CBS Tries Its Darndest To Get Gov. Daniels To Trash GOP Field
On Monday's Early Show, CBS's Jim Axelrod pressed Gov. Mitch Daniels to anything derogatory about the Republican presidential field, leaving the Indiana politician little time to say anything about his new book. Axelrod also devoted a significant amount of time during the interview to the question of whether New Jersey Governor Chris Christie would get into the presidential race. The substitute anchor led the segment with the issue of the recent Florida straw poll, which businessman Herman Cain won: “Cain didn't just win in Florida this weekend. He had more votes than both Governor Romney and Governor Perry combined. What does that tell you about the state of the Republican field? ” After his guest gave an initial answer, Axelrod followed up by asking, ” When you see what's happening with the inability for a single candidate to, sort of, get some traction, does it make you rethink your decision, at all, to get out of the race? ” Daniels did get a little bit of the subject matter of his new book, ” Keeping the Republic: Save America by Trusting Americans ,” in his second answer: “This country's hanging on a knife edge….I think the situation…calls on our party and whoever leads it to trust the intelligence and the maturity of the American people. Let's tell them exactly how big the fix is. Let's tell them exactly what it will take to get out of it, so we don't wind up looking like Greece does today .” But instead of getting the Indiana governor to go more in depth into his book, Axelrod continued with the topic of the GOP field: ” So is there room for another Republican in the field right now? ” The CBS journalist devoted the remainder of his questions during the segment to the possibility of a Gov. Christie presidential run, all the way still trying to get his guest to say something negative about his fellow Republicans: AXELROD: All right. Governor, let me ask you about your meeting with Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey last week. Is he somebody who can carry this message in the kind of clear language that you're talking about right now? … AXELROD: What did he tell you? Is his decision to not get in this race final, in your view?… AXELROD: We've got about 30 seconds left. What does he have that is currently lacking, in terms of exciting Republican voters? What does Governor Christie bring to the mix? The transcript of Jim Axelrod's interview of Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, which aired 33 minutes into the 7 am Eastern hour: JIM AXELROD: Speaking of the race for the White House, one man who's made headlines this year in deciding not to run is Indiana's Republican governor, Mitch Daniels. His new book is called, 'Keeping the Republic: Save America by Trusting Americans.'
Posted by
on September 26, 2011. Filed under