"It’s just a negative vibe that you get in that room." Chuck Todd on Hardball describing Sarah Palin and John McCain's "vibe" during their interview with Brian Williams.
I was stunned watching Hardball today. Not for the Pfotenhauer interview, but for Chuck Todd's words after watching McCain and Palin sit down with Brian Williams for the interview running on NBC news tonight.
Video hat tip: dtruth. thanks!
Transcript and scene setting below the fold.
Williams talks about his interview with Palin and his question to her about tying the "Obama will speak to evil leaders with no preconditions" to Biden’s remarks regarding an early test for a new president.
What did she mean by preconditions? McCain snickers.
Her response was nonresponsive. Matthews asked what Williams thought she meant, Williams gave a lame response and turns it over to Chuck who let loose with this bombshell:
Chuck Todd: Well, Chris, I wouldn’t blame Brian for wanting to say this. There was a tenseness between, first of all, between the two. There’s no chemistry. I couldn’t see chemistry between John McCain and Sarah Palin. It was.....I felt as if we grabbed two people and said ‘here sit next to each other, we’re going to conduct an interview.’ There wasn’t, they’re not, uuugh, not comfortable with each other yet.
The other thing about it is that you can tell they know that they’re losing. There’s an intensity there, they’re drained, the entire campaign staff is drained. The two candidates seem guarded, they seem on edge. It’s not as if they were rude or anything. It’s not as if they weren’t trying to be forthcoming. It’s just, they just seemed, it’s a negative intensity. I don’t know how else to describe it. But you’ll see that when you see the two of them together, the chemistry is not all there.....you do wonder "is John McCain starting to blame her for things, blaming himself, is she blaming him?" You just wonder what’s going on inside their heads are they upset with how the other has treated them and is that why her the numbers low? It’s just a negative vibe that you get in that room.
Williams and Matthews discuss Colin Powell's remarks, Todd kicks in with the age issue, which, he said became more relevant when the public got to know Palin. No duh.
Then Todd rubs it in:
I can't emphasize enough. The odd body language. I know Obama and Biden don't have the great chemistry yet, but there seems to be some chemistry. I didn't see ANY chemistry here. It is, very much feels forced and you almost wonder, "Now, maybe it's the intensity of the moment, they know they're down. You have no sleep at night you need that idea that you might win to probably keep you going and maybe they don't feel that they can win right now and so they're missing that intensity.... but that was the thing that struck me more than anything...the lack of....you almost wonder why they wanted them sitting next to each other.
Wow. Chuck then wonders if her statement that she'll release her medical records means she's going to pull a Bullworth. Finally, Chuck adds:
They desperately need some good news cuz you wonder "is that cohesion dissappearing inside. Not just between the two mates that we saw on camera, but in the whole campaign structure."
If someone can show me how to embed MSNBC videos, I'll update.