic.
So….These are the best three we could come up with??? This is it?? Our best and brightest?
Amazing.
Dare I say, at least KO had the nut sack to ask clinton some tough questions, and then revisit some of her seemingly odd responses - like her cackling reply to her visit to Richard Mellon Scaife’s conservative pos.
KO did not wuss out. You know, we can’t have it both ways: criticizing ABC moderators (and ABC) for not asking substantive questions and not letting candidates speak substantively about issues, and then criticizing KO when he attempts to fairly give time to a candidate. I’m sure he would do the same for Obama. I’d rather see an interviewer give time to a candidate to make their points than follow the script of so many in Mainstream Media — cut off speakers, trivialize issues, ask stupid questions, etc. Sometimes you just give the time, hear what they have to say, and if it is bad, it is bad. I think what KO showed was much more restraint than ABC, and he erred perhaps in trying to be too fair. He doesn’t have to be an attack dog all the time.
I feel sorry for her - she must know she’s on the way out. Her recent failings and misdirections just show her desperation.
I don’t mind seeing a kinder, gentler KO here. She’s losing her own battle without his help.
Maybe later today…
thank goodness the people of PA will put a lid on this liar, and tonight, her adolescent tantrum (ie fight to the finish) will be over…..the super delegates will shut it down after she loses PA
N @ 14:
Exactly. (’N’ abides.)
The thing that stood out for me was her inappropriate giggling. WTF? I say let her drone on about Iran. Makes her look like the warmonger that she really is.
Who’s she trying to act so tough for? Left leaning republicans? I would hope Democrats, in general, aren’t impressed by her nukem all mentality.
I object to that ad above for “earn cash” He looks specially like Obama and there might be a negative connotation inferred! :)
Boy, if these people think Hillary is too hard on their new “wonder boy” wait till the Republican’s take him apart at the seams!
I think Olbermann did as well as could be expected under the circumstances.
As for Clinton…not so much.
I believe in redemption, too. I also believe in deathbed conversions. But only when someone has actually done something to redeem themselves or converted to something else. Scaife has done no such thing.
It’s a cute way to deflect the question, but it’s BS.
Watch the Chain of Custody
http://verifiedvoting.org
this will really help…..
huh?
DOJ to monitor Pennsylvania primaries.
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/.....primaries/
Justice Department officials will be monitoring today’s primary elections in Philadelphia “to ensure compliance with federal voting rights laws.”
She is so justifiably confident of her facility with the important issues, she can do a televised interview with a KNOWN new-found Clinton-hater and Obama-lover like Olbermann the night before a critical primary and smack him down on every Obama Campaign Spin he throws at her.
She’s a lioness. And the best candidate for president among the three.
Where was Obama hiding last night? Has he been on Fixed News Channel yet?
The Global Loop @ 10:
Can you watch a whole show online? If so where?
Keith Olbermann is a sell out and this interview proves it. He is playing the same pandering to emotions game that OReilly plays only for the other side. The Hillary Campaign is trying to get votes with her “obliterate Iran” comment from the right of the party, and trying to get votes from the left with this appearance on Countdown. It is all too transparent, like her artificial laugh. She will win today and then all of the talking heads will repeat the same nonsense they always do. This contest should have ended long ago and now John McCain will grin his way all the way to the presidency and he has Hillary Clinton to thank for it.
JohnMcCainLovesViagra @ 18:
You know how yesterday it was pointed out that McCain’s mentioning his stay at the Hanoi Hilton is his “tell”? Well, the laugh is HC’s tell. Whenever someone asks her a question she’s uncomfortable with, and therefore wants to weasel out of answering directly and honestly, she laughs. Playing footsie with Scaife? *cackle* Warmongering? *cackle*
It’s Me @ 23:
He was safely nestled in a pile of ballots with check marks next to his name. He has THAT many more votes than Hillary, at this point.
By the way, how would Clinton voters justify ignoring the popular and electoral counts?
It’s Me @ 23:
He was on The Daily Show, moron.
You can bet Keith will give himself a “Worst Persons..” rating soon.
AllRepublicansloveViagra @ 25:
Oh, come on. This wasn’t his finest performance, but “sellout”? He has done a lot of things that tell me he isn’t a sellout.
Actually, people who say it was a threat against Iran missed the point. The idea Clinton is advocating is that the US gets out of Iraq, continues in Afghanistan, and starts a security organization under US auspices in the region, backed by the nuclear umbrella. She didn’t say that they were actively developing the bomb, or nuclear weapons, but that it remains an alternative in the area. And instead of the neocons, who insisted on preemption because “they can’t be deterred because they’re in a Holy War,” Clinton proposed the idea of deterrence being advanced in the Middle East. It worked with the mighty Soviet Union, after all. Why wouldn’t it work with the Iranians?
I first approached this as the Obama people say: it’s a bluster and a threat, to appear aggressive on the day before the primary. Watching the full clip convinces me it’s the right approach: getting out of Iraq will increase the prestige and power of Iran, but we will make it clear that if the mullahs are contemplating a race for the bomb, they will be met with a threat of their assured destruction. No, really, this is much clearer and more conventional than the mad “flight forward” of Bush. This is like Ike remaking Europe by withdrawing the occupation troops while keeping the nuclear umbrella over the West. Sure, it’s scary, but so is the prospect of a Pakistani, Indian, Iranian, Israeli, etc., atomic era.
Note that the president Hillary models herself on in the wrongly-despised new “Osama” ads is Harry Truman. Harry set up NATO. Harry did not drop the bomb on the Soviets. He stood against the expansion of Soviet power. The Cold War was on. What Hillary is proposing is a Cold War on Terrorism. What does Obama have to offer? Sit down with them until they’re nice?
I seem to have a unique take on this. I thought at the time Olbermann was pranking her. She was expecting to be badgered to death and probably thought it was lucky not to be interrupted and simply would not stop talking. I thought her answers were unlistenable and if there actually still is anyone that’s undecided, they would certainly not have seen her as an appealing candidate.
KO did become, all of a sudden, restained and deferential. I assume this was done to avoid any retalition in terms of candidate access in the future.
I thought he was going to dismantle every one of her half brained deflection answers, and it would have been easy to do so using logic and facts. I was severely disappointed.
What in hell was she laughing about anyway? I thought she had taken some LSD or something. that was weird. She is like an animatronic dummy. Very unnatural and stiff.
Didn’t Obama give the same general answer re:Iran during the debate that Clinton did??
You don’t see him rushing to the microphone to criticize her, do you?
Hillary’s ‘cognitive dissonance’ comment hits home, no?
Both disappointed me in this interview last night. KO should have spent more time on the interview even if it eliminated other parts of his show. Also, Ms Clinton should really get a hold on her rhetoric. She is starting to woory me with all the harangue on retaliation against our “enemies.”
This woman has losted her mind. What does she think the rest of the world will do if we destroy Iran. I hope we know that others are listening and watching us. People, we can’t win aganist the world, all that can happen is we all will no longer exist. War,War, is that all we can relate to.With this team of Hillary? Others want have to worry, a large percentage of us will have starved to death or will be too weak to defend ourselves.
N @ 14:
The issue isn’t whether he asked substantive questions. He did and we acknowledged that. He asked no follow up questions and KO himself acknowledged as such. Personally, I would have rather had him follow up when Clinton said that Iran was trying to restart their nuclear weapons program to ask her where she got that information, since it is directly in contradiction to the NIE report. I think that making up a nuclear threat that does not exist (which we’ve seen done before with Bush43) to make an aggressive posture against another country is something that should be considered by voters when looking at her qualifications, far more so than whether she uses Osama in an ad.
But KO admitted he let her slide. That, to me, is unforgivable.
willyjsimmons @ 34:
Yes, he did. I’m not letting either candidate off the hook for this.
But KO has little room to castigate other networks if he’s guilty of not following up either.
ohio progressive @ 16:
The problem is that her whole nuke Iran bit came to late for PA. She just threw the whole anti-war part of the party under the bus, along with progressives and Moveon
It’s Me @ 23:
It sounds like you need a hug friend. It will all be over in a couple of weeks. There’s no reason to be angry any longer.
Does anyone really still think she’s a Democrat?
She’s auditioning for McCain’s veep.
What a pair -
McCain’s “bomb bomb bomb Iran” and Hillary’s let’s “obliterate them”….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....ablog.com/
She’s no Democrat. She’s a neocon.
Travis @ 27:
I’ve stayed out of the primary wars, I’ll vote for either Barack or Hillary over McGramps. That being said, can we all be realistic. The Super Delegates are NOT going to overturn the will of the people and destroy the party in the process. It’s silly to keep posing this question. Hillary’s only chance is to win the popular vote after all the primaries are done. If she’s behind in number of contests won, pledged delegates and popular votes then she has no case to make with the Super Delegates and she won’t be the nominee. End of story.
Brealistic @ 3:
8 years of constant warfare, American jobs moved overseas, and wasted opportunities to fix our pathetic healthcare system. I’m not talking about the Bush Administration; I’m talking about the Clinton Presidency. It amazes me how people think Bush is such a bad President for losing his wars and Clinton was such a rosy President for winning his wars. That is the only difference between Bush and Clinton that I see. Clinton was smart enough to pray upon the weak nations for his approval ratings and Bush was stupid enough to bite off more than he can chew. Other than that, their is not a damn bit of difference between these Centrist Democrats and these Neo-Con Republicans. Not one bit of difference! They even get their money from THE SAME CORPORATIONS! Same pot of gold. Go ahead and vote for Hillary. She ain’t even got into the White House and she is talking about starting a war with Iran. You think she is going to fix our healthcare system. She didn’t last time and she isn’t going to do it this time. We won’t get anything out of her except a bunch of smoke blown up our @sses. She didn’t fix any of our problems last time; she won’t do it this time.
And yes, I was VERY disappointed that Keith did not call her out on her dangerous propaganda. One sentence or one question, as Nicole Belle points out, would have done.
she WANTS to kill iranians!!
as per howard zinn
if you bomb civilian population centers, the death of civilians is not accidental…it’s inevitable