On Sunday morning, Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd appeared on NBC’s Today to discuss the politics of Ebola in the upcoming midterm elections.
Speaking to co-host Lester Holt, Todd channeled the concerns of the Obama administration following decisions made by Governors Chris Christie, Pat Quinn and Andrew Cuomo to institute mandatory quarantines to anyone who came in contact with an Ebola patient. The Meet the Press moderator insisted that the White House isn't “supporting the decisions that they've made. They’re very concerned about these mandatory quarantines.”
Todd made his comments in response to Lester Holt arguing that the issue of quarantining potential Ebola patients was an example of symbolic leadership. The Today host asked “you’ve got states now enacting their own tougher policies regarding Ebola. Is the administration under pressure to regain at least the symbolism of leadership on all this?”
As the discussion continued, Todd argued that governors who are instituting an Ebola quarantine are focused more on political optics than actual public health concerns:
Lester you can't help but notice there is an election in nine days. Is that having an impact -- is there politics behind decisions on these quarantines where governors so afraid of looking like they're too reactive, maybe getting overly proactive? So I think that that’s the line that the federal government is trying to walk here.
The NBC News Political Director concluded his comments by doubling down on his assertion that Ebola quarantines were just about politics:
We all know Rick Scott in Florida, Pat Quinn in Illinois. Both are in tough fights for elections so they don't want to look like they’re going to get out flanked on this stuff. So politicians are certainly worried that the issue could become a voting issue.
See relevant transcript below.
NBC’s Today
October 26, 2014
LESTER HOLT: Chuck Todd is moderator of Meet The Press. Chuck, good morning. Great to see you.
CHUCK TODD: Good morning Lester.
HOLT: Let’s talk about the symbolism of Ambassador Power’s trip to Guinea. This comes at a time, you’ve got states now enacting their own tougher policies regarding Ebola. Is the administration under pressure to regain at least the symbolism of leadership on all this?
TODD: Well they are but boy they are so conflicted Lester. I’m going to be speaking with Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of NIH. The federal government is not fully criticizing these decisions by Governors Cuomo, Quinn, Christy, in Illinois, New York and New Jersey. But they're not supporting the decisions that they've made. They’re very concerned about these mandatory quarantines. They are expressing the same skepticism that Ambassador Power did to Chris Jansing. And so. walking that line, and Lester you can't help but notice there is an election in nine days. Is that having an impact -- is there politics behind decisions on these quarantines where governors so afraid of looking like they're too reactive, maybe getting overly proactive? So I think that that’s the line that the federal government is trying to walk here.
HOLT: Let’s talk about that political question. It's one thing to look at the action of politicians. Do we have a sense of where the voters stand in this right now? We haven’t really seen that many Ebola cases here. This is not an outbreak. Is it an election issue?
TODD: Well, you know it’s funny. I was through the Midwest all this week. I went to Kansas, I went to Iowa and I went to Wisconsin and Ebola really didn't come up. If anything that's come up outside of domestic issues it was more ISIS. So in that sense you don't see it too much on the campaign trail. That's why you look at it and you say some of these governors are they looking at the elections? We all know Rick Scott in Florida, Pat Quinn in Illinois. Both are in tough fights for elections so they don't want to look like they’re going to get out flanked on this stuff. So politicians are certainly worried that the issue could become a voting issue. But when you talk to voters Lester, I'm not hearing it.
— Jeffrey Meyer is a News Analyst at the Media Research Center. Follow Jeffrey Meyer on Twitter. [1]