Chuck Todd called out by Chris Matthew for providing GOP a talking point
Is Chuck Todd just a rookie? Is Chuck Todd a puppet bidding for Right Wing Republican acceptance? Is Chuck Todd simply incompetent? This man continues to make the political discourse more shallow. Earlier on Meet The Press, a piece was shown contrasting Obamacare in Texas and Illinois that was right down the middle. It failed miserably to show the human impact of Texas’ choice to deny its citizens access to healthcare by their refusal to accept the Medicaid expansion to Obamacare.
This particular interchange between Chris Matthews and Chuck Todd started at first with healthcare. Chris Matthews piggybacked the subject to immigration.
Chuck Todd: … They still haven’t marketed healthcare very well.
Chris Matthews: As long as you have an intractable opposition — I was hoping we’d get Orin Hatch in this health care bill. I was hoping to get Mike Enzi. These are all good people. They were negotiating. They all fell off because of fear of the Tea Party people. Same with immigration. Please God have a meeting between the President and the Speaker of the House this week before this … meeting in public. I like it on television. What is your opposition to this immigration bill. Is it we don’t have enough enforcement? I will give you more enforcement. Is it the hiring rules. We are going to enforce them. I promise we are going to enforce them. WHat do you want. So you are absolutely against any kind of amnesty for people who have been here over 20 or 30 years. Absolutely against it. Then when the President issues the executive order, people would understand he really tried to negotiate. Let me tell you something. We are negotiating with Tehran right now. We are desperately trying to cut a deal over nuclear weapons to the last moment. Why don’t we have negotiations going on right now, between the two sides.
Chuck Todd then immediately counters Chris Matthews by listening to Matthews’ statement from a Republican perspective instead of doing so from the perspective of a journalist. In effect he decided to move into the sound bite talking point arena instead of addressing the substance of the narrative.
Chuck Todd: … I can hear Republicans now echoing ‘He will negotiate with the Iranians he won’t negotiate with us on immigration.
Chris Matthews: That’s not the way I said it.
Chuck Todd: .. I am telling you how you are going to get requoted
Chuck Todd is repeating the same mistake he made when he allowed himself to be used in political ads attacking Alison Lundergan Grimes. He did this as well when he tried to change Jim Webb’s words about American foreign policy.