I'm Chuck Todd, NBC News Chief White House Correspondent and author of "How Barack Obama Won." Please join me for another Q&A session here on Newsvine where we'll be discussing U.S. politics. Feel free to post your questions here in advance, and remember to vote for your favorite questions by clicking the small arrow in each comment box. You can also read more political news and analysis on Firstread.msnbc.com.
Newsvine Q & A: Chuck Todd on U.S. Politics
Thu Nov 5, 2009 3:17 PM EST
Leave a Comment:
If you look at the numbers overall voters, that called themselves independents, that called themselves republicans, etc ...the numbers on age... etc... Isn't the issue for democrats not so much huge turnout for republicans but that youth turn out and motivation (along with an internet plan that made their base care) ...was down.
If you look at the numbers from 2004, 2006, 2008 at the various elections... the dems problem is a lck of enthusiasm from their base...and no clear strength on the part of backing up what he said he would do for Obama...and that cow-tow milk toast...lack of strength transfers to lack of enthusiasm...and importance.
If you look at those turnout numbers that seems very clear. Why the Media is running with some weird flipping idea... is just weird. The indie numbers overall were not up from last year. So the simplified ratios don't work.
am I wrong?
Youth, Hispanics and Blacks historically don't vote in high percentages during off year and mid term elections.
I know, exactly. ...I am bothed by the spin and the ignorance that seems to be in the reporting on this election...independents switching in races that have a completely different math. This idea of people switching rather than the problem of just not showing up. ...and not just on election...dems haven't shown up for the campaign.
Obama's milk toast line walking has created the worst thing for a candidate or an initiative... it's created warm oatmeal blaise ..no spark.
THAT is their problem. Healthcare mushy no backbone crap...under the guise of listening is not only inefficient ..it's stupid.
Clinton's people got it wrong in this recent debate... 1st by comparing their situation to this one...and 2nd their healthcare initiative with all the problems it had.. crumbled when she Hillary and therefore Bill at the time) had problems personally and caused a leadership deficit. They blame it on over reaching... stupid. Again They had no support because the story got away from momentum...and strength and clear leadership.
Obama has now made the same mistake...listening to dumb pundits...
and maybe if he could stand up to the legal lobby and get tort reform truly done...(because even as a liberal I know defensive medicine is one of the four massive problems with our healthcare) anyone who say tort reform doesn't matter has not worked in the medical industry and the pressure from conglomerates and hospitals on doctors to prescribe anything that covers their ass and what any patient who has seen a viagra commercial or a 2020 story on the new 30000 test they need to make sure their kids cold is not that rare disease that effect 1 in a billion... rather than what the patient needs.
I f Obama just stepped up pushed the public option and threw in a REAL significant tort reform initiative..hge would have gotten this right... and we would have been done in august.
sorry tired of this run around all because dems are beholden to the legal lobby and repubs are beholden to all the insurance and big money lobby.
Obama lead ...don't walk around behind excusing.
Chuck,
All this hot air over nothing. I saw your stint on Chris Mathews yesterday. Very disappointing. You no longer believe the exit polls anymore? You are just spinning your narrative as far as you can. This off year election was anti incumbents regardless of which party. And it proves politics is still local. So if your state is hurting during this recession, your governor is likely to be gone next cycle unless the economy significantly improves. Also, in order to win state wide as a republican you still have to be viewed as a moderate. McDonnell had his wolf in sheep clothing suit on and Deeds wasn't a good candidate from the beginning. NJ was about selecting from the guy they hated to the guy we are going to hate but have no good choices. Christie and all NJ politicians look crooked to me.
And the Palin/Beck crowd turned a district that has been red for a 157 years to blue. Go get them! So the interparty fighting has begun and may it last thru 2012. The CW says Obama lost. He gain two new democratic representatives to the house. And more proof to the blue dogs that yes you need to be fiscally responsible but stop carrying water for special interest groups and give the people what they want (jobs & healthcare reform). The American people are tired of being left out of in the cold, holding the bag and paying the bills while the Wall Street fat cats still ride high.
All incumbents facing re election next year- need to ask themselves one question- Are they more concern about doing the people's business or carrying the water for their big donors? If its the latter, they are in trouble regardless of what party they belong to. I wouldn't mind some wimpy Democrats to go as long as they are replaced by honest, hardworking Democrats. It's time for Harry Reid to get a pink slip.
Anyway, the President is playing 3 dimensional chess while everyone else in DC are playing pick up sticks. By the way Chuck I saw a youtube video of you stating last fall (4 days before Nov. 4th no less) that you were pretty confident that Ohio was going to go McCain's way (Those on TV, got to remember that youtube is forever and not just for the George Allen like comments). I've tried to hang in there with you but my faith in you is gone. You've thoroughly become one of the pea pod people from Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
Chuck since you like data, please explain three historically facts for me:
1. When Reagan was president and the unemployment rate was in the mid 9 points range, why was his approval rating was in the low to mid 40's and Obama is in the 51-56% range?
2. In 2001, why couldn't George W. Bush whose approval rating was in the mid 80's stop Virginia from going Democratic with Mark Warner as Governor?
3. Why when a black man becomes President, NBC starts splitting its polling. 1 poll for the president' personal approval and 1 for his policies? And you always advertise the policy polling numbers. I've never seen any other president polled this way and really think it is racist to poll this President differently than past Presidents.
Anyway this will be my last post. I wash my hands of you, NBC and MSNBC. You've gone down the rabbit hole of bad journalism and I can not stomach it anymore.
Don't let the door hit you on the way out. Oh, and it won't be your last post. You scream for attention my friend, and I doubt you get it many other places than the internets. I do want to offer some responses to your ridiculous questions too though, since I also want attention.
1. I'm not sure of the implication. It seems you are saying Presidential job approval ratings are soley determined by the unemployment rate. This is not the case.
2. The reason George W. Bush didn't get to pick the Governor of Virginia, EVEN though he had a mid 80 approval rating, is because we have popular elections in this country to elect our representatives. Generally, the two parties of the country nominate candidates, including independant candidates, and then during a specific time they campaign across the electoral area telling people why they think they'd make a good representative. Then, on a specific day, they hold an election, and the person that garners the most votes from the voters is elected as the representative for that particular area. That's why a president's approval rating doesn't prevent someone from getting elected.
3. NBC didn't split it's polling. You are making assumptions about the inner workings of a single department inside a company that you don't have any credible information about. The fact you think they are altering their methodology at all, and even more insulting you ascribe the reasoning to be race based, indicates you are under the impression people are favoring a different group from the one you belong to. They aren't. You are paranoid and delusional.
Okie dokie, try not to kill anyone with your frustration and remember that anyone you disagree with in government can be ousted with simple logical arguements and organization of your community. We vote on things. The winners get to dictate our direction. Sorry.
Wait now I get it!
1. Because people are afraid to judge a black person harshly because they fear being called racists. That's why Reagan had a 40 approval with 9 percent unemployment and Obama has 55 with 10 percent.
2. Because the Democrats of Virginia used acorn to steal the election. Once acorn is defunded, BINGO, no more democrats elected in the big Virg.
3. They are trying to prop up a president they made hedge bets on in the election. They shower enough praise to guarentee quality treatment throughout the administration, and, of course, their ownership wants to push a socialist agenda that would go against their own best interest. Plus I've heard they bathe in the blood of infants.
Why do you lie to us Chuck Todd?! How is your ferrari? Was it worth selling out your nation?! I hope you are enjoying your butlered penthouse in manhattan, riding around in your limo and sipping soy milk lattes. How dare you. If only you were a regular journalist that worked your way up and probably has a prefectly normal life like just about everyone, then I could trust the words you read. But as it stands, with you being a member of the secret social society of super serialness, I can't support your propaganda.
I am not afraid of being demonized by critizing this leader of the administration; he hasn't accomplished anything to be categorized as president.
Obama was indentified by the media as an articulate black man and his candidacy was impacted by the liberal media. No group vetted his qualifications, just a black guy that wasn't Bush was good for America. You wanted change, those whom elected him did receive the change of their lives.
Does he fill the image of President, no. Is he listening to the people, no - he marches to his own drum. Are his advisors leaving the sinking ship, yes. Who would want to be associated with this disaster.
My question: If you are the first bi-racial president, why do you defer to being black? Is there a stigma associated with the white side of the family? Or, are there advantages in education, employment, etc. associated with affirmative action?
Nut-cracker!! You are quite wrong in your assertions. You know nothing of being biracial. They are all of it every man, every woman! And don't be jealous of his art of speaking, you could learn a thing or two. Affirmative action has nothing to do with this President. He won, FAIR AND SQUARE. You don't have to like it but you have to live with it. So MAN UP, this is not pee-wee ball. Get over it, and get over yourself!!
OK Wanda, can you please answer the question for me. Why does he relate to being a black men when half of him is white?
No racial bias, just interested in learning the answer. And I can respect you views although you don't respect mine. I am not jealous of his atrful speaking; without the teleprompter he does present a number of ahs, uhms, and the occasional da. Since he will not release information regarding his college career, can we really say he "won, fair and square?"
You are correct, I don't have to like it, and thankfully I will not have to live with it past 2012.
And for the record, I grew up in a mixed race neighborhood, and did as a youth meet Dr. Martin Luther King at my friend's fathers house. Now there was a man, but at the time we kids didn't really know how much of a man (not black or white, but a man) he would be.
Where have you been for the past 40 years safecracker??? During the George Wallace era, KKK, and other whites who did not claim affiliation, all had a rule that if you have 1/4 black in your heritage, you are considered a black!! I went through such evil abusive name calling sessions as a young black girl myself going into a white school, I couldnt believe they were Christian. But I wasn't afraid to do what I needed to do and get my education, because I knew I needed it.
Black people do not mind that 1/4 rule, we have lived with hateful bigoted rules all our lives. We have been wrongfully oppressed in our wages and promotions, and blamed for crimes we did not commit, or forced to longer prison terms for the same crimes of whites!! Forced to live in areas that should be condemned, treated as tokens, should I say more? and please don't feign innocence, I am sick of that one.
So are you willing to be the one to change it or call them a liar??? I didn't think so.
Martin Luther King did understand better than anyone alive or dead except Jesus Christ, exactly what it means to be a BLACK man, and he believed that the color of your skin shouldn't matter, but they had him killed for saying it!
One thing black people don't respect, is a white guy trying to tell them how to be black!!! You don't get respect for that. Be glad I chose to answer you because someone else may want to curse you out. What if I told you how to be white!!! Really!!!!
So don't try to lecture me on the reasons for claiming your heritage!! We love ours and you should love yours and we don't mind and you shouldn't mind. Like I said get over it and get over yourself. "The times they are a changin" True color blindness is coming when people like you quit bringing it up! Until then it is what it is!!!
You're right, not my last post. But it's not to Chuck but to you. And NBC does spilit it's polling. They always report on Obama personal approval and police approval. But post his policy approval numbers up. And to the second poster, you just made my point. Reagan had one polling number. NOT TWO. I never brought up anything about people can't be harsh on a black man. I argue people should judge a black man no different from a white man. If all presidents were judge with one poll number (an average of number of his personal approval and policy number) that would be the correct measure.
The ABC/Washington Post poll that came out this week had Obama's personal rating at 74%, policies at 48% and overall approval at 56%. The number don't ad up.
And NBC who Chuck promotes their poll as the best in June stop polling on the week. During the campaign, Gallup did analysis on why Obama poll numbers consistently dipped on a Thursday thru Sat and started rebounding on a Sunday. They concluded that part of his base (youth) were not easy to reach.
And if you look at the internals of many polls they are not using 2008 voting patterns but are still using 2004. Voting patterns tell you what the demographic of the electorate is. In 2008, more Hispanics, blacks, youth voted. The voting pattern tells posters how many of each demographic should be sampled in their polling.
So why are major news media not using current data- to keep their narrative Obama poll numbers have dropped from heaven status. They tried to do that trickery during Clinton's impeachment trail until Daily Kos and Move On did their own polling and exposed their lies because black voters were keeping Clinton up above 50% and mainstream media was undersampling the black vote. They had skewed polling data on Clinton from the mid term when the democrats lost big time until their fabricated numbers didn't jell with Clinton's reelection (first time he won the presidential election with more than 50%) of the votes.
As for Chuck, his interview with Obama was laughable. His question to Obama on the terror trials, reiterates Obama answer than accuses Obama of pre juding the trial. All prosecuters claim they are confident in their case before trail. Has he seen at least one Law and Order trial? Actually Major Garrett had the best interview of Obama in the lastest robin robin of interviews.
Chuck is a number guy and not good at that if you go onto youtube and listen to him stated that he was confident of McCain winning Ohio- and it was only five days out from election. Also, check out his interview with Carol a DC insider- he talks obsessively of his fans. Or by the way check out a couple of the daily press briefings on CSPAN. His questions are pathetic. Samantha Guthrie is a great WH press correspondent and her interviews questions are precise not the Chuck bumbling run on sentence questions. Chuck has too many job hats on at once and he isn't faring well at any of them except joking on Morning Joe about any sport event.
And when I heard that he was writing a book on Obama- I just shook my head. Chuck doesn't know Obama, wasn't on the campaign trail and by the the looks of his last interview with Obama; Obama seems to grown chilly toward Chuck since his first interview with him.
PS Nicky, your post doesn't make sense. I was questioning Chuck on his claim that the NJ and VA gubernatorial races were a referendum on Obama even though their own exit polls said no. Most Democrats in North VA stayed home and Corizine polling was below 50% with both Democrats and Republicans in NJ. Chuck was on Hardball the evening of the election making these pronouncements. Chuck was blaming Obama low poll number to be a reason why he projected a loss for Corizine and Deeds. So my question than how come right after 9/11 when Bush poll numbers were sky high- how come his poll numbers didn't help the Republican in VA win the gubernatorial seat? I think that was a logical question. All politics is local.
Nicky you can call me parnoid and delusional (which doesn't make sense since I'm not Obama) but you are just plain stupid. Are you Sarah Palin's twin because your post does not logically follow anything I stated in my original post. I know you love Chuck's goatee but think with the head on your shoulder and not what is waist down. Maybe you should start a fan group for Chuck on facebook. He really adores his fans.
I came across this recently at the washington post comments. Care to comment?
Chuck,
Your colleague Chris Mathew's level of insanity seems to be rising in direct proportion to the drop in the president's poll numbers. I thought his attack on Bishop Tobin was outrageous but calling West Point "The enemy camp." makes one wonder who you folks at NBC/MSNBC are rooting for in the wars our soldiers are fighting. And you call Glenn Beck crazy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTbJcixsLq8&feature=player_embedded
No questions, just saying good luck to you and Savanna on your new program and also to Dylan for his new time slot.
Chuck, I told you long ago to get out of NBC. Now Obama has been shown for what he is, what you and all of the MSM have been hiding.
Too late Chucko.
Game Over.
Chuck,
Remind Grover Norquist that the Bush tax cuts raised the debt by $ 2 billion and the Bush invasion of Iraq by another $ 3/4 billion. So how are new tax cuts going to solve the problem?
wglong
Following President Obama's press conference you said the press corps was shocked. . .yes shocked. . .that the President didn't know if Ms. Birnbaum resigned or was fired. Okay, you've got deadlines and you certainly want to be the first with the inside scoop, but I have better things to worry about than chasing chatter regarding an overdue departure. Hooray, so does the president. It was a silly bit of fussing, Chuck. I think you're more grown up that that.
Chuck, (my first question to you is,
"Why and how do you explain the over-whelming criticism of President Obama by the News Media on all networks, but the No crowd I watch on C-pan is not publicized for their actions of filibustering evey thing that would help the middle class of tax payers?
Could it be, that the income of the New Media Reporters are so much over $250,000.00 that they dont want tax cuts fo the midle-class who pay over 33% of teir wages compared to maybe 12%?
Chuckie Todd, I laugh at your comments that attempt to prop us this leader of the administration. Keep up the chuckles, for I enjoy your humor.
Just remember this in 2010 and 2012: You can't fix STUPID; you vote them out!
Chuck, I don't get how so many people can be so fooled by the media, Also I can't beleive how the media is willing to display such a doom and gloom picture. I know why they are doing it, and I used to think it was just FOX. But honestly I see it in places I thought had a shield to that sensationalism.
The stimulouse has worked, and we are recovering most of the money that was used.
Our economy is up, and growing. Slowly, but growning.
Unelmployment is an isssue only businesses can fix.
Health care is a good thing. lets see what it can do.
What Obama and the democrats have passed have been a mirical in the partisan environment they have worked with for the past two years. Put the blaim where it needs to be.
Why did Obama spend so much on the deficite when he took office? Explain why. make that a point. He did it to stop us from going into a great depression. Give him and the democrats credit. They have done the best job anyone can ask. Why not say hell yeah, I voted with Obama and look what we did. it's a suscess not a failure.
treat it like one.
Chuck;
I'm appalled at the statement you made on the Today Show this morning in reference to the Republican leaders in the House. You may not realize this, but it was a very racist comment. You said (again in reference to the Republican Leaders in the House) "....they're all white men...."
When are we going to get past color and see that we are all Americans. As a person of multi-heritage, I am America because I am a melting pot.
You are a news reporter and I would expect better of you. Hopefully, you apologize to the viewers and refrain from making racist comments like that in the future.
Tim
why can't those in congress go onto medicare/medicade . like the rest of us do at age 6 they5 .would that save to much money. i hear nothing about them giving up anything.it's always what everyone else has to give up. will we ever have a congress that cares more about the average person mroe than they do themselves .I mean from either party. they seem to care more about themselves than the those they work for. be sure they got there raise this.I hate hearing millonaires try to say they know how the real average man man lives. when was the last time they could't make a payment or buy food for there family maybe a few thankyou
Why is America paying the salaries of 26 servants for the first lady, Michelle Obama. I can see the need for a few people. This amounts to about 1.7 million dollars per year. This is a lot for a broke country. Taxpayers should know what their taxes are paying for!
Hello Mr. Todd,
When will the Department of Justice arrest the Republican Congresswo/men and Senators who SOLD their "no vote" on all tax increases in the form of a pledge to a private NFP owned by Mr. Grover Norquist??? If these same Senators and Congresswo/men accepted $1 in contribution AFTER signing this pledge or accepted $1 in-kind this DOES constitute bribery!!! I have written the White House and asked the same question....