Appearing on MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Reports on Friday, NBC chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd made a celebratory declaration: "Look, Democrats, for the first time probably in 18 months, you see them walking with confidence. This White House seems confident again....the Republicans in a 48-hour period gave Democrats something to run on. And you see a pep in the Democratic Party step that we haven't seen since the 2012 election." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]
So what was the GOP contribution to the supposed comeback? Todd referred to House Republicans suing the President over abuses of power and not yet passing legislation to address the illegal immigration crisis.
Earlier in the day, on his own MSNBC program The Daily Rundown, Todd offered a similar rant to viewers, predicting: "If November comes and goes and Democrats hold the Senate and break even in the House, I think we're going to look back at the month of July as the month Republicans lost their shot at the Senate."
He proclaimed: "For months Democrats have been dying to have something to run on for themselves. But now they have it. A lawsuit that fires up their base and one more example of Republicans struggling to govern."
Todd then concluded that even if the House GOP did pass legislation to deal with the border crisis before leaving for the August recess, "they will need to make to move the bill to the right is only going to drive a bigger wedge between the Republican Party and Hispanic Americans and make Republicans look more like they are anti-DREAMer and potentially anti-kid."
And just in case people didn't catch his liberal talking points on MSNBC, Todd – along with co-authors Mark Murray and Carrie Dann – offered this item on NBCNews.com entitled: "GOP Disarray Hands Democrats a Big Midterm Gift."
As far as Todd's view of Democratic chances in November, don't call it a comeback.
Here are transcripts of Todd's August 1 commentary on both MSNBC programs:
Andrea Mitchell Reports
12:31 PM ET
(...)
CHUCK TODD: Look, Democrats, for the first time probably in 18 months, you see them walking with confidence. This White House seems confident again. And think about, this is August 1 – on July 1, there wasn't a lot of good news that Democrats had thinking about the midterm elections. President Obama's competency, his job rating was going down. And by the way, those are still issues Democrats have to deal with. The President is still unpopular. There are still concerns about his management still. But the Republicans in a 48-hour period gave Democrats something to run on. And you see a pep in the Democratic Party step that we haven't seen since the 2012 election.
(...)
The Daily Rundown
9:08 AM ET
(...)
CHUCK TODD: Meanwhile, if November comes and goes and Democrats hold the Senate and break even in the House, I think we're going to look back at the month of July as the month Republicans lost their shot at the Senate.
Somebody smartly tweeted back at me yesterday when I said that, "Democrats are giving Republicans the Senate on a silver platter and the GOP keeps knocking it over." That does feel like how it is, isn't it?
Republicans have powerful talking points and have had them for months. The world is on fire, Obama and ObamaCare are unpopular, it's time to fire Harry Reid. And for months Democrats have been dying to have something to run on for themselves. But now they have it. A lawsuit that fires up their base and one more example of Republicans struggling to govern.
And meanwhile, three months before an election, Republicans are running against each other, not against Democrats.
And there's a larger story here and it's this – the Republican Party has a big problem on immigration, that we've know for a while. But think about this, if the Republican Party can't pass a bill to spend money to deport people, how on Earth are they going to get any part of comprehensive immigration reform through the House that would actually give some legal rights to immigrants coming into the country? You can take that off the table right now.
How many times do congressional Republicans have to prove that immigration reform is not going to happen before 2016? And before we all agree it's just not going to happen perhaps for even longer than that?
And whatever they are able to pass today, the changes that presumably they will need to make to move the bill to the right is only going to drive a bigger wedge between the Republican Party and Hispanic Americans and make Republicans look more like they are anti-DREAMer and potentially anti-kid.
(...)
