On Opening of Bush Library, Chuck Todd Mocks Ex-President's ‘Gaffes,' Imagines a GOP Loss in 2016

Newsbusters ^ | 04/25/13 | Jeffrey Meyer

[MissesBush]

Previewing the opening of the George W. Bush Presidential Library on Thursday, rather than positively reflect on the legacy of the Bush presidency, MSNBC unsurprisingly chose to mock and minimize his eight years in office. During The Daily Rundown, host Chuck Todd introduced a segment on the former president with a spew of Bush “gaffes." He then mocked, "I miss this part of Bush because Obama never does this stuff."

After playing the clips, Todd spun, "Some of the lighter moments there from Bush's time in office. President Obama's always a little more careful. President Bush would dip into some of those things." Todd has gone so far as to excuse gaffes made by President Obama, blaming his speechwriter for the errors. [See video after jump. MP3 audio here.]

Todd might have this skewed view of presidential history, given that MSNBC virtually ignores the numerous gaffes throughout President Obama’s career, but will mock gaffes made by Republican politicians on a regular basis. Unfortunately, Todd couldn’t stop there with his Bush criticism, instead asking his panel about the legacy of “polarizingly [sic] unpopular presidents” like Bush, “lead to the other party winning a lot of presidential elections in a row.”

Speaking to Politico’s Jonathan Martin, Todd decided to ask, “Will Bush be to blame again if somehow Democrats win in '16?” Todd’s softball question enabled Martin to not only smear President Bush, but the entire Republican Party:

I think he will take a share of the blame. But I think you will see more -- more blame cast on a party that is resistant to modernizing. On issues like immigration. Other cultural matters. But the real issue, because there's so much talk about immigration and gay marriage. The central problem to me for Republicans is the economic issue.

Apparently Todd and Martin couldn’t resist using the Democratic talking point of blaming President Bush for the country’s problems, and clearly think that whoever the Democratic candidate is in 2016, should run against President Bush.

As if the anti-GOP sentiment on MSNBC didn’t stop there, in the next segment Todd brought in fellow MSNBCer, Chris, "thrill up my leg" Matthews, to discuss 2016, mainly Hillary Clinton. After talking about former First Lady Barbara Bush saying she hopes her son Jeb Bush chooses not to run for president in 2016, Matthews then went into Hillary cheerleading mode:

This really looks like a Hillary year coming up, and it really feels like it. Women my age have been waiting to vote for women for all these years. Hillary’s a notch or two as you know to the right of Obama.

Matthews didn’t stop there, instead choosing to double down on his desires to see Ms. Clinton run for president:

Everybody knows a lot about her. They know the whole story, and I think that she's a notch or two, do you think, to the right of the president, and very brilliant. Always perfectly positioned to the sweet spot there.

[MissesBush]

"I think a swift kick in the castanets would be a better show..."

I think he'd have to have some before he could be kicked there. The guy seems like an emasculated little twerp.

[MissesBush]

I think the point is it’s a lame excuse since Illinois is closer to Kentucky than is Arkansas, since Illinois and not Arkansas shares a border with KY.