ABC's Roberts: 'Cute' Lefty Obama's 'Sweet Nothings' Pushing Hillary Aside

February 24th, 2008 3:08 PM

During the roundtable segment on Sunday's This Week, ABC's Cokie Roberts pointed out Barack Obama's rarely mentioned liberal voting record, calling him "squarely on the left of the Democratic party," and contended that the Illinois Senator, "oddly enough given the rhetoric, has not reached across the aisle and worked with people in the other party to get things done, which [Hillary Clinton] has done." Minutes earlier, sounding defensive of Clinton while raising the possibility that she could see a resurgence of support from white women a la New Hampshire, Roberts referred to Obama as "this cute young man" pushing Hillary aside with "sweet nothings" after all the New York Senator's years of hard work: "Here is this woman who's worked hard, she's done it all the way you're supposed to do it, and then this cute young man comes in and says a bunch of sweet, you know, nothings, and pushes you out of the way. And a lot of women are looking at that and saying, 'There goes my life.'" (Transcript follows)

Below is a transcript of Roberts's comments from the Sunday February 24 This Week with George Stephanopoulos on ABC:

#ABOUT 40 MINUTES INTO THE SHOW:

I mean, what happened, Wisconsin happened. And she lost by too much in Wisconsin, and she lost too many groups that are, had been with her. The only group she still really has is white women. And I do think that there's some possibility that you will see a sort of reaction among white women. I had the opportunity to interview Billie Jean King this week, and she said, you know, "I feel like everything I've worked for all of my life is going out the window." And there is that sense. I mean, here is this woman who's worked hard, she's done it all the way you're supposed to do it, and then this cute young man comes in and says a bunch of sweet, you know, nothings, and pushes you out of the way. And a lot of women are looking at that and saying, "There goes my life."

#ABOUT 46 MINUTES INTO THE SHOW:

But the other thing is that what has not been useful in, for, what has not been useful for Hillary Clinton because of running among liberal Democrats is his voting record. And, you know, the truth is, is that, for a Republican running against him, he can put him, you know, just squarely on the left of the Democratic party, you know. He's got a very much, you know, ADA-approved, Americans for Democratic Action-approved voting record. He, unlike Hillary Clinton, oddly enough given the rhetoric, has not reached across the aisle and worked with people in the other party to get things done, which she has done.