Continuing her penchant for drawing media accolades, Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) was the candidate of discussion on MSNBC after Friday night’s latest 2020 Democratic debate.
Mostly led by Hardball host Chris Matthews, Klobuchar was praised as “wonderful,” showing “audacity, spontaneity,” and behaving presidential who’s been “amazing” for having lasted longer than higher “voltage” senators like Cory Booker (D-NJ), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), and Kamala Harris (D-CA).
Having just sampled members of his live audience and their strong approval for Klobuchar, All In host Chris Hayes boasted that for a debate where confrontations were too few and far between, “Amy Klobuchar clearly has had it with Pete Buttigieg, like had it.”
Matthews spoke next about Klobuchar and stated in agreement with the audience that “Klobuchar was wonderful” and he’s “never seen her this good.”
Matthews continued ad nauseam (click “expand”):
I think she showed in the last week audacity. What you want to see from a politician is audacity, spontaneity, don’t have it on the damn script. Be somebody home with the lights on. Somebody who is there. A human being and that’s how she came across tonight. She never raised her voice. She was confidence. She looked — I’m sorry — it's weird to say this. She seemed like a president today. She seemed like the president I would like to have as president. [APPLAUSE] Secondly, she had guts to talk about the issue of this campaign. It is that word socialism. Some people like it. Younger people like it. Those of us like me who grew up — who grew up in the Cold War and saw some aspects of it after visiting places like Vietnam like I have, seeing countries like Cuba, being there, I've seen what socialism is like. I don’t like it. Okay? It's not only not free. It doesn’t freaking work. [APPLAUSE] It just doesn’t work. Number two, she had the nerve to bring up the most popular public figure in the country this week and that's Mitt Romney. She chose to praise him and I said my god. I can always tell a good politician who pays great praise to somebody from the other party.
(....)
Audacity. The great — last week when they were screwing around in Iowa, unlike you guys here. I think you know how to do it. [LAUGHTER] They were screwing around out there....And she stood up and said I got something to say since nothing else is happening out here and then every one of the other candidates stood up and they took advantage cause Amy led — that's what you call leader. I think she's a leader. She not the girl next door or the woman next door [sic]. I think she's a leader and she showed it tonight.
Last Word host Lawrence O’Donnell praised Klobuchar through the lens of having survived this long, knocking her as being “the lowest voltage senator going into this presidential campaign” and being the most likely to have dropped out first, instead of Booker or Gillibrand (as he forgot Harris — yikes).
O’Donnell added, with a classic tone of media bubble smugness, that it was great to have his views validated by common folk and that one’s analysis is done with the public’s interests in mind:
[I]t’s so great to be here — to be here with these voters because you know — you know the conceit of what this is, right? When the pundits come on after the debate and we say I think Klobuchar did well or I think Bernie did well. What we're really saying is I that her or she impressed voters in a way that could really help the campaign. It’s not guess work tonight cause you’ve just told us. You've just told us that Amy Klobuchar did very well and that’s what I was thinking back there but now I know it's true, so I want to cede all of my time to you to tell us who did what up there.
Before Matthews went off about the dangers of communism and socialism, he had some pointed words for Biden largely ducking the national media.
Something was up as even Matthews made it clear he sees interview questions about Hunter Biden’s business dealings in Ukraine as legitimate:
[E]verybody’s going to ask the obvious question about he and his son. It does — you know, when you ask why does your son got this job over here at X-many millions of dollars? Why is — when you got the portfolio for Ukraine and then he gets the contract for Ukraine, people who have be mindless to say well, what's going on here? That’s a reasonable question. I don’t we should have a — ask the Ukraine president to investigate it, but it's a reasonable question. Where there's smoke, people want to know if there's fire.
To see the relevant transcript from MSNBC’s All In on February 7, click “expand.”
MSNBC’s All In: 2020 New Hampshire Debate Special
February 7, 2020
10:39 p.m. EasternCHRIS HAYES: Everyone was like, well, this is New Hampshire and they — you know, the stakes are high. They’re going to have to go after other. They really didn't. I mean, there were clearly a few, like, pre-called plays to go after each other, and Amy Klobuchar clearly has had it with Pete Buttigieg. Like had it. But aside from that, it was — it was fairly respectful and cordial.
ALICIA MENENDEZ: Right. I agree. I mean, I think tonight what we expected to see was Sanders going after Buttigieg. He had sort of broadcast that he was going to create this contrast point: Are you with the wealthy or the working class? But to your point, it’s like he brought a butter knife, right, like he came in. He tried to make the point, it didn't land as an attack. What I found even more interesting because I was wondering how the mayor was going to engage on that point is rather handle the even deal in Sanders's framework he instead said that's a divisive argument and what we need right now is unity, so he found a way to pivot. I mean, the question is then how it lands in this room of voters?
HAYES: Chris?
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Well, we got a better poll this afternoon. Bernie’s up by four or five points.
HAYES: Right, so you don’t need to punch
MATTHEWS: There’s no reason to slash back. I’ll tell you: I’m with the people here so far. I thought Klobuchar was wonderful. I've never seen her this good. I think she showed in the last week audacity. What you want to see from a politician is audacity, spontaneity, don’t have it on the damn script. Be somebody home with the lights on. Somebody who is there. A human being and that’s how she came across tonight. She never raised her voice. She was confidence. She looked — I’m sorry — it's weird to say this. She seemed like a president today. She seemed like the president I would like to have as president. [APPLAUSE] Secondly, she had guts to talk about the issue of this campaign. It is that word socialism. Some people like it. Younger people like it. Those of us like me who grew up — who grew up in the Cold War and saw some aspects of it after visiting places like Vietnam like I have, seeing countries like Cuba, being there, I've seen what socialism is like. I don’t like it. Okay? It's not only not free. It doesn’t freaking work. [APPLAUSE] It just doesn’t work. Number two, she had the nerve to bring up the most popular public figure in the country this week and that's Mitt Romney. She chose to praise him and I said my god. I can always tell a good politician who pays great praise to somebody from the other party. You can always spot him. It’s the Democrat who loves Teddy Roosevelt. The Republican who likes — who likes FDR like Reagan did. You can always tell great leaders cause they give credit to the other side where credit is due and damn it, it was great to see her do it. I’m afraid if she hadn't done it, nobody else would have done it and I thought it was great. Audacity. The great — last week when they were screwing around in Iowa, unlike you guys here. I think you know how to do it. [LAUGHTER] They were screwing around out there. Screwing around and everybody is sitting on the stage like it was — remember Jimmy Carter and Jerry Ford when the lights went out that time and they just sat there like they're in the hall of the presidents. [LAUGHTER] You know, and they’re both sitting there like this. And she stood up and said I got something to say since nothing else is happening out here and then every one of the other candidates stood up and they took advantage cause Amy led — that's what you call leader. I think she's a leader. She not the girl next door or the woman next door [sic]. I think she's a leader and she showed it tonight. That’s my thought. [APPLAUSE]
(....)
10:49 p.m. Eastern
LAWRENCE O’DONNELL: She was among senators the lowest voltage senator going into this presidential campaign. If you wanted to make a bet at the beginning, will be the first senator to drop out, your bet would have been Amy Klobuchar. It’s so amazing to see her surpass Cory Booker who has had a longer, public, national career, Kirsten Gillibrand, I mean, and there she is tonight and it — it’s so great to be here — to be here with these voters because you know — you know the conceit of what this is, right? When the pundits come on after the debate and we say I think Klobuchar did well or I think Bernie did well. What we're really saying is I that her or she impressed voters in a way that could really help the campaign. It’s not guess work tonight cause you’ve just told us. You've just told us that Amy Klobuchar did very well and that’s what I was thinking back there but now I know it's true, so I want to cede all of my time to you to tell us who did what up there.
[APPLAUSE]
HAYES: He’s — Lawrence is lying, of course.
[LAUGHTER]
MATTHEWS: You know, I — I — I think — I do agree. I try to get outside my job. I to get outside being a pundit and try to remember my brothers and my family and my cousins who are working class, middle class, very regular and I try to do — the other day, I watched Trump’s speech, that horrendous speech he gave at noon but it worked for a lot of people. You may hate the fact that it worked. It was — hideously entertaining at times. He’s an entertainer and I go, but I do try to check in. By the way, Lawrence, I did have the idea before these four brilliant people that it was Klobuchar tonight.
O’DONNELL: No, no, no, but what I’m saying is —
MATTHEWS: But I did say I’m glad they agree would with me is what I was thinking.
O’DONNELL: — it is a guess —
MATTHEWS: Oh, right. Of course.
O’DONNELL: — about what you think and so for us to actually hear what you think is pretty great.
HAYES: And also, we should say I mean, that we're talking about millions of people watching the debate. People have very different opinions that — with — what we say will be refracted through millions of different views.
MATTHEWS: Yeah.
HAYES: I’m sure people have — no one agrees on anything. That’s the whole point of American democracy, right?
MATTHEWS: Yeah.
HAYES: So there’s no, like, consensus.
(....)
11:07 p.m. Eastern
MATTHEWS: I think that they made a decision for the first time in months — in actually — whenever Biden decides to run for president, which was probably when he was 13, they did a Sunday show. They’ve agreed to do this Sunday’s show — This Week with George Stephanopoulos. Why all of a sudden the change? They've been basically hiding from the tough media questions. They think they catch people that are going to be nice to them and they get tough questions from them too cause everybody’s going to ask the obvious question about he and his son. It does — you know, when you ask why does your son got this job over here at X-many millions of dollars? Why is — when you got the portfolio for Ukraine and then he gets the contract for Ukraine, people who have be mindless to say well, what's going on here? That’s a reasonable question. I don’t we should have a — ask the Ukraine president to investigate it, but it's a reasonable question. Where there's smoke, people want to know if there's fire.
