On Thursday's The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, MSNBC contributor Joy Reid claimed that Republicans are going after Obama administration scandals because "the only thing that really unites conservatives and Republicans at this point is hatred of Barack Obama. So they're going to play it for all it's worth."
Host Lawrence O'Donnell had begun the discussion by reading from a National Review article cautioning Republicans against depending too much on scandal for electoral victory rather than pushing an agenda. O'Donnell suggested going after corruption in the Obama administration would hurt Republicans politically:
The parallels are being drawn to, look, you went after President Clinton with an impeachment proceeding, and that actually helped the Democrats. No one would have predicted that ahead of time, but now you have that model to look at.
Reid mocked conservatives again as she responded:
Those are facts, Lawrence. See, those don't matter. Those are not important to the right. ... That all has a liberal bias. Exactly, that all has a liberal bias. They're not talking about facts. This is about gut instinct and feeling and emotion. And the only thing that conservatives and Republicans are sure of is that they hate Barack Obama, that their base hates Barack Obama, and that up to now, the media has refused to see the monster that is Barack Obama.
Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Thursday, May 16, The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell:
LAWRENCE O'DONNELL: And you can see what they're worried about. They know America doesn't feel that way about this President. You'll do nothing but alienate yourselves as a party from the American voter if you keep talking this way.
REID: Yeah, but, I mean, those are some of the cooler heads in the Republican party. At the base level, at the Bachmann level, they're just concerned about the base. They only listen to the base. They're in that hermetic seal. And for them, the only thing that really unites conservatives and Republicans at this point is hatred of Barack Obama. So they're going to play it for all it's worth. And now they've got the lame stream media also reporting on these stories, they are so excited. They're in hog heaven. They think this the end of Barack Obama, and they're going to ride it for all it's worth.
O'DONNELL: The parallels are being drawn to, look, you went after President Clinton with an impeachment proceeding, and that actually helped the Democrats. No one would have predicted that ahead of time, but now you have that model to look at.
REID: Yeah. Those are facts, Lawrence. See, those don't matter. Those are not important to the right.
O'DONNELL: There's data on it, polling data and electoral results.
REID: That all has a liberal bias. Exactly, that all has a liberal bias. They're not talking about facts. This is about gut instinct and feeling and emotion. And the only thing that conservatives and Republicans are sure of is that they hate Barack Obama, that their base hates Barack Obama, and that up to now, the media has refused to see the monster that is Barack Obama.
But now that they think the media does see him for the ogre that he is, there's no way they can get themselves out of this box. I really do think Republicans, because they don't agree on an electoral agenda, because they can't get legislation through, and even if it gets through the House, they can't get it through the Senate, this is going to substitute for governing. This is the way it's going to be, I think, going forward, at least through 2014.
-- Brad Wilmouth is a news analyst at the Media Research Center