Newt Gingrich

Sarah Palin Blames 'Lamestream Media' And 'Racist' David Gregory For Newt's Political Crisis [VIDEO]

Benjy Sarlin | May 19, 2011, 11:23AM

Newt Gingrich did his best Sarah Palin impression this week, lashing out at the press in interviews, statements, and even epic poetry for baiting him into condemning Paul Ryan's Medicare plan and then piling on afterwards. Now he has the real thing on his side as Palin is slamming the "lamestream media" for his predicament.

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Newt Gingrich

David Gregory To Newt: Don't Blame Me For Your Medicare Implosion

Benjy Sarlin | May 18, 2011, 2:41PM

Fmr. House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA)

Struggling to shake off a politically damaging interview on Meet The Press, Newt Gingrich took the ever-popular tack yesterday of blaming the media and its "gotcha" questions. But host David Gregory isn't having it, pushing back today against Newt's claim that he was ambushed.

"There was no set-up," Gregory told the Huffington Post's Michael Calderone, adding that Newt "knew what he was doing" and "knows what he's doing now."

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IL-SEN

Giannoulias: Being A 'Fiscal Hawk' May Be Kirk's Biggest 'Whopper'

Eric Lach | October 10, 2010, 12:17PM

IL Senate candidates Alexi Giannoulias (D) and Mark Kirk (R)

Locked in a tight race, the candidates for Senate in Illinois appeared on Meet The Press today, and debated issues including tax cuts, health care and spending. Democrat Alexi Giannoulias and Republican Rep. Mark Kirk also faced questions about the scandals that have marred each of their campaigns.

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Barack Obama

Colin Powell Stands Up For Obama (VIDEO)

Evan McMorris-Santoro | September 20, 2010, 10:25AM

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell

One of President Obama's most prominent backers in 2008, former Joint Chiefs of Staff chair Colin Powell, said on Meet The Press yesterday that the president's accomplishments on economic recovery and health care reform have made him a "transformational figure" in American politics. Though Powell didn't say if Obama has his endorsement in the 2012 presidential race, the moderate Republican told host David Gregory that Obama "should get credit" for what Powell called his real legislative accomplishments.

Powell had a few criticisms for the man he backed over John McCain near the end of the '08 campaign cycle. Powell said he worries that Obama has failed at communicating his accomplishments to the American people, leaving the White House with a "failure to connect" to the voters who put the administration in place. But overall, Powell suggested, Obama has done the things that supporters like him expected the president to do -- namely, set the economy on a path to recovery and secure and set forth making fundamental changes to the way the country works.

In the short-term, Powell said, Obama has accomplished at least some of the goals Powell had for him.

"We had a country that was in recession, heading into depression, we had banks failing, we had a stock market collapsing, we were in difficulty, and I thought that he was best able to deal with that, with the advisers he was surrounding himself with, and we have stabilized our economy," Powell said. "So I think that worked out."

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2010 elections

Gibbs: 'No Doubt' Republicans Could Take Back The House (VIDEO)

Jillian Rayfield | July 12, 2010, 9:14AM

Robert Gibbs

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said yesterday that there's "no doubt" Republicans have the chance to take back the House in November.

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KY-SEN

GOPers Back Away From Rand Paul Dust-Up: He's A 'Novice'! (VIDEO)

Christina Bellantoni | May 24, 2010, 10:43AM

KY Sen. Candidate Rand Paul (R)

If it looked like things were tough for Kentucky's Republican Senate nominee Rand Paul at the end of the week, they didn't get much easier this weekend. He canceled a scheduled interview on NBC's Meet the Press, which returned the favor with a segment wondering if his bad week left him a "weaker candidate than he was Tuesday night" when he walloped his rival Trey Grayson in the GOP primary.

Protesters turned out at the Paul-Grayson unity rally on Saturday, local GOPers said he had hit a "rocky start" and top Republicans in Washington did not seem eager to defend the party's newly crowned nominee, distancing themselves from Paul's remarks about the Civil Rights Act.

RNC Chairman Michael Steele was the harshest, saying on Fox News Sunday in response to Paul's comments on discrimination that the country already has "litigated the issue of separate but equal" and praising his own Republican party on civil rights. "I think his philosophy is misplaced in these times ... But I think in this case Rand Paul's philosophy got in the way of reality," Steele said.

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Rand Paul

Ron Paul Appeared On Meet The Press In '07 And Spoke Out Against Civil Rights Act (VIDEO)

Justin Elliott | May 21, 2010, 5:57PM

Ron Paul

This is fun: In light of Rand Paul's decision today to back out of his scheduled appearance on Meet the Press, it's worth looking back to his father Rep. Ron Paul's appearance on the show in 2007 -- in which Ron Paul came out against the 1964 Civil Rights Act on the very same grounds that have gotten Rand Paul into such a mess this week.

Asked by then-host Tim Russert if he would have voted for the landmark legislation, Paul said he would have opposed it "If it were written the same way, where the federal government's taken over property--has nothing to do with race relations." He continued: "it has nothing to do with racism, it has to do with the Constitution and private property rights."

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KY-SEN

Paul Backs Out Of Meet The Press Appearance

Christina Bellantoni | May 21, 2010, 4:45PM

Rand Paul

At the end of a rocky week, newly chosen Senate nominee Rand Paul (R-KY) has canceled a planned interview on NBC's "Meet the Press" citing exhaustion. It's only the third cancellation from a major guest in 62 years, the show's Executive Producer Betsy Fischer said in an interview this afternoon.

"It is a big deal when somebody cancels an appearance," she said.

Fischer and host David Gregory have been attempting to convince Paul's press secretary and campaign manager since the Paul camp scrapped the interview this afternoon. They first arranged the Sunday show interview on Wednesday after he won the party nomination Tuesday night. Fischer said Paul's press secretary said he was exhausted.

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