MSNBC's Thomas Roberts, who on Wednesday linked Mitt Romney to the Ku Klux Klan [1], on Thursday wondered if Barack Obama is headed for a "landslide" reelection. Teasing an interview, Roberts hyped, "I'm going to talk with a columnist who says the President could be headed for a landslide."
A MSNBC graphic hoped, "Heading for a Landslide?" Of course, this is the same anchor who smeared, "Plus, what Mitt Romney has in common with the KKK." With liberal slams like this, Roberts is certainly doing his part to make sure Obama obtains such an overwhelming victory.
In the segment on Thursday, Roberts proclaimed that "...One political reporter is putting all his money on one bet."
The cable anchor enthused, "Michael Tomasky, special correspondent for Newsweek and the Daily Beast, says no matter which Republican hopeful slides into position opposite President Obama this winter, November could turn out to be a landslide victory for the President."
Yet, Tomasky, Roberts' guest, wasn't so definitive. He did insist the Republicans are "a mess" and "in trouble," but also qualified, "I should point out, Thomas, I'm not really predicting that this is going to happen...It's plenty early for predictions yet."
Roberts on Wednesday tried to link a Romney campaign slogan to the Klan. He apologized 24 hours later.
Interestingly, Tomasky's piece [2], is the most popular [3] on the Daily Beast/Newsweek site. So, apparently he knows what his liberal readers are looking for.
A transcript of the December 15 segment, which aired at 11:36am EST, follows:
11:21 tease
MSNBC GRAPHIC: Heading for a Landslide?
THOMAS ROBERTS: President Obama is gearing up for a really tough reelection battle but it might be as tough as certain people think. I'm going to talk with a columnist who says the President could be headed for a landslide.
11:36
ROBERTS: All right. So, in an election season where front-runner status seems to be won and lost as quickly as a stack of chips in Vegas, one political reporter is putting all his money on one bet. Michael Tomasky, special correspondent for Newsweek and the Daily Beast, says no matter which Republican hopeful slides into position opposite President Obama this winter, November could turn out to be a landslide victory for the President. Mr. Tomasky joins me live from Washington with more on his analysis of the polls. Michael, it's nice to see you today. In this Daily Beast article this week you point to South Carolina. That's a state typically that lights up red. And yet a NBC/Marist poll shows Obama has this slight chance of winning that state in hypothetical match-ups with either Romney or Gingrich. So, explain to all of us why that would be so significant?
MICHAEL TOMASKY (Daily Beast, special correspondent): Because South Carolina's one of the most Republican states in the country by far. I don't really think that Barack Obama is going to win South Carolina at the end of the day when November 7th finally comes around. And, you know, I should point out, Thomas, I'm not really predicting that this is going to happen. This- It's plenty early for predictions yet. But I am saying that given the current state of the Republican primary and the disarray and the changing polls and everything that you and Mark just referenced, um, they're in trouble. They're in a mess.
And the interesting thing is this - Barack Obama's only at 44 percent in the polls. That's pretty anemic. You would think a President incumbent at 44 percent could easily be taken out. But then when you go look at polls like the one you just mentioned, South Carolina, that same poll had a Florida set of numbers in which Obama was pretty comfortably ahead of both Romney and Gingrich, I've seen polls from Arizona where Obama leads both Romney and Gingrich. In other words, his approval rating is one thing. But when he is put in head-to-head match-ups against the two people who are likely to be the Republican nominee, he's ahead in a heck of a lot of states.
ROBERTS: Well, I was going to say, do you think that the American people, as you point out with President Obama's approval rating being in the 40s, do you think that the American people are so frustrated with the Republicans that they would rather send a somewhat, somewhat unpopular president into a second term?
TOMASKY: Um, yes. You put it pretty well. I also think, to elaborate on that a little bit, I think in particular that independent voters increasingly see the Republican Party as being pretty extreme. This is not just a function of the positions that the candidates are taking. It's also a function of what they see out of the Republicans in Congress. I've seen a new Pew poll that supports that contention, that people see the Republican Party, particularly congressional Republican Party, as very extreme. So I think the Republicans are just sort of moving themselves out of the space where they're competing for a lot of independent votes.
