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Originally Posted by microbet
Is this real?
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Originally Posted by 5ive
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The Conway interview was pure horror. Read the transcript for maximum effect.
Right out of the gate:
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CHUCK TODD:
And joining me now is the counselor to President Trump, Kellyanne Conway. Miss Conway, welcome to the White House north lawn which will--
KELLYANNE CONWAY:
Hi, Chuck.
CHUCK TODD:
--become a familiar place for you I think--
KELLYANNE CONWAY:
Yes.
CHUCK TODD:
--for the next few years. Let me begin with this question, the presidency is about choices. So I'm curious why President Trump chose yesterday to send out his press secretary to essentially litigate a provable falsehood when it comes to a small and petty thing like inaugural crowd size. I guess my question to you is why do that?
Conway goes sideways for a solid ****ing minute of airtime:
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KELLYANNE CONWAY:
Chuck, the president did many things yesterday and the day before that are very meaningful to America. He signed executive orders to stop Obamacare and all of its problems. Many people have lost their-- Millions of people have lost their insurance, their doctors, their plans. So that stops right now.
He's going to replace it with something much more free-market and patient-centric in nature. And on this matter of crowd size, I mean, for me I think the most quantifiable points of interest for Americans should be what just happened a few months ago that brought him here, the 31 of 50 states he won, the 2,600 counties, the 200 counties that went for President Obama that now went to President Trump. And the fact that 29, 30 million women voted for Donald Trump for president. They should be respected. Somebody should cover their voices as well.
I'm about things that are quantifiable and important. I don't think that-- I don't think ultimately presidents are judged by crowd sizes at their inauguration. I think they're judged by their accomplishments. And we know that President Obama and his accomplishments, that there's a lot of unfinished business there.
And on this matter of crowd size I think it is a symbol for the unfair and incomplete treatment that this president often receives. I'm very heartened to see Nielsen just came out with the ratings, 31 million people watching the inauguration. President Obama had 20.5 million watching his second inauguration four short years ago. So we know people are also watching the inauguration on different screens and in different modes. And that there was, I mean, for me there was a prediction of a downpour of rain. I think that deterred many people from coming. But no question there were hundreds of thousands of people out on the mall and--
Todd tries to restore sanity and Conway drops the hammer:
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CHUCK TODD:
All right, Kellyanne, let me stop you here because--
KELLYANNE CONWAY:
--you know, many people enthused.
CHUCK TODD:
--you make a very reasonable and rational case for why crowd sizes don't matter. Then explain, you did not answer the question, why did the president send out his press secretary, who's not just the spokesperson for Donald Trump. He could be-- He also serves as the spokesperson for all of America at times. He speaks for all of the country at times. Why put him out there for the very first time in front of that podium to utter a provable falsehood? It's a small thing. But the first time he confronts the public it's a falsehood?
KELLYANNE CONWAY:
Chuck, I mean, if we're going to keep referring to our press secretary in those types of terms I think that we're going to have to rethink our relationship here.
I mean w in the f...
But the real horror is this:
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KELLYANNE CONWAY:
Ask him why-- Ask him why Donald Trump as president has nominated 21 of the 21 cabinet positions only to have two, a grand total of two, confirmed while he takes office? So the Democratic Senate wants to hold up treasury, commerce, energy, education. The list goes on.
We should have the respect and deference of having a cabinet seated so this peaceful transition of power occurs properly. But he went to the C.I.A. because lies have been told about his relationship and his respect for the intelligence community. So he went right there. We had over 1,000 requests to attend. We can only accommodate three or four hundred--
CHUCK TODD:
Can I-- can I ask you to--
KELLYANNE CONWAY:
--and he embraced--
CHUCK TODD:
--Can I ask you what the lies--
KELLYANNE CONWAY:
--the intelligence community.
CHUCK TODD:
--can I ask you to tell me what lies about the intelligence community were uttered about President Trump's relationship with the intelligence community?
KELLYANNE CONWAY:
That he doesn't respect them. Do you think what outgoing C.I.A. director said yesterday in a statement using the vocabulary, the language he used about our new president of the United States somehow, quote, improves our relationship with the intelligence community? It is irresponsible. It is reprehensible. And it is totally unnecessary.
CHUCK TODD:
Okay. Then let me ask you this, is this responsible, he called it, "was disgraceful, intelligence agencies allowed any information, so false and fake out, disgrace, say, that's something, Nazi Germany would have done and did so." "Disgrace," that was on January 11th. Was it right to compare the intelligence community with Nazi Germany?
KELLYANNE CONWAY:
What's not right, Chuck, is that the day before, you had people releasing a dossier full of junk and lies and fake news. And why did they release the dossier? Because people knew that Russian hacking was fading from view as an election had been totally dismissed as having any credibility or nexus towards our election results.
Hillary Clinton lost that election fairly and squarely basically running on the same messages we heard here yesterday in Washington D.C. and elsewhere. I heard, like, a repeat. It was this awful sequel, as awful as the original. We just litigated all this in the campaign.
They came to Washington and said the same thing. Donald Trump, President Trump is very concerned about the leaks that have occurred. And is very concerned that people would really denigrate the way the respect that he has for men and women of the intelligence community. Why don't you go back to his statement on Friday, January 6th after he had an intelligence briefing that he and Vice President Pence won't talk about because it's top secret. And they won't leak about it because you're not supposed to. They're protecting our intelligence and they're protecting the security of people like you and me and our children, Chuck, by not leaking.
But what he said that day on January 6th, put that statement up for your viewers if you want to do us an honest service. He said in the beginning of the statement, "I respect the service of our great men and women in the intelligence community." And then the last part of the statement was that he looks forward to directing his own intelligence team within 90 days of becoming the president of the United States to give us a better view of cyber security and to put better security measures in place.
Yes, they're saying that because 1) the senate won't roll over and snap-confirm everybody and 2) the intelligence community doesn't respect the administration, they are going to just make a new trumpcentric anti-intelligence agency. This is real.