On Monday’s NBC Nightly News, correspondent and MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell felt that it was appropriate to skewer three possible GOP presidential contenders in 2016 who had each run previously to argue that their presence would make possible fellow candidates Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush “look positively new.”
In addition, Mitchell reported that Bush is showing every sign of running for the office his father and brother once held by making it clear that he would “refuse to veer right in the primary to appeal to more voters in the fall” as well as giving speeches in key primary states, making public emails from his time as Governor, and releasing a book. [MP3 audio here; Video below]
Over on the Democratic side, the liberal MSNBC host and NBC News correspondent brought up Hillary Clinton as the likely nominee, who may come under “under big pressure from the party's left” with the recent added hype over Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren (Mass.).
To her credit, Mitchell brought up Clinton’s long record of giving paid speeches to executives and firms on Wall Street as a possible pitfall with the Democratic Party’s far left flank. However, she quickly reverted back to praising Clinton, proclaiming that “[s]he’s already trying” with statements about how “corporations and businesses” don’t create jobs.
Following a soundbite from liberal columnist Eugene Robinson of The Washington Post, who said that Bush and Clinton could not “run as an outsider” in 2016, Mitchell quickly dismissed that: “Still, with signs that Rick Santorum, Mike Huckabee, even Mitt Romney might run again, that could make Hillary Clinton or Jeb Bush look positively new.”
The transcript of the segment from NBC Nightly News on December 15 is transcribed below.
NBC Nightly News
December 15, 2014
7:10 p.m. Eastern[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE CAPTION: Back to the Future?]
BRIAN WILLIAMS: He is the son of one president, the brother of another, now Jeb Bush is sending the strongest indications yet that he may run for that job, but a ballot with another Bush on it is just one of the reasons why a lot of voters may feel a bit of deja vu in the race for 2016. Our report tonight from NBC's Andrea Mitchell.
ANDREA MITCHELL: Could 2016 be the year of the political re-runs? Or in Jeb Bush's case, political sequels? Jeb Bush, today in South Carolina, which just happens to be an early primary state, teasing graduates about following in their parents footsteps.
JEB BUSH: And I can tell you from personal experience, if your parents worked in politics, well, you know the rest.
MITCHELL: He's showing every sign of running, plans to release 250,000 e-mails from his years as Florida’s Governor, plus a book and strategy. Refuse to veer right in the primary to appeal to more voters in the fall. Big brother George W. is egging him on.
GEORGE W. BUSH [on CNN, 12/07/14]: He knows I want him to run. If I need to reiterate it, I will. Run, Jeb. I think he'd be a great president.
MITCHELL: Hillary Clinton, another familiar face with a big head start, but under big pressure from the party's left.
DEMOCRATIC SENATOR ELIZABETH WARREN (Mass.): The American people are disgusted by Wall Street bailouts.
MITCHELL: Elizabeth Warren says she's not running now, but can Clinton, whose made paid speeches against Wall Street appeal to Democratic populists? She’s already trying –
HILLARY CLINTON [on 10/24]: Don't let anybody tell you that, you know, it's corporations and businesses that create jobs.
MITCHELL: So if this is a year when voters want something different, Warren, Chris Christie, Rand Paul –
THE WASHINGTON POST’S EUGENE ROBINSON: I don't think Hillary Clinton or Jeb Bush can run as an outsider.
MITCHELL: Still with signs that Rick Santorum, Mike Huckabee, even Mitt Romney might run again, that could make Hillary Clinton or Jeb Bush look positively new. Andrea Mitchell, NBC News, Washington.
