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September 09, 2008

Huckabee & Wolfson on "Hannity & Colmes"

Hannity & Colmes

HANNITY: And joining us tonight with reaction and analysis is former presidential candidate FOX News contributor Mike Huckabee.

Governor, before we get to the issue of me -- I'll respond to this later -- I want to get your reaction. You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig.

MIKE HUCKABEE, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: It's an old expression, and I'm going to have to cut Obama some slack on that one. I do not think he was referring to Sarah Palin.

He did reference her -- if you take the two soundbites together, it may sound like it. But I've been a guy at the podium many times, and you say something that's maybe a part of an old joke and then somebody ties it in. So I'm going to have to cut him slack.

Now, what he said about you, I don't cut him any slack, because everyone knows, Sean, you're an Irish pussycat, and a genuine, a scholar, and a breeder of fine horses.

HANNITY: All right. Perfect. Let me.

HUCKABEE: There's no way he should be attacking you. But you should be thrilled. We have a saying that says this in the south, just be glad when you're getting kicked from the rear because it means you're still out front.

So, Sean, take some comfort in that.

HANNITY: I'll have my response coming up later, but I think this -- I disagree with you in large part. We have -- and I'm going to give a long setup here because there's information we need to share with our audience.

The "Politico" reports today that talking about John McCain saying oh, the reason he couldn't define honor, now we know why about John McCain because the latest ad that he came out with.

We have the "Politico" reporting that the Democrats have specifically targeted Palin for attacks. It's part of a strategy. The Democrats have sent 30 people -- lawyers, investigators, op-research people to Alaska.

Now for if -- those that are going to believe that spin, we've got to listen to what Joe Biden had to say about Sarah Palin or -- when he was asked if this was a good thing for women having a woman on the ticket.

Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You think if she does win, that that would be a step forward for women?

SEN. JOE BIDEN (D-CT), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, look, I think the issue is what does -- Sarah Palin think? What does she believe? I assume she thinks and agrees with the same policies that George Bush and John McCain think, and that's obviously a backwards step for women.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Governor, when he was being introduced by Democratic congressman - Representative Carnahan, here's how Carnahan, in front of Biden, introduced Biden. He said there's no way you can dress up that record even with a lot of lipstick.

Do you still think there's not a strategy here?

HUCKABEE: I just can't believe that Obama would be that dumb, and it would be beyond dumb to try to say something that blatant. Look, here's what I would say. They're going to go after Sarah Palin, but the more they do, the more that she is becoming endeared to the American people.

And one of the things that I think is pretty significant is that if there's anybody that really ought to have to repent for what he's doing, look at Barack Obama who ran his entire campaign on a different kind of politics, not the same old kind of Washington, not the same old kind of stuff, and what is he doing? It's the same old negative get down in the gutter, grab you by the throat, nasty politics.

That's what really, I think, amazing is that Barack is doing everything he said he was not going to do.

COLMES: Hey, Governor, it's Alan, welcome back to the show.

HUCKABEE: Thanks, Alan.

COLMES: We have a slightly different view of this. I see Barack fighting back. I don't think he's initiating attacks. He's doing something which I think John Kerry wished he had done more forcefully and sooner -- fighting back against attacks against his character, his associations, people who play the guilt by association game with him, and he is forcefully speaking out against that.

But I applaud you for not suggesting that there's a linkage between his lipstick line, an old joke, and the line that Sarah Palin used. I don't think they were connected.

HUCKABEE: Well, but let me take issue on the part that he's just defending himself. He is attacking -- he's not just defending. It's one thing to say my record has been portrayed as this. Here's my real record. That's not what he's doing. He is accusing Sarah Palin, John McCain of being more of the same of George Bush.

COLMES: They are.

HUCKABEE: He's accusing -- no, they're not.

COLMES: Sure, they are.

HUCKABEE: Alan, that's the talking point straight out of the DNC.

COLMES: No talking point. It's an opinion. It's an opinion.

HUCKABEE: But you have to realize that what Barack Obama is doing, he's taking the bait, and he's lowering himself. I think that's why his poll numbers are dropping because a lot of people followed him thinking that he was going to lead us to a different kind of political environment, and he isn't.

COLMES: Governor.

HUCKABEE: He's getting us right back to the same old political environment that's slash and burn.

COLMES: His poll numbers are where they are because John McCain, as is normal, got a slight bounce after the Republican convention. That's typical, that's normal. We'll have some debates and numbers will probably change.

And by the way, in terms of doing op-research, don't Republicans do op-research?

HUCKABEE: No, we're very kind and gracious to everybody. We only talk about the nice things about our opponents.

COLMES: I see. Oh, really? They don't do op-research?

HUCKABEE: Absolutely. Yes.

COLMES: So when Steve King, the congressman from Iowa, referred to Obama's middle name, Hussein, and said that if Obama were elected radical Islamists -- the al Qaeda, the radical Islamists and their supporters -- will be dancing in the streets and will declare victory in the war on terror.

That's the kind of kindness we have from Republicans, right?

HUCKABEE: Well, I'm no more going to defend every Republican who misspeaks any more than you can defend every Democrat. I'm sure you're not going to try to defend Sally Quinn and Andrea Mitchell and Gloria Steinem for the absolutely heinous things they said.

COLMES: What did Gloria Steinem say? She wrote a terrific piece for the "L.A. Times" really putting in perspective the Palin candidacy, and she didn't do it in any kind of a mean-spirited way.

But the point is, just because you're a woman doesn't mean you necessarily advocate positions that advance the things that women -- or the majority of women may advocate or stand for. I think that's the point.

HUCKABEE: Well, I think, you know, it's an assumption to assume that all women of America really believe that taking the life of your child is a perfectly, wonderful, normal thing. I don't think that that's true.

Maybe on the left coast, but out here in Middle America, that's not at all the way many women believe, and there are a lot of conservative women in America.

COLMES: All right, Governor, we thank you very much for being with us tonight. Nice to see you as always.

HUCKABEE: Good to see you.

COLMES: Coming up more reaction to the Obama-O'Reilly interview with Howard Wolfson and the McCain-Palin ticket, gaining momentum and making its mark on both state and national polls. But is the Alaskan governor helping John McCain with female voters? We'll break down the latest numbers. Get reaction from former Bush advisor, Karen Hughes, as well.

And still to come, Barack Obama in his own words on his readiness to be president. And maybe the interview that could come back and haunt him or not, when we get back.

ANNOUNCER: HANNITY & COLMES is brought to you by.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: And joining us now former Clinton communications director, FOX News, contributor, Howard Wolfson.

Howard, it may surprise you, I read your blog.

HOWARD WOLFSON, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: I appreciate that.

HANNITY: Well, actually, it's very well written, and you're very honest on the blog, and you talked about the internal debate that you had in your campaign about raising the issue of sexism used by the Obama campaign.

Now Bill Clinton, we know, accused the Obama campaign of playing the race card, but you said that, in fact, that it had been reported correctly that we engaged in endless internal debates about whether to raise the issue of sexism, but never did, but in retrospect, there is broad agreement that Hillary Clinton was treated differently, in part, because she's a woman.

WOLFSON: Right. Let me just.

HANNITY: What do you -- go ahead.

WOLFSON: Let me just correct you for one thing. By the press, not by Senator Obama. By the press.

HANNITY: But Bill Clinton said that he played the race card. You did accuse him of that.

WOLFSON: Bill Clinton -- but what I wrote today was that there's now broad agreement, and Sean, I think even you would agree that the press treated Senator Clinton differently because she was a woman, and we did have a real debate almost throughout all of 2008 whether or not we should do something in a big way about that, and we decided not to.

HANNITY: When Joe Biden says -- because Hillary talked, and even Sarah Palin praised Hillary for the 18 cracks in the ceiling.

WOLFSON: 18 million.

HANNITY: I'm sorry, 18 million. I don't want to get it wrong.

WOLFSON: Exactly.

HANNITY: When Joe Biden said that Palin would be a backward step for women, when he's introduced by a congressman and says there's now way you can dress up that record, even with a lot of lipstick, I'm going to play this cut again. You know, Barack Obama.

Now watch the crowd behind him. Even the AP reports that the crowd started laughing as soon as he said -- they broke out and laughed -- that you can put lipstick on a pig, but, you know, it's still a pig.

Watch the crowd in the background here as we re-air this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Yes, you can put lipstick on a pig. It's still a pig.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: He's talking about Sarah Palin. The crowd knew that.

WOLFSON: No, no, no, no. And I'm glad that you played the full bite at the top of the show because it's clear that he's not talking about Sarah Palin. He doesn't even mention Sarah Palin's name, he's talking about John McCain.

HANNITY: That's naive and irresponsible to believe that.

WOLFSON: No, no, no. Look, I've watched an awful lot in this campaign. I think I have a pretty good antenna when it comes to sexism and I think that -- as I've said before on your show.

HANNITY: You're supporting Obama so you.

WOLFSON: I am but.

COLMES: He was talking about change, Howard. That's what he was talking.

WOLFSON: Exactly. And there's no question that he was referring to John McCain, not Sarah Palin, and I think anything to the contrary is ridiculous.

COLMES: What's really interesting, Howard -- welcome back to the show-- is that.

WOLFSON: Thanks.

COLMES: . the McCain camp has taken the word "change" and tried to appropriate it. They have taken, actually stolen, if I may be so bold, the theme of Obama's campaign and they're claiming they're the agents of change, because -- well, that word is working for Obama. Isn't that what's going on?

WOLFSON: Absolutely. And you know, I still have yet to hear from John McCain or Sarah Palin or any of their surrogates a single thing that a McCain administration would do differently on the economy than George Bush. They can't.

COLMES: Yes.

WOLFSON: Not a single thing.

Sean, you can't name it, no one can name it. If we get John McCain, we get four more years of Bush economic policies that have driven this country into the dish.

COLMES: By the way on your blog you also write, which I also read, you say it's deeply unfortunate that a pro-life woman is working against almost everything Senator Clinton stands for as a beneficiary of this consensus about Clinton (INAUDIBLE).

Now that we all agree that Hillary Clinton was the recipient of some unfortunate comments, but you say we don't get to choose who follows through the doors we open. So in some respects -- in fact, in many respects -- and she did acknowledge it on one point, Sarah Palin owes Hillary Clinton a debt of gratitude.

WOLFSON: Well, I think that's absolutely right. I think any woman who's going to run for office at this point owes Senator Clinton a debt of gratitude for going through what she went through. I should say as long as we're referencing the blog, it's "The New Republic" or GotamAcme.com in case people want to go and take a read.

COLMES: Right. We had one commentator refer to her as the "B" word. Somebody else said every time I hear her speak I involuntarily cross my legs. Another one says she looks like everyone's first wife standing outside probate court.

These are all conservative commentators on various networks who said during the campaign.

HANNITY: Who? Who said it?

COLMES: The last one was Mike Barnicle. The one before that Tucker Carlson.

HANNITY: Mike Barnicle is a liberal.

COLMES: Alex Castellanos.

HANNITY: Mike Barnicle's a liberal.

COLMES: He's a liberal?

HANNITY: Yes.

COLMES: Are you -- he's not?

HANNITY: Yes, he is.

COLMES: He's not a liberal.

HANNITY: Yes, he is. Just like Chris Matthews.

COLMES: Howard, we don't need you because Hannity and I are going to battle it out now. I guess we don't need a guest.

WOLFSON: Seriously, I'm going to let you guys go at it.

COLMES: But anyway, those are the comments that were made by particular commentators going.

HANNITY: Liberals.

COLMES: Wait a minute, Tucker Carlson is a liberal?

HANNITY: Yes, actually he is.

COLMES: Tucker Carlson is a liberal?

(CROSSTALK)

COLMES: Alex Castellanos is a liberal?

HANNITY: Ask Jon Stewart, he'll tell you.

COLMES: All right, Howard, thanks for stopping by.

WOLFSON: Thanks.

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