Page 854 - Focus Groups News Today

Of this book that there was a set of focus groups taken, there was money spent to try to decide whether to dump the vice president who was close to bill daly personally and close to the president. they were that worried that they conducted all this research to dump him. and then they decided after getting the research, not deciding ahead of time we love this guy. but after the research saying its not worth it. and take a lot of heat. thats what we know now as a fact. >> heres what ill say first,...

It. we had heard rumors through that time that johnson is talking about that, oh, maybe the president will replace joe biden with hillary clinton. in fact, i think hillary clinton is probably on the record being asked about it because i have a vague memory that the presidents numbers were down. you know, all of that kind of thing and i got to thinking today reading jonathans article about this book that probably one of the happiest people today is hillary clinton for them deciding not to put her...

Room just before the vice president sits down with his next private lunch with the president. remember the reporting at the time, you said things like of course theyll look at this. ra you have to go back at a time when it wasnt a sure bet the president would win re-election. lo and behold, this book shows they did have focus groups and did do polling they were saying they were just studying it. you can bet the vice president will have a private chat with the president. if you look at the presid...

Year. and -- so i think they put it in polls, they put it in focus groups. campaigns dont spend that kind of money unless theyre looking at something seriously. the question thats unanswered is did president obama know about the sort of backstage effort. >> what was your sense on that? i know you asked about it. >> he said he wasnt sure that obama might have figured it out but he wasnt positive himself. now, what he emphasized is that there was no biden plot which is to say we have to get rid of...

President was aware, that it was about a half dozen top aides, but he was not sure 100% at least that president obama knew. he said its possible that obama knew, but he wasnt positive. in the book, they dont have that nailed down 100%, either. so this seems to be the short of high command president obamas white house and campaign, really rough poll numbers. keep in mind in the fall of 2011, president obamas numbers were plunging south and so i think they were looking around figuring out how to c...

Obama, didnt think he was ready for it and thought his wife hillary clinton was ready for it. we had heard rumors through that time that johnson is talking about that oh, maybe the president will replace joe biden with hillary clinton. in fact, i think hillary clinton is probably on the record being asked about it because i have a vague memory -- >> she is. >> the presidents numbers were down. you know, all of that kind of thing and i got to thinking today reading jonathans article about this bo...

Here is that were not really talking about obama care, it is to obama and anything he has to say. if he wanted to make the military bigger they would be against that. whatever hes got, they are against. its personal. were hearing some noise about maybe something crazy was said to the president in a recent meeting, some people saying it didnt happen. but we have video of it. can we roll that? ♪ >> thats obviously the wrong video but thats clearly how republicans feel nowa days, theyve been root...

That there is a sense that americas on the decline and that the future really is a square place for them. and i think you saw that in those groups. the dysfunction of washington kind of comes down to their level and it makes them wonder, you know, whens around the corner? doesnt give them a lot of confidence. >> margey, a couple of things thats interesting, one, this idea of wanting to elect people who would come and work together and compromise where possible and get things done. i mean, that s...

Co-workers and walk out on the job, why do you get to get a half day, get benefits and go on vacation, those are the exact kinds of words they use. they see this different set of standards that washington holds itself to versus what they have to go through. >> the way they describe washington was in family terms. they describe them as kindergartners or toddlers that cant get along. >> what i thought was interesting after sort of watching the focus groups and then looking at this nbc/"esquire" po...

Remarkably, they havent learned anything from the shutdown or from last years election. >> focus groups described our party as narrow minded, out of touch, and, quote, stuffy old men. >> yes. open the tent and to do that they shut down the government, furlough 800,000 workers, and blow $24 billion. it would almost be funny if it wasnt so sad. joining me now are dana milbank and angela rye. thank you for being here. >> hi, rev. >> thank you. >> dana, some republicans do