Claire McCaskill played Hardball with Chris Matthews Wednesday evening, predicting her success this November will depend on how "independent" Missouri voters believe she can be.
The program began with a report from Hardball correspondent David Shuster, who referenced President Bush's trip to Missouri today to raise money for Republican Senator Jim Talent.
Shuster cited the recent Research 2000 poll that has McCaskill up by 6 points . . . "Talent has voted with the White House repeatedly and is now paying for his right step with moderates and independents," Shuster reported.
Shuster said the recent poll is "a jolt because Missouri had been trending increasingly Republican." "Talent's challenge could be an indicator of problems for Republicans nationwide," Shuster reported. Noticeably, there was no mention of a recent Zogby poll published by the Wall-Street Journal that has Senator Talent up by 5 points.
In McCaskill's interview with Matthews, she cited overspending, incompetence during Hurricane Katrina and a war gone badly as reasons why she can beat Sen. Talent in November.
"You've got a Senator who pretty much does whatever the President tells him to do. He votes with President Bush 94% of the time," McCaskill said.
"I'm not saying they're really happy with the Democrats either. I think my success will depend on whether or not Missouri feels comfortable that I can go out to Washington and be very independent."
On the war in Iraq, McCaskill said she does not believe the United States can pull out of the country within a year. When Matthews asked her about a 2 year timetable, she said, "I think we can redeploy within, give or take, a 2 year framework."
On the Iraqi government's discussion of giving amnesty to some who killed American soldiers, she said it rubs her the wrong way. "It bothers me," McCaskill said pointing out she's a former prosecutor.
But just before that, McCaskill said: "I don't know if we can get in the middle of that country's business as they try to find a way to peacefully live with each other."
To cap off the brief appearance, Matthews said this: "You're like me, Ms. McCaskill . . . It is much harder to figure out how to get out of there than to decide it was a mistake to go in, which most people now believe it was."
Not sure how that was intended. Either way, McCaskill has been very careful not to criticize lawmakers who voted for the war at the time. She has said it's hard to second-guess that decision considering the intelligence and environment at that time.
Matthews said Sen. Talent was unavailable to appear on the program today. He said he'd try to have Missouri's junior Senator on sometime in the future.
2 comments:
This is absurd. You expect us to swallow this hook line and sinker?
If Claire is so "independent" then on what issues does she differ from those democrats from the national level and where does she agree with President Bush.
She doesnt on both counts.
She was hand picked by DNC hack Schumer(senator, NY) to run in Missouri.
It is also funny to see that she knows she cannot run as a democrat.
Its okay Dave, at least we know where you and the station stand.
I guess I should have seen this after the debate you hosted between Claire and Matt in 2004.
It is really unfortunate because KY3 used to at least try and give the whole side of the story. Maybe one day we will get back to where we were.
David- I think this race is a tossup depending on the war news and the econmy until election day. McCaskill's appearance on Hardball shows the effort the democrats are going to put into the race.
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