ABC Again Ties Rove to Swift Ads, Depicts Hillary as Cure to Rove --8/15/2007

1. ABC Again Ties Rove to Swift Ads, Depicts Hillary as Cure to Rove
Opening Monday's Nightline, ABC's Terry Moran derided Karl Rove's brand of politics as a mixture of "divisiveness, anger" as well as "ruthlessness" and the subtext of Moran's piece became very clear with the help of some visuals as he pictured Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton as the salvation from Rove's "bitterly polarizing politics." At the close of the segment, he wondered if the country has "had enough of [Rove's] bitterly polarizing politics? Or will the era of Karl Rove continue?" During the "had enough" portion of the sentence, video of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton accompanied the audio; when Moran asked if the Karl Rove era will continue, President Bush could be seen. Moran also left the impression that it was Rove, the Deputy Chief of Staff to President Bush, who was behind the 2004 Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ads against John Kerry. Moran recalled how in 2004 President Bush thanked Rove "for planning and executing his re-election strategy. But look around at American politics today and you see that there is much, much more that Karl Rove built." Viewers then saw a clip from a Swift Boat Veterans ad: "John Kerry cannot be trusted."

2. MSNBC's Dan Abrams Tags Karl Rove as 'Constitutional Crippler'
On Monday's MSNBC Live with Dan Abrams, host and MSNBC general manager Abrams opened his 9pm EDT show by lambasting Karl Rove, tagging him the "Constitutional Crippler" for accusing judges of "bending the law" while Rove, Abrams contended, was doing much the same: "If Karl Rove had been a professional wrestler, they might have called him 'the Constitutional Crippler.'" Abrams further accused Rove of "hypocrisy" and of "shifting rules to accommodate his political objectives" as the MSNBC chief declared that he would "not shed a tear" at Rove's departure: "He may be one of the great political operatives of all time, but from a lawyer's perspective, as someone who studied the Constitution, relishes the rule of law, appreciates our courts, I will not shed a tear at his farewell bash."

3. Today Show Follows Nurse Hillary on Rounds in Labor Union Stunt
Yet another Democratic candidate played nurse for a day, as part of a stunt to garner labor union support, and once again NBC's Today show cameras were there to cover the photo-op. On Tuesday, NBC's Andrea Mitchell followed Hillary Clinton as she made the rounds, for a couple of hours, with a nurse at a Nevada hospital to both soften her image and suck up to the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). NBC's segment featured a clip of a new Hillary Clinton ad in which she charges: "You know if you're a family that is struggling and you don't have health care, well you are invisible to this President." Viewers were treated to shots of Hillary talking to patients and sitting down with the nurse's family to say grace at the kitchen table as Mitchell dutifully declared: "She got her hands wet." Today co-host Meredith Vieira admiringly noted of Clinton's behavior at the nurse's home: "Andrea, I understand that she ended the day, the Senator, by actually washing the dishes before she left? Is that right?" Mitchell gushed: "She did, she pitched right in. She was clearing the table, washing the dishes, helping set the table."

ABC Again Ties Rove to Swift Ads, Depicts
Hillary as Cure to Rove

Opening Monday's Nightline, ABC's Terry Moran derided Karl Rove's brand of politics as a mixture of "divisiveness, anger" as well as "ruthlessness" and the subtext of Moran's piece became very clear with the help of some visuals as he pictured Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton as the salvation from Rove's "bitterly polarizing politics." At the close of the segment, he wondered if the country has "had enough of [Rove's] bitterly polarizing politics? Or will the era of Karl Rove continue?" During the "had enough" portion of the sentence, video of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton accompanied the audio; when Moran asked if the Karl Rove era will continue, President Bush could be seen.

Moran also left the impression that it was Rove, the Deputy Chief of Staff to President Bush, who was behind the 2004 Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ads against John Kerry. Moran recalled how in 2004 President Bush thanked Rove "for planning and executing his re-election strategy. But look around at American politics today and you see that there is much, much more that Karl Rove built." Viewers then saw a clip from a Swift Boat Veterans ad: "John Kerry cannot be trusted."

As Tuesday's CyberAlert noted, Monday's World News on ABC also inaccurately blamed Rove for the Swift Boats commercials, which were actually created by a group of Vietnam veterans and not funded or produced by the White House: "Reporting on the resignation of presidential political adviser Karl Rove, ABC's World News on Monday night absurdly blamed Karl Rove for the ads from Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and featured John Kerry's condemnation of Rove....ABC's David Wright cited Rove's 'political ju-jitzu' in 'turning opponents' strengths against them.' With a Swift Boat ad clip on screen, Wright described a 'sustained attack on John Kerry's war record, an audacious move considering Bush's Vietnam War record was weak.'"

For a rundown of Monday evening newscast takes on Rove, see: www.mediaresearch.org [1]

[This item is adapted from a Tuesday posting, by Scott Whitlock, on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org [2] ]

In a tease, Moran began the Nightline segment by castigating Rove, who will be leaving the White House at the end of August, as "The Divider" and "the man who made our politics a no-holds barred battlefield..." He went on to quote William Slater, author of "Bush's Brain," a phase that has become a favorite for liberals as a way to belittle the President. Just before that, however, the ABC anchor ascribed some exceedingly negative traits to Rove's brand of politics:

Moran: "Divisiveness, anger, ruthlessness. That's what you might call Rovian politics. Karl Rove didn't invent Red America vs. Blue America, he exploited it relentlessly."
Wayne Slater, co-author, Bush's Brian: "Karl Rove really approached politics from the very beginning as a game of division, even when George Bush ran as the uniter not the divider, Rove was running a campaign that was designed to divide the field, wedge issues, attacks on opponents, extraordinary political strategies designed to cultivate and motivate just enough voters to win. But in the process, you alienate forces against you."

Moran went on to describe these tactics as "scorched earth." However, while the Nightline host added the caveat that Rove "didn't invent" tough campaigning, has he forgotten the era of Bill Clinton? After all, it was James Carville, a top Democratic operative, who smeared Clinton accuser Paula Jones as trailer park trash. It was Paul Begala, another Clinton aide, who last year slimed Rush Limbaugh as a "drug-addled gasbag." See: www.mrc.org [3]

A partial transcript of the lead August 13 segment:

....

11:43pm EDT, Donna Brazile, former Democratic operative: "I would hope that Democrats are not popping champagne about his departure from Washington because, one, he's not going far. Two, he has the President's number. And I mean, real number. And three, Karl Rove in his heart still wants to win at all costs. So, I suspect that at some point he will re-emerge."
Moran: "But the question now is, [video of Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama plays] has the country had enough of his [Video of George Bush and Karl Rove] bitterly polarizing politics? Or will the era of Karl Rove continue?"

MSNBC's Dan Abrams Tags Karl Rove as
'Constitutional Crippler'

On Monday's MSNBC Live with Dan Abrams, host and MSNBC general manager Abrams opened his 9pm EDT show by lambasting Karl Rove, tagging him the "Constitutional Crippler" for accusing judges of "bending the law" while Rove, Abrams contended, was doing much the same: "If Karl Rove had been a professional wrestler, they might have called him 'the Constitutional Crippler.'" Abrams further accused Rove of "hypocrisy" and of "shifting rules to accommodate his political objectives" as the MSNBC chief declared that he would "not shed a tear" at Rove's departure: "He may be one of the great political operatives of all time, but from a lawyer's perspective, as someone who studied the Constitution, relishes the rule of law, appreciates our courts, I will not shed a tear at his farewell bash."
[This item, by Brad Wilmouth, was posted Tuesday night on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org [8] ]

Below is a complete transcript of Dan Abrams' comments about Karl Rove from the top of the Monday, August 13 MSNBC Live with Dan Abrams, followed by Abram's conversation with former Democratic Representative Elizabeth Holtzman, The Atlantic senior editor Josh Green, and conservative talk radio host Michael Reagan:

DAN ABRAMS: Karl Rove is out. Rove announced this morning he was resigning from the Bush administration. The man who is sometimes referred to as "Bush's brain" will leave the White House on August 31. My take. If Karl Rove had been a professional wrestler, they might have called him 'the Constitutional Crippler.'" I'll leave his political legacy to others, although I will say I think it's foolish when searching for explanations for the 2000 Republican rout to blame Rove, the political operative, as opposed to Rove, the chief policy analyst. That was the war speaking. How the Republicans talked about it in the campaign wouldn't have changed a thing. But in terms of his legal legacy, Rove has long applied basic political strategy to the courts: Accuse your opponents or critics of engaging in the very behavior that could become your own Achilles heel. Rove has accused judges of bending the law to fit their personal agenda. It's true, some do. But I can't think of a federal judge who has done that more than Karl Rove himself.
Rove called the federal judiciary "fundamentally out of touch with mainstream America." A nice campaign slogan, but it demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of the role of judges. They're not supposed to reflect popular opinion. It also demonstrates some hypocrisy. He cites the will of the people until, of course, it comes to the people's reaction to this administration's policy. Then he ignores it. And he even said, quote, "I'm not going to stay or leave based on whether it pleases the mob."
Rove's legacy is littered with examples of shifting rules to accommodate his own political objectives. We don't know exactly how involved he was with certain administration decisions about everything from the NSA spying to Guantanamo. We do know, according to Justice Department e-mails, that in January of 2005, Rove was asking about firing all 93 U.S. attorneys, that he passed along specific complaints about others, then reportedly advised on how to make the firings seem merit-based. And to avoid being scrutinized ever, he sent more than 140,000 e-mails through the Republican National Committee's computer system instead of through the White House, thereby circumventing federal law. That's according to a House oversight committee.
His philosophy: expand the power of the executive branch, often meaning his own power, and demean the branch of government willing to rein him in: the judicial branch. Rove used court appointments as a political carrot, privately assuring religious groups, for example, that court nominees would share their beliefs. And for the fired U.S. attorneys, it was also about politics but in the form of political punishment. He may be one of the great political operatives of all time, but from a lawyer's perspective, as someone who studied the Constitution, relishes the rule of law, appreciates our courts, I will not shed a tear at his farewell bash.
Joining me now is Elizabeth Holtzman, former Democratic congresswoman from New York, who served on the Judiciary Committee and author of the book The Impeachment of George W. Bush, Josh Green, senior editor of The Atlantic, whose cover story on Rove appears in the magazine's September issue, and on the phone, radio talk show host Michael Reagan. Thanks to all of you for coming on the program. Appreciate it.
All right, Josh, let me start with you. Is it fair to say that Karl Rove has been behind much of the legal strategy of this administration?
JOSHUA GREEN, The Atlantic Monthly: You know, I think to a degree, it is. I mean, one of the consequences of the Democrats taking over Congress in 2006 is that it pulled back a curtain and kind of let the world see just how involved Rove is at every level. I mean, certainly, the U.S. attorney scandal is a terrific example of that, the just, the kind of tawdry and shallow way that he became involved and kind of, you know, heedlessly brought politics into that process. So I would say yes.
ABRAMS: Michael, would you agree at the least that Rove is a guy who's had some level of disdain for the rule of law?
MICHAEL REAGAN, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: No, I would, you know, what I would say is that he's someone who's been at the White House. He's been a policy man for the President. He's been involved in all the things the President's done, which is what happens when you're in charge of policy at the White House. And because the President has been under fire from the Democrats since the time he won the 2000 election, they've tried to get Karl Rove involved in everything. There's nothing wrong with Karl Rove getting involved with the 93, letting people know what his opinion is about the U.S. attorneys being fired. The fact is that every President has fired attorneys. I think the mistake maybe he made now was he didn't get all 93 fired. Then nothing happens to you. If you get eight fired, you become a news item.
ABRAMS: But the difference, well, the difference is that, in general, when U.S. attorneys are fired, it's not for strictly political reasons. I mean, it's not for, you can fire them for political reasons, it's a political appointment-
REAGAN: But you can make an argument on that, that, you know, whether it was Clinton or Reagan or whoever it was, it always could have been for political reasons. You could always try and find that in each and every thing. You talk about Bill Clinton, you know, the firing he did with U.S. attorneys that had some things to do with Whitewater or whatever. You could always find that, if that's what you're looking for. The fact is there was nothing illegal about what the President of the United States did in firing the U.S. attorneys with the NSA and with all the wiretapping.
ABRAMS: All right, but let's stick to-
REAGAN: The fact of the matter is most of America does agree with what's going on.
ABRAMS: All right, look, let's stick with Karl Rove, though, and the legacy. Elizabeth Holtzman, there's no question that there was nothing illegal. No one's suggesting that it was illegal to seek to fire all of them or to seek to fire some of them. The question isn't illegal or legal. The question is-
Former Rep. ELIZABETH HOLTZMAN (D-NY): No, no. It is the question because it's possible under some scenarios that the firing of a U.S. attorney who was, for example, investigating a Republican, and to stop that investigation, you fire that U.S. attorney, that could be an obstruction of justice and could be a crime. So to call the U.S. attorney scandal political is wrong. It could be criminal.
ABRAMS: Look, it could be, it could be. There's no evidence right now to suggest that anyone is going to open up any criminal investigations into the firing of the U.S. attorneys.
HOLTZMAN: Well, that's because they don't have enough information yet.
ABRAMS: Look, Josh Green, bring us back here for a minute. I mean, the bottom line is that, again, we're looking at Karl Rove's legacy here. I think that Elizabeth is probably on something of a fringe there in suggesting that there's going to be some sort of criminal investigation into the firings of the U.S. attorneys. Would you agree?
GREEN: Yeah, I think Rove's real crime was ineptness. I mean, he was just ham-handed in almost every way possible, and that's really what's kind of spilled out over the last couple of years. And I think that's also the reason why Rove surprised so many people in Washington and didn't stick around until the end of the Bush administration and decided to throw in the towel today.
ABRAMS: Why do you think he did that?
REAGAN: Hey, wait a minute. If I could jump in here-
ABRAMS: Well, go ahead, Michael. Yeah.
REAGAN: I mean, he's not the first person to leave an administration very late in the administration. My dad had it happen in his administration, other administrations. People leave, get their own lives in order because they know the President is a short-termer, lame duck, whatever it is. This is not new-
GREEN: But Rove had no life outside politics and outside the White House.
REAGAN: This is a man who was, you know, five times went before a grand jury on the Libby, the Scooter Libby case. Did anybody indict Rove? No. Nobody indicted Rove because they didn't see any wrongdoing. And they tried to get him on that and these leaks-
ABRAMS: Wait, wait, wait. Let's be clear, Michael. Let's not confuse the words "criminal" with "wrongdoing." They're not the same thing. Just because they, no one could be charged with a crime does not mean there wasn't any wrongdoing.
REAGAN: Where is the, where is the wrongdoing?
ABRAMS: Well, look, the question was, look, again, if you want to get into Libby, we can get into that because it does relate to Karl Rove's legacy here, now that he's stepped down. The question was, who did he leak to? Why did he do it? When did he do it? Those are all important questions-
REAGAN: But Karl Rove didn't leak anything.
ABRAMS: Look, the bottom, Karl Rove had conversations with reporters that he probably shouldn't have had. You going to deny that?
REAGAN: Do we know that?
ABRAMS: Yeah, we know for a fact that he had-
REAGAN: If he did something that was, in fact, illegal, wrongdoing, whatever it is, they certainly would have said something in the grand jury. They did not indict him, as many times as he came in there. And I think everybody is searching to say, "Oh, Karl Rove. We couldn't get George Bush. Let's get Karl Rove. Let's get him and make sure he's a criminal on the way out of the building."
ABRAMS: But again, and I'll go back to Elizabeth in a minute, but Josh, I mean, that's the difference, is just because he's not a criminal and just because he hasn't been indicted for a crime does not mean that he's not someone who we can criticize for his view of the Constitution and his position on judges and the judiciary in this country.
REAGAN: No, I think that-
ABRAMS: Wait a minute. Let me let Josh respond to that. Hang on, Michael.
GREEN: In the end, you're calling him the "Constitutional Crippler," but, you know, the one bit of poetic justice in all this is that, you know, the person Rove really ended up crippling was his own reputation. And so he leaves the White House, you know, not indicted but in many ways disgraced, I think.
ABRAMS: Elizabeth, go ahead. You want to weigh in on that?
HOLTZMAN: Well, I agree with the last comment. I also want to say that what he did with the Justice Department, although we don't know the whole story yet because this is a man who's shown complete contempt not just for Congress, not showing up even after being subpoenaed, but contempt for the Constitution, which makes Congress an equal branch of government, and it allows it to examine how the executive branch is operating. But here you have a Justice Department that was perverted for political purposes. You had U.S. attorneys who were apparently, I mean, we don't know all the facts yet, but on the surface, it seems that U.S. attorneys were replaced because they didn't go after Democrats or they were removed because they went after Republicans.
I was a prosecutor, not only a congresswoman, and I never, before prosecuting a rapist or a murderer, said, well, are you a Republican or a Democrat? I'm going to go after you if you're one, not the other. I mean, that's not what our system of justice was. And Karl Rove took our government and tried to make it all political, including things that we think are pretty sacred, like justice that's fair and not partisan and not political, but that if you've committed a crime or you haven't committed a crime, you're going to be dealt with on the merits and not on the basis of politics. So I think his legacy has been a disaster for this country.
ABRAMS: Michael, you would agree, wouldn't you, that Karl Rove has a tendency to politicize everything?
REAGAN: Well, I think people in the White House, people in government have a tendency to politicize everything. It doesn't matter if you're Democrat or Republican. When you're at that level, you do politicize everything. And he's, I think he's in trouble because he has been successful in getting the President elected, reelected again. And he seems to be the great big target in Washington, so everybody wants to jump on him. He'll be gone in a month from now. Everybody's going to forget about Karl Rove, and they're going to find somebody else to, in fact, jump on. That's the way it works in Washington, D.C.
ABRAMS: But Josh, I think that doesn't really address how significant Rove was and how significant his contributions have been to this administration and how radical, in some ways, particularly with regard to, again, I think, the legal legacy his positions have been.
GREEN: Yeah. I don't think that fixes it, by a long shot. I mean, look, there really never has been a figure in the modern American presidency quite like Karl Rove, a political adviser who had that much say not just over politics and policy but apparently over the judiciary and who acted from as raw a set of political motives as Rove obviously did. You know, Michael is of course right to say that politics are always a thought in the White House, but never were they put forward to the degree that they were in the Bush White House, and Karl Rove was the main driver of that.
ABRAMS: Elizabeth Holtzman, Michael Reagan and Josh Green, thanks a lot. Appreciate it.

Today Show Follows Nurse Hillary on Rounds
in Labor Union Stunt

Yet another Democratic candidate played nurse for a day, as part of a stunt to garner labor union support, and once again NBC's Today show cameras were there to cover the photo-op. On Tuesday's Today show, NBC's Andrea Mitchell followed Hillary Clinton as she made the rounds, for a couple of hours, with a nurse at a Nevada hospital to both soften her image and suck up to the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). NBC's segment featured a clip of a new Hillary Clinton ad in which she charges: "You know if you're a family that is struggling and you don't have health care, well you are invisible to this President." Viewers were treated to shots of Hillary talking to patients and sitting down with the nurse's family to say grace at the kitchen table as Mitchell dutifully declared: "She got her hands wet." Today co-host Meredith Vieira admiringly noted of Clinton's behavior at the nurse's home: "Andrea, I understand that she ended the day, the Senator, by actually washing the dishes before she left? Is that right?" Mitchell gushed: "She did, she pitched right in. She was clearing the table, washing the dishes, helping set the table."

Despite that wonderment, Today didn't give Hillary quite the same glowing profile it delivered last week to Barack Obama when he played a home health care aide, as Today co-host Meredith Vieira expressed some skepticism about Clinton playing nurse: "Do you think the public buys any of this?"

[This item is adapted from a Tuesday posting, by Geoffrey Dickens, on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org [9] ]

The August 10 CyberAlert, "Today Showcases Union Stunt of Obama Playing Health Care Worker," recounted: NBC's Lee Cowan showcased Sen. Barack Obama playing health care worker for a day as he swept cobwebs from ceilings and fixed breakfast for an elderly man as part of a labor union staged photo-op meant to highlight the inability of health care providers to earn "a living wage." Cowan served up this softball: "What does it say about the state of our health care that you've got a 86-year-old man being taken care of by a 61-year-old woman and you put the two of them together and they probably don't have a living wage?" See: www.mrc.org [10]

Tuesday's USA Today also showcased Hillary Clinton playing a nurse. In an article titled "Clinton gets close-up glimpse of nurse's life," reporter Susan Page trumpeted Clinton's effort: "She did agree to Monday's workday -- a significant commitment of time and decided change of pace for top presidential contenders, for whom nearly every minute on the road typically is scripted." For the August 14 story: www.usatoday.com [11]

The following is the full piece at it aired in the 7am half-hour of the August 14th Today show:

Meredith Vieira: "And now to an NBC News exclusive. Hillary Clinton is the Democratic frontrunner in the race for the White House but political opponents have long questioned her warmth and sincerity. Well now she is trying to counter those critics. NBC's Andrea Mitchell spent a very unique day with her on the campaign trail. Andrea, good morning."

Andrea Mitchell: "Good morning to you Meredith. Well the Republicans, led by Karl Rove, are now calling Hillary Clinton, quote, 'fatally flawed,' although the likely nominee. So Senator Clinton is trying to remake her own image before her opponents, in both parties, do it for her."
Hillary Clinton: "I'm falling Michelle around today to see what a nurse does."
Mitchell: "To critics, focused on the rejection of her medical plan 13 years ago, health care is one of Hillary Clinton's biggest mistakes. So what better way to respond than to work a day in the shoes of a hospital nurse?"
Clinton to patient: "See you later."
Patient: "See you later."
Clinton: "Okay, that's a deal."
Clinton talking to Mitchell: "I think she told me that everyday is like five miles."
Mitchell: "Learning the ropes from nurse Michelle Estrada at St. Rose Hospital in Henderson, Nevada may also help Clinton win the endorsement of Michelle's union, the powerful Service Employees International Union."
Anna Burger, Service Employees International Union: "Our members will only endorse a candidate if they walk a day in our shoes and understand what it's like to be a worker in America."
Unidentified man introducing Clinton: "Senator Hillary Clinton!"
Mitchell: "Labor is a major force in Nevada. Now scheduled to hold its caucuses early, right after Iowa. And in Iowa, Clinton's first television ad of the presidential campaign starts airing today."
[Begin clip from Hillary Clinton ad]
Hillary Clinton: "You know if you're a family that is struggling and you don't have health care, well you are invisible to this President."
[End clip]
Mitchell: "All a part of a critical make-over for a candidate far out front in national polls but still viewed in a new CNN/Gallup poll as less likeable than Barack Obama."
Clinton: "What I have found is that in a campaign I have a real chance for people to be disabused of a lot of the stereotypes and the caricatures about me."
Mitchell: "So while Clinton tries to project her warmth-"
[Begin clip of Clinton greeting nurse's family at the door]
Amy: "Hi!"
Clinton: "Hello."
Michelle Estrada: "This is my daughter Amy."
Clinton: "Amy it's a pleasure." ABC Derides Rove, Paints Hillary As Cure
[End clip]
Mitchell: "-going home for dinner with Michelle and her family at the end of a long day-"
[Begin clip of Hillary sitting down with family at kitchen table, bowing head for grace]
Estrada: "Jacob would you offer the prayer for us?"
Jacob: "Yeah."
[End clip]
Mitchell: "-Republicans are trying to portray her as unelectable. Why are they targeting Clinton?"
Chuck Todd, NBC News political director: "The Republicans desperately want to run against Hillary Clinton from 1993. The woman who tried to revamp America's health care system. They believe if that person is the Democratic nominee they win."
Mitchell to Clinton: "Karl Rove, through a parting shot, said that you are 'fatally flawed,' as a candidate."
Clinton laughing: "Well aren't we glad to see him go, I think, is the answer to that. You know, I am thrilled to be running this campaign and to be getting the response that I'm getting all over the country."
Mitchell to Clinton: "And there was an Associated Press report quoting Democrats saying that you might pull down the ticket."
Clinton: "Well I'm ahead and I'm winning and I'm gaining support everywhere I go and I don't think I have any right to anybody's vote. I have to earn every vote and that's what I'm doing every day."
Mitchell: "And she certainly did, yesterday, pulling two-and-a-half hours out of a 12-hour nursing shift. It is very rare, of course, for a presidential candidate to show up and spend so much time on one visit, putting on a nurse's lab coat but it's partly for her, a defensive measure. She is trying to, at least, make sure that this very powerful union representing the nurses does not endorse one of her opponents, labor's favored candidate in many of these parts, John Edwards. Meredith."
Vieira: "Andrea I understand that she ended the day, the Senator, by actually washing the dishes before she left? Is that right?"
Mitchell: "She did, she pitched right in. She was clearing the table, washing the dishes, helping set the table. The kids had set the table before Michelle came home, after this very long shift. I mean that's one of the points. 12 hours these nurses are on their feet and as they say, you know walking five miles, practically, during the day. But she did pitch in. She got her hands wet and it was a rare moment for a presidential candidate spending, as I say, hours and hours on this one visit."
Vieira: "And last week we saw Senator Obama working as a home health care attendant."
Mitchell: "Right."
Vieira: "It really makes for wonderful pictures but do you think the public buys any of this?"
Mitchell: "Well, you know, she's followed by Secret Service agents, so is he, and the media, we were the, the one network permitted to be there. USA Today was also there. So clearly there's a crowd around her and there was around Barack Obama last week. But [at] the same time they do get a sense, at least, of some of the issues and some of the difficulties. There's a lot of human interaction, so even within that bubble it is possible to get a sense of what some of these union people are saying."
Vieira: "Alright, Andrea Mitchell. Thank you."

-- Brent Baker