Transcripts For FOXNEWSW MediaBuzz 20191223 : vimarsana.com

Donald trumps legacy, and he knows it, and thats why he has been so crazed. The 2016 election has now resulted in one of the most, if not the most pathetic,ty vice e, disgusting, repulsive and, frankly, political stunts in american history. Its also a night that is going to not only leave a stain on President Trumps presidency, but i wonder what its going to do to his psyche. Howard pundits baffled by nancy pelosi as she refuses for now to send the impeachment articles to the senate. Hard to really see what the benefits necessarily are of dragging it out. This might be the end of impeachment. Itll be kind of half an impeachment. Howard why the press, which usually praises pelosi, says shes paralyzed the process. News outlets pounce on the president for calling the speaker a partisan whose process is less fair than the salem witch trials. I am incapable of expressing how crazy this letter is, how unhinged in its rhetoric, in its claims, in its factual inaccuracy and lies. Its going to go down as a letter from a twobit dictator. Howard Rudy Giuliani gets hammered on the airwaves with most conservatives avoiding the subject after he admits that, yes, he tried to get ambassador Marie Yovanovitch fired. Plus, 2020 democrats beat up on mayor pete and he punches back, but are these faceoffs utterly overshadowed by impeachment . Im howard kurtz, and this is mediabuzz. Howard it was yet another split screen moment with sky high stakes. Nancy pelosi bringing down the gavel on the two articles of impeachment her democratic members approved, and President Trump denouncing that vote along with the media at a rally in battle creek, michigan. Article one is adopted. This lawless, partisan impeachment is a political suicide march for the democrat party. Crazy Nancy Pelosis House Democrats have branded themselves with an eternal mark of shame, and it really is. Its a disgrace. Howard nbcs Kristin Welker asked the president about being branded with what hes called a very ugly word. What does it feel like to be the third president in u. S. History to be impeached . Well, i dont feel like im being impeached because its a hoax, its a setup. Its a horrible thing they did. Howard joining us now to analyze, mollie hemingway, Fox News Contributor, susan ferrechio, chief Congressional Correspondent for the Washington Examiner and jessica tarlov, a Fox News Contributor and outnumbered panelist. How are the media covering the partyline vote to impeach President Trump, and do you see some spike of the political football. Well, this was technically a vote done by democrats, but really always it was a medialed impeachment. Within hours of President Trumps inauguration, you have the Washington Post beginning the drum beat saying now the march to impeachment begins. And the idea was clearly to use the russia collusion narrative as a means to impeach, and when that fell apart, everyone quickly rolled into this ukraine situation. Even though it was only democrats voting, it really was a medialed effort u. Howard why does the Democratic Party do whatever the media wants . You have to be joked that the media were the pr arm of the Democratic Party, and i think some people would say the media leads that party more than anything. They did feel they had no other choice because of the way the coverage had been, their people were so needing this impeachment. Howard susan, all but three democrats voted for impeachment with one independent, not a single republican vote. Is that as big a story, and do you agree with molly that media climate was a factor here . I think the media and the Political Parties field off each ore feed off each other, and i think mostly the Mainstream Media is liberal leaning. So theres some truth to that sort of ecosystem where i think feed off each other and that they had to go forward with impeachment because the media stories surrounding it would have been too hard to back down. The media always grabs on to the inpeachment story no matter what president it is because its an exciting story, its a Major Political story. And so that is true. I think the fact that only three democrats voted for it and that it was a very divided impeachment just reflects what was going on in the polls where its a very divided support in the polls. Republican supporters dont like it, Democrat Supporters do, so that was part of the story. Howard only three democrats voted against it. First, let me play a sound bite from that battle creek rally because the president , in defending himself, also is beating up once again on the press. How do you know the New York Times is totally dishonest or the Washington Post or abc is so bad, cbs, is so bad. Nbc. I made a lot of money for nbc with the apprentice, right . Howard your reaction. He says the same thing no matter what. I really dont think we can find any circumstance where the president wouldnt say its a hoax, its a witch hunt, its a disgrace. He has, like, ten words that he loves to put out there, and thats the way hes going to do it. It was obviously intentional to have a rally going on at the same time. I mean, the split screen was really profound, right . To see nancy pelosi up there gaveling that impeachment had gone through and the president bashing john dingell at the same time. But i would say about the Media Coverage that i disagree that this was media led insofar as there were democrats that came around to this, especially those who had worked in the Intelligence Community and served our country, the veterans who wrote that oped in the Washington Post about the ukraine case specificically and said it was a very hard road to get here. This was not something we thought should have been done about bob mueller and his report, but the times have found us. I dont think anyone can accuse max rose or mikey sheryl of being pushed to come to this decision because of Media Coverage. The ukraine case was unique, expect fact that it had a National Security element to it made it very different. Howard let me turn to the postimpeachment battle or argument or debate because as everyone here nose, nancy pelosi told reporters that shes not ready to send the articles of impeachment to the senate, she called Mitch Mcconnell a rogue lead arer. Is the press buying her argument that shes trying to pressure Mitch Mcconnell into a fair senate trial . I think this is the first time you actually did see some break from the media, seeming to think she was embarrassing them with this approach. She had said the impeachment was urgent, claims there of obstrucf congress, it was not the best line of argument for what they had been saying all along leading to that. Howard jessica, for the press because trumps between and one of the several white house reactions to pelosis maneuver, pelosi feels her phony impeachment hoax is so pathetic that shes afraid to present it to the senate which can sent a date and put this whole scam into default if they refuse to show up. It seems to me she provided a talking point. I dont think anyone realistically thinks nancy pelosi is afraid of what donald trump is going to be saying on a twitter field or a rally. I personally think this should move as quickly as possible because no matter what you want, youre not going to get a fair trial in the senate, and Mitch Mcconnell and Lindsey Graham have both been clear about that. Howard so the media are public because they dont think she has any ability to influence mcconnell. What theyre looking for is four republican senators to say, yes, we would like to hear from witnesses as well which is a key element to having a trial. Tail, thats a really good point though, mcconnell was saying he wants to do the trial in the same way they did the clinton trial where you hear the cases made for and against, and then you decide whether to have witnesses. The idea that you would jump the ship there and move forward without having first had the cases made would be an outlier from how howard as we heard at the top of the show, susan, a number of pundits ripped the president for that sixpage letter to nancy pelosi, shes elfish, salem selfish, salem witch trials. How should the press deal with such personal political rhetoric . First of all, if youre just part of the press, you should cover the letter, coffer what his defense is of sending a letter like that. He is a president who people have been trying to impeach, talking about impeaching him since the day he was sworn into office. And i think that was reflected in the letter he sent to pelosi, that this has been a witch hunt and an attack on my presidency. Thats the way i read the letter. You have to be a little bit objective in looking at the letter. I agree cover it, but, you know, the witches in salem, they got burned, right . That ended up a little bit worse howard in 1989 i wrote a story about donald trump writing a blistering letter to hotel queen leona hemsley, calling her a disgrace to humanity. So he has been doing this for a while. Look, the media argument now is, well, impeachment was inevitable. Is anyone really surprised President Trump is impeach end . His impeached . His defiance disregard for red lines arguably make him an impeachment waiting to happen. I actually do think people are surprised. When he was elected, it was surprising for a lot of people. We are on year three plus of a temper tantrum where norms are being violated. This is the first time weve had an impeoplement with no crime. Impeachment. You have a resistance that has done everything in its power whether fighting the electoral college, trying to do a 25th amendment howard and you think the medias part of that resistance. Of course they are. Proudly so. Howard the flipside of arguing the democrats wanted to impeach the fact they voted against it numerous times . Al green and Maxine Waters have been pushing that, and democrats have waited until a clearly impeachable offense. Thats actually not true. There have been so many investigations [inaudible conversations] no, no, no. You cant look at the six committees in the house have been investigating trump for everything, and his family, for years. Howard let me, let me hunting around, finally, finally they got something. [inaudible conversations] thats whats been going on. Theyre watching him. Howard the argument here is that many in the media believe that he deserved impeachment for the last three years going back to russia, stormy daniels, all the other things that were thrown at him. And when you crane came ukraine came along, it was like, a that, now were aha, now were done. I understand that argument. I give weight to it. I think people are entitled, obviously, to their opinions, but it does matter that democrats have not brought articles of impeachment before, that there were outliers in the party who have been running around saying that, and frankly, when the Mueller Report came out, there were a number of people who were not members of the media, but lawyers and constitutional scholars who said you could make a clear case that there was obstruction of justice from the special counsel report. And if not for the olc guidelines, Robert Mueller would have actually recommended he said he wont do that. He said it had nothing howard all right. I want to close on this, which is that a Washington Post appropriator posted a tweeted photo of her and some colleagues right after the impeachment vote. The headline was merry impeachments from the wapo team. A lot of people online said this looked like they were celebrating impeachment, she said it was misinterpreted, they were just getting a break for the holidays. Marty barron told cnn that the tweet was illconsidered but also misconstrued. Appropriators go out for appropriators go out for reporters go out for drinks after the end of a big story. There is the perception that the media is biased, thats a bad mix. Not the misperception, theres just the reality. Of course t fine to go out and have a drink, nobody thinks if barack obama had been impeached there would have been this tweet with this festive hash tag. Howard they might still have gone out for drinks, but this probably would have been a different caption. Ive got to get a break here. When we come back, Rudy Giuliani makes a striking admission about his ukraine work. And later, a look at cable interviews with Andrew Mccabe and lisa page. Did they get off easy . Howard Rudy Giuliani went to ukraine with a reporter for one american news, functioning almost as a cohost. Language not usually heard in a news report. We talked to witnesses who destroy adam schiffs base lis impeachment case. Baseless impeachment case. Democratic em peoplement delusions and nefarious charms against giuliani. Giuliani debunks some central premises. Howard giuliani acknowledged he led an effort to oust Marie Yovanovitch because he viewed her as disloyal. He confirmed to the New York Times he gave his information to mike pompeo and believes she should have been fired. As for the new yorker story . Now, this hit piece and its a hit piece also has you on the record admitting that you forced out Marie Yovanovitch. You said you needed her out of the way, but youre personal attorney for the president , why did you need her out of the way . I forced her out because shes corrupt. Howard so was Rudy Giuliani confirming he forced her out . Doesnt this show at least on this one point that the media were right . First off, i just want to say that that language in that news report is exactly what you hear in a lot of news reports, its usually not done in favor of a republican. But as for what hes saying, i feel like he said stuff like this before. It definitely matches some of the testimony that we heard about his opposition to this ambassador. But really it just gets back to the main issue, does the president have the right to handle Foreign Policy, to have people in positions as he wants them or not. Some people seem to think that the bureaucracy should be in charge of Foreign Policy, and that is not constitutional, and thats what this whole debate is about. Howard but, jessica, giulianis detractors say this was a smear campaign, theres no evidence that yovanovitch was corrupt or disloyal and that he needed it was an on the record quote from the mayor, that he needed her out of the way. Rudy giuliani goes on tv regularly and confesses to im going to say crimes, but confesses to the things hes been accused of, and then he [inaudible] im saying whatever hes being accused of, there is a t clip of him admitting to do it. He does this regularly. He did it with ed henry a few weeks ago. Howard hes transparent. Hes transparently corrupt, yes. And the president s personal lawyer has no business doing this. It is important that it was a central plank of the Intel Committee hearings where adam schiff was overseeing and the conversations were having about Marie Yovanovitch about their being a back channel that Rudy Giuliani was running, which is wholly inappropriate. Hes not a government employee, he is a personal fixer for the president. Howard right, okay, but oh president s other president s is have had Administration Officials were involved in that. Howard not just liberals have said why did giuliani take an oin camera crew to ukraine because regardless of whether you liked the report, he was generating more press as President Trump was in the process of being impeached. I dont know. I dont know why his interview to the new yorker, its baffling. Whats really important for the media, this is really crazy how he just, its all about what Rudy Giuliani is doing and not about what hes talking about which, i think, deserves more scrutiny. As you just said, hes being transparent. About what . That he thinks there was something there with yovanovitch getting them in the way of examining potential corruption in the 20 16 president ial campaign. That gets no attention from the media. Its dismissed outright as a fabrication when theres been reporting saying there may be truth to that. And that is the neglected part of this this is a dangerous road to go down. This is why senator kennedy had to apologize after then he came back on thats actually not true. And marco rubio and everyone who was on senate intel [inaudible conversations] lies about what happened in 2016. Howard were short on time. Giuliani blames the media for, he sees their out to get him, and he blames the media for not sufficiently covering the hunter biden scandal, so he says he has to push it out there. Its not about the hunter biden scandal. Everyone knows what happened with joe biden carrying out the Foreign Policy by the u. S. And our allies in the west to push out a corrupt, and if i hear you breathing heavily when i say this. Joe biden was executing western Foreign Policy here. The president of the United States of america leveraged the United States power, congressionallyappropriated money, for personal gain. Joe biden was his rival. Howard im going to bring molly n. New York Daily News headline, Rudy Giuliani hatched the scheme that got trump impeached, and hes not done yet. Its clear the media do not want to deal with the underlying issues in play. One is the role that ukrainian officials played in 2016, how they did not want trump elect ld, how they had something to do with the manafort ledger howard in dispute. The other thing is just the corruption of the biden family. The biden family benefited financially while joe wilden was the point person biden was the point person in ukraine. Theres been a little bit of reporting but nowhere near what we need to have for someone who could be the next president of the United States. Howard on that note, have a great holiday. Ahead well talk to a Top Republican and a top democrat about the coverage of inpeachment. But up next, two normer fbi officials former fbi officials talk to cnn and msnbc, well take a closer clients voice remember that degree you got in taxation . danny of course you dont because you didnt your job isnt doing hard work. Its making them do hard work. And getting paid for it. vo snap and sort your expenses to save over 4,600 at tax time. Quickbooks. Backing you. Howard two former fbi officials who were at the center of the russia probe have now stepped into the cable news spotlight. Lisa page who wrote those incriminating antitrump texts do has been repeatedly attacked by trump and got a very sympathetic hearing from msnbcs rachel maddow. Why speak now on your own to terms . When the president finally did that vile sort of simulated sex act in a, you know, rally in minneapolis, i just finally had to accept its not getting better. Howard mad dow did ask about the infamous text message to page from strzok who said they would provide an insurance policy against trumps election. Can you explain to us tonight what was meant by, for example, the insurance policy text message . Were using an analogy. Were talking about whether or not we should take certain investigative steps or not based on the likelihood that hes going to be president or not. Do i wish he hadnt sent it . Yes. Its been mutilated to death, and its been used to bludgeon an institution i love. Howard page was rather fortunate to be questioned by maddow. Andrew mccabe who came under criminal investigation is now a cnn contributor. So after the i. G. Found many instances of fbi misconduct in the fisa warrant process, wolf blitzer had some hard questions. Very serious misconduct on your watch. This wasnt just sloppiness, these were brutal mistakes, deliberate errors, concealments involving search warrant surveillance activities of an american citizen. The biggest mistake, i think, is the process that was in place essentially left so much responsibility on the lowest level of fbi agents and supervisors. Howard wolf asked very solid questions, but it didnt last long. A few segments, a few questions, maybe, at the end of a segment. Wouldnt cnn have done a long interview with mccabe if he wasnt on the pay fellow and now that the New York Times is reporting that a federal prosecutor is examining the role of former cia director john brennan in the probe, will he be grilled by his network . Not so far. Hes an msnbc contributor. Ahead, Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg mix it up one day after the impeachment. But first, tony sigh yesterday with the white house view of the battle oh impeachment. Howard joining us now from new york with the president s perspective is tony sigh yesterday, senior former white house adviser and onetime Fox News Contributor. Tony, nancy pelosi, as you know, has been holding back the articles of impeachment saying she wants to pressure the senate into a fair trial. Even the press has been skeptical, not clear what shes trying to accomplish. How does this affect the president and your planning . Howie, its good to be with you. Thanks for having me. Look, i think its two things. Number one, shes exposed what weve been saying all along, which this is a complete sham, and impeachments been weaponized on a hyperpartisan basis to be a political tactic against the president. Not what the constitution and our framers had all intended for impeachment, number one. Number two, after completely controlling the process in the house, completely depriving the president of any rights in that process, no rebuttal evidence allowed to be introduced by our side, they controlled all the witnesses, okay . They still could not prove their case. They advanced two of the weakest articles in the history of impeachment that dont even is have in them the crimes they alleged throughout the entire hearing in the house that he admitted bribery, torsion extortion, quid pro quo. So now shes stalling this after completely convincing her caucus that they have to rush to vote by christmas x. , you know, howie, i heard on wednesday from House Democrats that no one is above the law, but theyre treating the president like hes beneath the law. Nobody deserves this type of unfair treatment. Howard the president said, we played this earlier, that it doesnt really feel like hes being impeached. Each though it was clearly on a partyline vote, the media certainly acting like this is a crucial and historic moment and democracy is at stake. Is so is the president trying to create an alternative reality . Look, i think hes expressing what a lot of americans are saying, which is that people understand this is unfortunately a completely hyperpartisan sham process. Not what impeachment should ever have been. Its an abuse of Congress Power that nancy pelosi and adam schiff have put on the country. And the president s focused on doing his job, serving the American People. Think about the last month alone, howie, what weve had by way of the job market record stock market, wages and paychecks going up for the first time in ten years, two major trade deals with our biggest trade partners. And when you talk about the media a coverage, there was an analysis done in november that showed 96 of the coverage on the evening News Networks were negative stories on impeachment. Okay . There was a poll of morning howard hold on. Its kind of hard to write a lot of positive stories when a president is being impeached for the third time in american history. Which is not to say theres not another side, and certainly the republicans need to be covered. But, you know were not talking. Howard it is a huge story. They dont have to be positive, they have to be fair and balanced, and theyre not. Its completely skewed. And in another poll in november, 60 of americans this is important to the media if they want to have the credibility to be able to deliver news to the American People 60 of americans said that impeachment was more important to the media than to them. In that same poll, 36 said 66 said it was important to politicians more than them. So they basically they the media and the democratic politicians are basically together on this. Thats a very are bad way to be perceived by the American People who of to have the credibility with to deliver the news. Howard that might explain why the president continues to beat up on major news organizations whose coverage he believes to be fair, and sometimes hes taken some shots at fox as well. I want to turn to something that the president has said thats drawn a lot of criticism at the valuely in michigan where he talked about rally in michigan where he talked about Debbie Dingell and reference to her late husband, late congressman john dingell. This is the president describing a phone call they had after John Dingells death. Thank you so much. John would be so thrilled. Hes looking down, hed be so thrilled. Thank you so much, sir. I said thats okay, dont worry about it. Maybe hes looking up, i dont know. I love my husband, as you well know. We had a love affair most never have, and its going to be its been a hard holiday season. He said what he said, and it hurt. Ill leave it at that. Howard brit hume said the comments were gratuitous and politically dumb, neil cavuto said beyond crew, even some of his supporters in politics said he should a apologize. Lindsey graham said it wasnt funny. So why did he say this about a congressman whos no longer with us . Well, howie, lets not forget what he was talking about. He had the flag flown at half staff to honor the death and the legacy of congressman john ding el. We, obviously, respect his memory and his legacy. We respect the service of his wife who now has his congressional seat. Howie, you see whats happening. The president s been attacked relentlessly for over five since he came down the escalator at trump tower. We say the last three years, its actually been longer than that. And, you know, he was at a rally, and the president speaks his mind. Thats what weve come to expect of him. You dont have to like everything he says, but hes authentic. Thats why i think so many American People feel a connection to him, and they know hes always been able to speak whats on his mind. Howard you know, the press halls also been very critical lately of senator Mitch Mcconnell for saying hes working very closely with the white house and people like you on the senate trial, that theres not going to be any difference between the two sides. And the criticism from the media is hes hardly an impartial juror. Your thoughts. Look, i think its going to be pretty hard to believe that Chuck Schumers an impartial juror either. Clearly, there is going to be an opportunity in the senate to grant the president a fair process that he was deprived in the house. I believe well get there. Dont forget in 1999 the precedent set by the clinton impeachment had 100 senators voting for it. And i do think leader mcconnell wants to have a bipartisanlyapproved process, something, again, that did not happen in the house and one that gives the president his real rights and ap opportunity to have a fair trial. Howard and finally, tony, with the president and, of course, hes had this battle with what he calls fake news pretty much from the campaign on, but the continuing attacks on the media and the Media Coverage of impeachment u is he now running in 2020 as much against the media as he is against the democrats and against impeachment, which the campaign is advertising about . They think it helps your side. Look, howie, i do think i would turn that question on the other side. You have to really look at the Media Coverage of this president since the very beginning and really try to figure out is it beyond just bias. Has the media given the president and his supporters a reason to believe that theyre part of the resistance against him . In some instances i think that could be an argument that the president certainly could make. At the end of this whole thing, what donald trump does z is directly communicates with the American People. Thats why hes as successful as he is and thats why you see the support for him increasing throughout this entire process. People know that the president is fighting for them, and what a they say is democrats and only members of the media who are attacking him. Thats not the way you get support from the American People is to attack a guy who they think is standing up for them. Howard i think some try to be fair, and thats where the debate lies. We very much appreciate you being here, good to see you. Thanks, howie. Howard coming up, a liberal radio host responds on Nancy Pelosis slowwalking maneuver and the president s swipe at and the president s swipe at and the president s swipe at i cant believe it. That sophie opened up a wormhole through time . speaking japanese where am i . woman speaking french are you crazy nuts . Cyclist pip pip woman speaking french im here, look at me. Its completely your fault. man speaking french ok . Its me. Its my fault . No, i cant believe how easy it was to save hundreds of dollars on my Car Insurance with geico. pterodactyl screech believe it. Geico could save you 15 or more on Car Insurance. We were paying an arm and a leg for postage. I remember setting up shipstation. One or two clicks and everything was up and running. I was printing out labels and saving money. Shipstation saves us so much time. It makes it really easy and seamless. Pick an order, print everything you need, slap the label onto the box, and its ready to go. Our costs for shipping were cut in half. Just like that. Shipstation. The 1 choice of online sellers. Go to shipstation. Com tv and get 2 months free. Howard joining us now from new york is chris hahn, radio host, former Chuck Schumer aide whose podcast is called the aggressive progressive. Chris, welcome. The president constantly deannounce impeachment, the coverage denouncing. You heard tony talking about. That they basically say that major Media Outlets are partners with the democrats in pushing impeachment. Your thoughts. I mean, look, they gotta coffer impeachment, right . Its a huge story. This is the first president this is a president who got impeached by more votes in congress than any other president in american history. Of course, there were fewer members of congress. Its a huge story. It has to be covered. Its not going to be a positive story for the president , and i see a lot of pounding of the chest of the president and his supporters and how this is going to be good for them. I dont think its going to be good for them. When we look back at clinton, it wasnt really good for him either. The impeachment happened after his last midterm when he was president , and then he could not get al gore elected president despite a good economy and a good record of accomplishment for bill clinton. So its not always a good thing. Howard let me ask you about this editorial in commission tanty today, circulation are about 90,000. Its created a bit of a storm, coming out for the president s removal saying he is morally lost and confused, saying his actions on ukraine were profoundly immoral, and president responding on twitter calling it a farleft magazine, the magazine, by the way, founded by billy graham. And then the president says would you rather have a radical left nonbeliever, who wants to take your religion and your guns . Does that hurt him in the evangelical community . Yes, it definitely does. I grew up as a evangelical. Heres the thing. The president needs all of the evangelical vote, and any crack in that vote hurts hill. The margins of error for him and the margin of victory is very, very small. So this absolutely will hurt him in the long run. But i dont know what their saying theyre saying about saying a farleft person9 if the president is removed, mike pence gets elected, becomes president. His evangelical credentials are far superior to Donald Trumps evangelical howard let me just jump in. Now, the editor who wrote this editorial whos stepping down, it turns out, says he doesnt think he changed many minds and with sport from franklin support from Franklin Graham and others, there is still overwhelming support for this community for the president. Yeah. It i amazes me the support the president has in the evangelical community. We need not look further than his response about congressman dingell, the president is casually cruel. That is not the evangelical community that i grew up in. That is not what christ would have put up with. So i dont understand how they are still so supportive of this man. They have sold their soul to the devil for a couple of votes on the courts. Howard well, that leads me to a larger question. When the president says something, and he says a lot of things that makes the press go haywire, like the comments about john dingell, the letter to nancy pelosi, it never seems to shake his standing with his support earth. Its almost like theyre immune to almost anything the president says probably in part because most of them dont trust the press. I think the president has done a pretty good job at getting his base to not trust the press. I think thats bad for the republic. I think its bad for the future of our country. The press is supposed to be is not supposed to be calling balls and strike, its supposed to be putting the facts out there, and thats what they do. When the president says something ridiculous, the press calls him out on it. Even fox news and some conservative media outleapts will say things yacht lets will say things are off. But his supporters in both congress and the general public refuse to acknowledge any wrongdoing most of the time howard chris, ive got 20 seconds. You think that none of the coverage of this president is unfair . That none of it is hostile to him . I think that any politician could judge any coverage hostile towards them. Thats what they do. Look, i worked in poll tibs for years. Politics for years. We used to be upset with the press sometimes. You know this, howie, you know that the politicians always hate their coverage in the press. Howard that part is true. The president , it seems to be particularly vociferous. Chris hahn, happy holidays. Thanks for having me, howie. Howard still to come, pbs asked the democratic debaters about the lack of minority candidates and candidates of color, a slew of liberal issues. Thats coming up next. Howard democratic debate sponsored by pbs newshour and politico got zero buildup because of of this impeachment thing that happened the night before. Elizabeth warren did mix it up with Pete Buttigieg. The may corps just recently had a fundraiser that was held in a wine cave full of crystals and served 900 a bottle wine. I am literally the only person on this stage whos not a millionaire or a billionaire. This is the problem with issuing purity e tests you cannot yourself pass. Howard joining us now from charlottesville is larry sabato who runs the university of virginias institute of politics. First, would you agree that Pete Buttigieg has generally gotten very positive press, and the pundits were waiting to see whether he could take a few punches and hit back . Thats absolutely true. In fact, its been true since the beginning, howie. If you go back to his announcement in the month or two afterwards, it was almost completely positive which candidates rarely do, particularly ones who dont have much of a thick resume, and she certainly does not. Howard just for the record, Elizabeth Warren was wrong when she said it was a closed fundraiser, and it was not quite as expensive as it sounded. Want to go to another sound bite where andrew yang was asked about the lack of diversity on the stage. Its both an honor and disappointment to be a lone candidate of color on the stage tonight. I miss camilla, i miss cory. I want to get back to the issue of Climate Change for a moment because i do believe this is the existential issue. Senator, with all respect, the question is about race. Can you answer the questions as it was asked . Howard what did you think of bernie trying to change the subject and in a broader way, this whole media debate among democrats that somehow perhaps racism and sexism isnt involved because these are the candidates that have made it this far . Look, the democrats have sold this years group of candidates as most diverse ever. They mention it constantly are, both as individual candidates and as a a party. Dont be surprised when it comes back and bites you as it did at that debate when they didnt have but one person of color on there. And the other thing, howie, they forgot the lesson of 2016, the Democratic Party did. They have got, i think, a ridiculous polling standard which they change constantly to get on the debate stage. Hey, what did we learn in 2016 . Polls arent gospel. These precise distinctions theyre making between and among candidates probably arent accurate. Howard well, standards or no standards, its not the press that forced Kamala Harris to end her campaign. Id just make that point. And also, i personally thought Bernie Sanders was tone deaf in trying to duck that question and turn it back to Climate Change. Sure. Of course. Howard overall, this debate was seen by six million people, the lowest of the season for these debates. I thought the moderators did a good job, but almost every question a couple of exceptions seemed to come from a liberal checklist; helping the dreamers ors helping transgender people, providing free college, Climate Change. Your thoughts on that and whether its been overshadowed by impeachment. Well, it certainly was overshadowed. Look, the Democratic Party is the liberal party. The Republican Party is the conservative party. I guess they asked most of those questions because theyre the ones being debated by the candidates in iowa, in New Hampshire and in other states. Tim alberta was on the panel, and he was with National Review for a long time. Hes with politico now, but he was with National Review. I think he added some diversity to the panel. The key thing is, howie, in the general election its really important to get balanced questions. Some should come from the left, some should come from the right, some from the middle. Howard i think its a more provocative debate. Harry sabato, love having you on. Thanks very much. That is it for this edition of mediabuzz. Im howard kurtz, Merry Christmas and happy hanukkah to all of you. Check out my podcast, subscribe at apple itunes, google play. We also hope you like our facebook page. We post my daily columns there, but im going to take a couple days off in the next week. Hope you have a great holiday, see you back here next sunday with the latest it is monday, december 23rd. Happening right now at 4 00 a. M. The taliban taking responsibility for an attack that killed one american soldier and left the second hurt. The latest information just in from afghanistan overnight. Plus, a murder mystery gets more twisted in texas as loved ones for Heidi Broussard demand answers in her slaying. What we know about her socalled friend at the center of the investigation and why investigators have not yet filed murder charges. Now that hes been charged with two articles of impeachment, nancy pelosi is denying the president his day in the court in the senate. I promise impartial justice, so help me god. I want