On Sunday's NBC Meet the Press, after the panel roundly bashed Rush Limbaugh [1]
and Republicans f
or not denouncing him enough, correspondent Savannah
Guthrie surprisingly criticized President Obama's response to the
controversy: "The President also in danger, perhaps, of an
overreach by calling this law student [Sandra Fluke]....that seemed a
little nakedly political."
Time's Mark Halperin quickly ran to Obama's defense: "I don't think
that's an overreach, it's a brash political move, clearly political." He
then gushed over the President's skill in handling the issue: "...the
President talking about both the appreciation for religious liberty and
the reproductive health issues. No other politician in the country's
doing that classic triangulation and being bold and being out front on
that, having his allies out there in an organized way."
Here is a transcript of the March 4 exchange:
11:17AM ET
(...)
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: The President also in danger, perhaps, of an overreach by calling this law student, she 30 years old...
MIKE MURPHY: Yeah.
GUTHRIE: ...in the guise of saying, "Are you okay?" I mean, obviously
the Democrats want to make the most of the opportunity, but to me, that
seemed a little nakedly political.
MURPHY: And meanwhile, the Chinese graduate 2,000 engineers while we're arguing about this. The whole thing was cringe-worthy.
MARK HALPERIN: Tale of two candidates. I don't think that's an
overreach, it's a brash political move, clearly political. But look, the
President's the – you look at Romney versus Obama on this, and the
President talking about both the appreciation for religious liberty and
the reproductive health issues. No other politician in the country's
doing that classic triangulation and being bold and being out front on
that, having his allies out there in an organized way. Romney, timid,
not willing to repudiate Limbaugh, and not seizing the moment to talk
about big issues. Even though he should be focused on the economy, you
can't drive the news by yourself.
(...)
-- Kyle Drennen is a news analyst at the Media Research Center. Click here [2] to follow Kyle Drennen on Twitter.