For Rep. Liz Cheney and Democrats who have lost, Thursday’s MSNBC Reports had good news: you can still land a cushy job in the Biden Administration or even run for president.
Co-host Jose Diaz-Balart followed a video montage of defeated Democrats by asking political analyst Elise Jordan, “So, it’s kind of tough to put them all in one bucket, but I'm just wondering, so Elise, what happens to some of the candidates that we've been seeing that have had a national voice for so long and now are facing defeat?”
Despite the fact that she has now lost twice, Jordan still believed there was a possibility for Stacey Abrams to get a promotion, “Well, Stacey Abrams I think is in a category of her own just because of the operation she built in Georgia that Democrats are relying on to bring home another Senate seat in this runoff and she seems like she would be on a glide path to a really plumb Biden Administration post just because of her visibility and her success in Georgia.”
She was less optimistic on Beto O’Rourke, another two-time loser, “I really wonder because now he’s had two pretty big losses statewide in Texas and I don't really see where he runs again in Texas where the apparatus would get behind him for another go around.”
As for other Democrats who have gone down to defeat, co-host Chris Jansing presented President and CEO of Voto Latino and frequent MSNBC substitute host Maria Teresa Kumar with another set of names, “Let me throw out a couple of other names if I can. So, you got Val Demings right, you've got Liz Cheney, Cheri Beasley, Tim Ryan. A top Democrat suggested to me, watch for Tim Ryan in years in the future to run for president. I mean, I don't know. Do you count these folks out? Is-- are many of them maybe the right candidate in the wrong state?”
While it is difficult to imagine a second Ryan presidential campaign being any more successful than the first, Kumar’s brain was going wild with other possibilities, “What about if we pair up Liz Cheney and Stacey Abrams and start talking about universal voting and election reform? I could see them doing, kind of, a czar thing with the administration that's completely bipartisan. That would be exciting.”
It would not. Kumar, however, was stuck with the fascination that, “there’s commissions that the president can create and there is definitely an appetite for this movement.”
Kumar did manage to acknowledge that, “there's not one American who has not experienced an election-- Election Day and said, “this is flawed. There has to be a better way.”
Why Liz Cheney and Stacey Abrams are the best to fix that was something left unsaid as was why Cheney’s involvement would be “completely bipartisan” given her standing in the GOP.
Moving right along, Kumar was more hopeful for O’Rourke than Jordan, “But, I think that Beto O'Rourke, he will be a strong candidate when it comes to being a surrogate for different candidates and for raising a lot of money.”
As for Ryan, Kumar urged him to learn from his campaign, mainly don’t challenge Nancy Pelosi for the speakership. In the meantime, if MSNBC has their way, Americans are not done with having to suffer through the Abrams-O’Rourke era.
This segment was sponsored by The Farmer’s Dog.
Here is a transcript for the November 10 show:
MSNBC Reports
11/10/2022
11:53 AM ET
JOSE DIAZ-BALART: So, it’s kind of tough to put them all in one bucket, but I'm just wondering, so Elise, what happens to some of the candidates that we've been seeing that have had a national voice for so long and now are facing defeat?
ELISE JORDAN: Well, Stacey Abrams I think is in a category of her own just because of the operation she built in Georgia that Democrats are relying on to bring home another Senate seat in this runoff and she seems like she would be on a glide path to a really plumb Biden Administration post just because of her visibility and her success in Georgia and then Beto O'Rourke, I really wonder because now he’s had two pretty big losses statewide in Texas and I don't really see where he runs again in Texas where the apparatus would get behind him for another go around.
CHRIS JANSING: Let me throw out a couple of other names if I can. So, you got Val Demings right, you've got Liz Cheney, Cheri Beasley, Tim Ryan. A top Democrat suggested to me, watch for Tim Ryan in years in the future to run for president. I mean, I don't know. Do you count these folks out? Is-- are many of them maybe the right candidate in the wrong state?
MARIA TERESA KUMAR: What about if we pair up Liz Cheney and Stacey Abrams and start talking about universal voting and election reform? I could see them doing, kind of, a czar thing with the administration that's completely bipartisan. That would be exciting.
JANSING: I mean, stuff does turnover in this point in an administration.
KUMAR: Yeah, it does. Well, there’s commissions that the president can create and there is definitely an appetite for this movement. Like, there's not one American who has not experienced an election-- Election Day and said, “this is flawed. There has to be a better way.” That's one.
But, I think that Beto O'Rourke, he will be a strong candidate when it comes to being a surrogate for different candidates and for raising a lot of money and it would really encourage folks for Tim Ryan to say, "what did you do well and what did you do wrong?"
And one thing that hurt him was he went on the opposite side of Pelosi when he was going after her seat and I think that's something that one learns what not to do within the establishment.
