During live coverage on Thursday just moments before former Texas Governor Rick Perry announced his 2016 presidential run, MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell preemptively dismissed his candidacy: “Why does Rick Perry think that the second time around will work given pretty much a disastrous campaign last time?”
Political correspondent Kasie Hunt, covering Perry’s announcement in Addison, Texas, replied: “Well, Andrea, I think he feels as though he's done a lot of preparation, that he’s fixed the mistakes that he made last time....he wants a shot at redemption in many ways. And this is a little bit what that's about. Right now the country remembers him largely for that ‘Oops’ moment and I think Perry wants to be remembered for something other than that.”
Turning to The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza, Mitchell parroted left-wing talking points directly from Hillary Clinton’s campaign:
And of course, Texas is controversial in the larger scheme of things. Hillary Clinton is there today, this afternoon speaking on voting rights. Texas has the worst voting rights according to advocates of more voting rights. And she’s going to be making that point in counterpoint to Rick Perry's record as governor.
Cillizza reiterated the idea that Perry was only running to fix his public image:
...it feels like he's running almost as much for himself as for anyone else. Which is he does not feel as though he was able or gave his all last time around. He does not like the impression he left. He does not want that to be sort of the lingering last impression people at the national level have of him. I think he recognizes his candidacy this time is far more of a long shot than it was last time.
Cillizza concluded that Perry “actually might be okay” with dropping out of the race early “if he runs a serious, credible campaign.”
Mitchell’s assertion that Perry ran a “disastrous campaign last time” and Cillizza claiming that the former Texas Governor’s 2016 run was “for himself” were both observations that could easily be made about Hillary Clinton.
In sharp contrast to Mitchell and her guests dumping on Perry while covering his campaign announcement, after Clinton announced her candidacy in April, Mitchell was quick to proclaim on NBC’s Today: “Hillary Clinton says she wants to be the champion for everyday Americans, saying the deck is still stacked in favor of those at the top....This time Hillary Clinton is promising a listening tour. Instead of big rallies, small events targeting the middle class.”
Here is a full transcript of the June 4 exchange on MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports:
12:40 PM ET
ANDREA MITCHELL: And joining me now for our Daily Fix, Chris Cillizza, MSNBC contributor, founder of The Washington Post’s Fix blog, and USA Today’s Washington bureau chief Susan Page and MSNBC’s political correspondent Kasie Hunt live in Addison, Texas.
Kasie, first to you. You're there in the airplane hanger. What we're seeing now is Rick Perry's wife. Why does Rick Perry think that the second time around will work given pretty much a disastrous campaign last time?
KASIE HUNT: Well, Andrea, I think he feels as though he's done a lot of preparation, that he’s fixed the mistakes that he made last time, that he now understands the demands and riggers of the campaign. I think he would also say that his back was not well in 2012 and that, that contributed. But you know, I think, really, Andrea, he wants a shot at redemption in many ways. And this is a little bit what that's about. Right now the country remembers him largely for that “Oops” moment and I think Perry wants to be remembered for something other than that.
And I think if you look at the tenor of this announcement, it’s very focused on his military experience, which is something that he talked about in 2012, but that was not necessarily the focus of his campaign. Here you have a number of veterans that he does have very legitimate and authentic personal connections with. Marcus Luttrell, who was the Lone Survivor, made famous in that movie, actually lived in the governor’s mansion when he was recovering from his wounds in Iraq – wounds, so to speak – largely trying, you know, trying to deal with the fact that he had lost friends. And he very feels as though the Perry's took him in.
And that, if you think about in a political context, veterans do vote. They are a constituency that at the moment there's not a lot of other veterans in this race. Lindsey Graham, Senator from South Carolina, is the only other one at this point. So I think that, that underscores all of this and I think you're going to see him try to make an appeal to that community as he goes for this second chance.
MITCHELL: And Susan Page, where does he fit to this now 18 and counting potential candidates?
SUSAN PAGE: It’s a big field. A bigger field than last time around, a stronger field than last time around. Last time he announced for president and he was instantly number one in the Gallup poll. That's not going to happen this time. Now he's battling to make sure he's in that top-ten category so he can participate in the first two debates.
That said, he continues to have some assets, as we were just hearing. You know, for one thing, he's got the experience of running. Running for president is a hard thing to do. That's something he learned last time around. The fact that he has experience in debates and understands a little about what the process is like. That's an asset for him.
And he’s got a jobs record in Texas that I’m sure we’re going to hear about in this speech. You know, The Washington Post did a very interesting analysis of the job creation records of all the governors and former governors who are running for president and Rick Perry had the strongest record compared with national trends that were going on at that time.
MITCHELL: And of course, Texas is controversial in the larger scheme of things. Hillary Clinton is there today, this afternoon speaking on voting rights. Texas has the worst voting rights according to advocates of more voting rights. And she’s going to be making that point in counterpoint to Rick Perry's record as governor. Chris Cillizza?
CHRIS CILLIZZA: Yeah, absolutely. And she’ll also, as every candidate does in Texas – and this speaks to some of Perry’s strength – is raise money in Texas. It's one of the big donor states in the country.
You know, Kasie touched on this, when I look at the Perry candidacy, it feels like he's running almost as much for himself as for anyone else. Which is he does not feel as though he was able or gave his all last time around. He does not like the impression he left. He does not want that to be sort of the lingering last impression people at the national level have of him. I think he recognizes his candidacy this time is far more of a long shot than it was last time. The field is stronger, he's not as well positioned. But I think he just sort wants to run a credible, serious campaign and see what happens. And if he runs a serious, credible campaign and winds up never seriously challenging the top tier, he actually might be okay with that.
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