Wolf Blitzer Asks the Conservative-Bashing Questions of GOP-Bashing Guest
Apparently at CNN, the phrase "Republicans are the problem" is not
challenged, but encouraged. On Thursday's The Situation Room, host Wolf Blitzer simply tossed softballs to GOP-bashing Norm Ornstein,
who had hit the party before as "extreme" and "unmoved by conventional
understanding of facts, evidence, and science."
Ironically, Blitzer was three weeks behind schedule as Ornstein and
co-author Thomas Mann penned their critical Washington Post op-ed in late April and were welcome guests on NPR and PBS shortly after. Could he possibly have responded to Media Matters slapping the media for ignoring the two "well-respected, centrist political commentators"?
Regardless,
Blitzer let his guest take a hatchet to conservatives even though the
CNN headline noted the "controversial" nature of his claims. Normally a
"controversial" guest merits tough questions from an interviewer, but
not on Thursday.
And the questions furthered the GOP-bashing. Blitzer read a quote from
Ornstein's Washington Post op-ed ripping the GOP and asked him to
expound on it. He then brought up notable conservative figures whom
Ornstein had gone after.
"But you basically blame a lot of the problems right now on two
individuals, Newt Gingrich and Grover Norquist. Is that right?" Blitzer
teed up his guest. He later mentioned conservative Congressman Allen
West (R-Fla.) who had branded some Democrats as members of the
"Communist Party." He later clarified that he was referring to members
of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
"[T]hat was pretty shocking, A, but what was even more shocking to you –
and you point this out," Blitzer said giving his guest the green light.
Ornstein vilified the GOP leadership for not condemning the comments.
A transcript of the segment, which aired on May 24 on The Situation Room at 4:26 p.m. EDT, is as follows:
[HEADLINE: "Republicans Are the Problem": Controversial claim by pair of political scholars]
WOLF BLITZER: They're a pair of veteran political scholars. One from a
liberal think tank, one from a conservative think tank, and they've sent
out shockwaves with their claim that Republicans are mostly to blame
for the gridlock and the dysfunction in Washington.
And Norm Ornstein is joining us now from New York. He's the co-author
with Tom Mann of a brand new book entitled "It's Even Worse Than It
Looks." It's a powerful new book, I highly recommend it, but Norm, let's
talk a little bit about what you say because I was pretty surprised to
hear your bottom line. And let me read a couple of lines that you and
Tom wrote in The Washington Post recently.
"We have been studying Washington politics and Congress for more than
40 years and never have we seen them this dysfunctional. In our past
writings, we have criticized both parties when we believe it was
warranted. Today, however, we have no choice but to acknowledge that
the core of the problem lies with the Republican Party. The GOP has
become an insurgent outlier in American politics. It is ideologically
extreme, scornful of compromise, unmoved by conventional understanding
of facts, evidence and science and dismissive of the legitimacy of its
political opposition."
I read that Norm, I said wow that's pretty strong stuff from you. Give us a sentence or two why you say that?
NORM ORNSTEIN, co-author, "It's Even Worse than It Looks": You know, it
wasn't an easy thing for us to say, Wolf because we've, you know, tried
to be impeccable. We call them as we see them, but we believe that with
the problems of the country such as they are now, and after 42 years of
being immersed in these politics from one end of Pennsylvania Avenue to
the other, that what we now have is an imbalance. That we have
parliamentary parties, but we have one party that's kind of gone towards
the edge of the process enough that it's more concerned with blocking
anything done by the Democrats and the incumbent than in trying to find
compromise and work toward solutions. And no better example of this than
what Richard Murdoch, the man who knocked off Dick Lugar, no moderate, a
real conservative but a problem solver, in Indiana just last week.
BLITZER: He obviously says he doesn't want to compromise, he wants to
hold firm. But you basically blame a lot of the problems right now on
two individuals, Newt Gingrich and Grover Norquist. Is that right?
ORNSTEIN: Yeah, and I think you know, there's a lot of blame to go
around. And let me add that it's not like there are any angels here.
Neither party is blameless, but it's an 80/20 mix now and some of it
goes back to what Newt did to try and break the stranglehold the
Democrats had on the House of Representatives which lasted for 40 years.
It took him 16 years but it was a – we've got to destroy this
institution in order to save it and along the way it really engendered a
lot of the tribal politics that we have now. Marry that to the pledge.
The Grover Norquist pledge that 95 percent or more of Republicans in
Washington in the House and Senate have signed, you can't solve our debt
problem as Simpson-Bowles, Rivlin and Domenici, the "Gang of Six" in
the Senate. Every group that’s looked at this that’s tried to span the
ideological spectrum has said must include some revenues. If you say my
way or the highway, not a dime in revenues.
BLITZER: Listen to what Republican Congressman Allen West of Florida
said last month. He’s obviously a favorite of the Tea Party. Listen to
this.
(Video Clip)
ALLEN WEST: I believe there’s about 78 to 81 members of the Democratic Party that are members of the Communist Party.
(End Video Clip)
BLITZER: In case our viewers didn't hear that. “I believe there’s about
78 to 81 members of the Democratic Party that are members of the
Communist Party." Now he's not backing away from that at all, but that
was pretty shocking, A, but what was even more shocking to you – and you
point this out.
ORNSTEIN: Yeah, and it basically is, you get statements like that and
you know there are people who say outrageous things in many cases, but
not a single member of the Republican leadership or establishment, from
the Speaker of the House to the Republican candidate for president,
condemned what was Joe McCarthy reincarnated here. It was an outrageous
thing to say. It's still a smear to call somebody a member of the
Communist Party and that you didn't have anybody standing up here tells
us even those people who would like to presumably solve problems or move
to the center right, which is where the Republican Party had been, are
just not going to step up when you get extreme things said.
And of course the fact that West isn't backing down at all also tells
us that there’s no sense of shame anymore in making outrageous
statements, you just double down. And that’s no way to reach some kind
of common ground or collaborate on policies, to solve problems that are
not going to be done unless you find that common ground.
BLITZER: What’s been the reaction, I’m curious over at the American
Enterprise Institute, you’ve been affiliated with them for a long time,
it's a conservative think tank here in Washington. What are your
colleagues saying to you?
ORNSTEIN: Well you know some of my colleagues are not happy and some
have written rejoinders but mostly, everybody has been very supportive.
Whether they agree or disagree, they're happy that Tom and I have done a
book that is grabbing a lot of attention and selling a lot of copies.
And so, I've always been left alone to do and think and say whatever I
want, whether people like it or not and let's face it, Wolf, a part of
this is Tom who’s at Brookings, and I built a lot of capital over more
than 40 years of studying this of being straight shooters and now we’ve
spent capital doing something and saying something that's pretty
controversial and we'll draw some lines that a lot of people aren't
going to like because we felt it was time and necessary to do it.