Page 10 - Character Issue News Today

>> you think the character issue is in some way worse? because youre saying that the bigger problem for you is that you think he has character flaws and maybe there is something wrong cognitively, but thats not for you to judge. do you think the character issue is a bigger issue? >> well, theres clearly something -- im not concerned about, as i said, about his pathology. im concerned about his behavior. his behavior is troubling. it is erratic, it is impulsive. he doesnt seem to be familiar with...

Do you think the character issue is a bigger issue? >> well, theres clearly something -- im not concerned about, as i said, about his pathology. im concerned about his behavior. his behavior is troubling. it is erratic, it is impulsive. he doesnt seem to be familiar with the job hes been called to do. he says things -- hes dishonest. he says things that are untrue all the time. he claims now all of a sudden, apparently, that that voice on the "access hollywood" tape wasnt him. even though he ack...

>> was it a character issue or did we underrate the picture sepgs of a character problem on the clinton side? i cant note but parallels of bill clinton in the 90s and how many times we thought character would trip him in 92, 96, 2000 and george w. bush almost elected because of it. >> putting them on the same footing. trump and clinton. that was tough. shed never got out of that but i think the deeper challenge is to hold their nose, recognizing all the character flaws and something -- a deeper ...

This is a character issue. finally, republicans are seeing the moral standard they have held their leaders to for the past 20, 25 years, especially related to bill clinton, they have to hold republicans to that standard, and theyre being called on the carpet for it, and they need to stick to principles as conservatives they have always touted for years and years. >> last question to you, you left the republican party, became a democrat. what was it that made you decide to do that? is there somet...

Sur certainly we often do not speak with such fire. "usa today" tries to be a practical centrist newspaper, and we try to keep our fire reasoned and -- and focused on the issues. but with donald trump there has become such a glaring and growing character issue that we felt it was time to speak with a little bit of a louder voice. >> what do you make of trumps sinatra-esque, i remember when a columnist went after him, max ien cheshire i think it was, he called her a $2 hooker, that kind of langua...

Behavior in the past, we feel they can never change? >> no, this was always wrong and people knew it was wrong. the idea that there was a point where al franken would have seriously to argued ten years ago it was okay to grope a woman or grab her and kiss her is ridiculous. they knew it was wrong -- >> its a character issue then and today? >> i dont think al franken is rotten to the core, and his colleagues dont think that, and this was a difficult position for the female senators, and the fact ...

Ive said it before on this show. and ill say it again. the guy is a pedophile. what does it mean that the most powerful man in the world has just given a full throated defense of a pedophile, an endorsement? a pedophile? >> this is something that all of my conservative friends who said well, the character issue doesnt matter with trump because, you know, the policies are good and who cares about some treats or some aspects of his background. were now seeing exactly what the character she means. ...

Predicting anything about the trump administration. it is possible that this becomes a huge issue because it is a character issue. it is unthinkable that he did this. it may or may not be legally proper. if he traded interests with the russians that gets pretty close to the edge. if he agreed to violate the law which apparently he has by not enforcing the bill duly passed by congress by a huge margin that required sanctions on the russians and he is refusing to implement it then it is pretty cle...

Yes. but our business is very much about the cult of celebrity and sadly has become more so in recent years. decline of local news. decline of funding for the kind of journalism that we all here want to be doing, want to be continuing to doing. that funding has decreased. networks have had to pump their money behind stars to draw rating, to draw advertising, to keep this business going. it is a culture that has become toxic in some respects. we have to learn these lessons and address culture as ...

>> he used the free ryan widmer website to pick up chicks. >> it sounds like it fell apart for you on the character issue. >> it did. the wallpaper of the case changed. >> day two in the courthouse was going round and round. >> i felt awful. >> i was nauseous. i hadnt felt that way for 20 years. >> the jurors were working their way through the evidence. they parsed the 911 call. >> my wife fell asleep in the bathtub, i think shes dead. >> the more you listen to it, the more and more it starts to...