TIM KAINE

Andrea Mitchell Scolds DNC Chair: How Can You Pick Anti-Labor North Carolina to Host Convention?
By Geoffrey Dickens | February 1, 2011 | 2:01 PM EST

Andrea Mitchell invited on DNC Chairman Tim Kaine, on Tuesday's Andrea Mitchell Reports, to announce the Democrats have picked Charlotte, North Carolina to host their 2012 convention but the MSNBC host couldn't resist hitting Kaine from the left as she scolded Democrats for selecting a right-to-work state. Mitchell, taking up for Big Labor, even challenged Kaine: "I defy you to find a labor hotel for these delegates, for all the AFL-CIO folks coming to Charlotte."

The following exchange was aired on the February 1 edition of Andrea Mitchell Reports:

CBS's Smith to DNC Chair: Are Higher Taxes 'Ever Going to Go Back Into Effect?'
By Kyle Drennen | December 10, 2010 | 12:28 PM EST

In an interview with Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine on Friday's CBS Early Show, co-host Harry Smith seemed to lament the deal to extend current tax rates and wondered: "...this gets extended...assume the economy's much better two years from now, assume you still have a Republican-dominated Congress, there's any chance that these taxes ever going to go back into effect?"
 
Smith's use of the phrase "back into effect" suggests that the higher tax rates prior to the Bush-era cuts were the natural appropriate levels. In a report prior to the interview, senior White House correspondent Bill Plante continued to push the idea that the deal would cut taxes rather than simply maintain current rates: "The biggest sticking points for House Democrats: the extension of the Bush-era tax cuts for families making more than $250,000 a year. And the agreement on the estate tax, which would raise the inheritance amount exempted from tax from 3.5 million to 5 million and reduce the tax rate from 2009 by 10 points."

Plante made no mention of the fact that the 2010 estate tax rate is zero and that any inheritance tax in 2011 would be an increase. As NewsBusters' Scott Whitlock reported on Thursday, all three networks have inaccurately reported on the issue.

NBC's Ann Curry to DNC Chair: What More Can You Do to Keep Democrats in Charge?
By Geoffrey Dickens | October 20, 2010 | 1:01 PM EDT

  With less than two weeks to go before the midterm elections, NBC's Ann Curry on Wednesday's Today show, invited on DNC Chairman Tim Kaine to make his case and seemingly pleaded "What are you going to do, over the next 13 days...to convince voters to keep Democrats in charge?" Curry even questioned Kaine why Barack Obama hadn't energized his base earlier, specifically the youth vote, as she pressed: "If these young voters are so important...was it a mistake not to woo them sooner?" Curry then went on to quote former George W. Bush adviser Karl Rove, who pointed out the Tea Party was still maturing as a movement, as she asked the former governor of Virginia "If the Tea party is not sophisticated, then why is it so difficult for your party, to convince voters otherwise?"

The following is the full interview with Tim Kaine as it was aired on the October 20 Today show:

Lauer Tosses Softballs to DNC Chair Tim Kaine on Today
By Geoffrey Dickens | October 6, 2010 | 11:34 AM EDT

Just a day after NBC's Matt Lauer engaged in a rough interview with Republican New York gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino, Lauer engaged in a much more friendly chat, with DNC chairman Tim Kaine as he helpfully asked the former Virginia Governor, on Wednesday's Today show, what Democrats could do to best "chip away"at the GOP's lead in the polls and "counter" their messages. Lauer also jumped at the chance to ask Kaine about a rumor that Hillary Clinton may join Barack Obama on the 2012 ticket as he prodded Kaine: "Any reason why that would kind of get your juices flowing?"

The following is the full interview with Kaine as it was aired on the October 6 Today show:

Questions to Political Panel From CBS's Schieffer Focus on GOP Problems 6 to 1
By Kyle Drennen | August 16, 2010 | 6:15 PM EDT
Bob Schieffer, CBS In a discussion of the midterm elections on Sunday's Face the Nation, CBS host Bob Schieffer asked members of his political panel a total of seven questions, six of which highlighted Republican difficulties, only one of which actually raised the problems for the Democrats in November.

Instead of acknowledging the greater political challenges facing Democrats, Schieffer began by acting as if both parties were equally in trouble: "You have Democrats on the one hand saddled with a very bad economy, high unemployment....Republicans, on the other hand, have – find themselves suddenly with some very, well, how would I say it, unusual candidates, people who have taken very extreme views on things." Schieffer then proceeded to focus almost exclusively on Republican obstacles.

In his first electoral question to former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie, Schieffer asked about one of those "unusual" GOP candidates: "...you have Linda McMahon, who is formally – or maybe she still is part of the World Wrestling Federation." After playing a clip of McMahon appearing at a WWE event, Schieffer pressed: "I expect Republicans are going to be seeing that video a lot this year, and they're going to have to defend it. Is this somebody who's going to be good for the Republican Party? Is this a good image for Republicans to have?"
MSNBC Indoctrinates: DNC Leader Tim Kaine 'Plays the Harmonica and Sings In His Church Choir'
By Tim Graham | May 23, 2010 | 9:17 AM EDT

Democratic National Committee boss Tim Kaine appeared on MSNBC's Morning Joe on Friday. When Kaine campaigned successfully for the Virginia governor's job in 2005, The Washington Post and other liberal media outlets pushed him as both pro-choice and a "devout Catholic" and a former missionary.

CBS's Schieffer Grills GOP Pols on Violence; Asks DNC Chair About 'Safety' of Dems
By Kyle Drennen | March 31, 2010 | 4:04 PM EDT

Bob Schieffer and Jim DeMint, CBS Host Bob Schieffer led Sunday's Face the Nation by fretting over opposition to the passage of ObamaCare: "What about the violence in the wake of the congressional action? Isolated incidents or signs of a dangerous anger?" He told viewers that he would talk to "Republican firebrands, South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint and Minnesota Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann" about the issue.

Schieffer pressed DeMint on some of the threats against members of Congress: "Senator, we saw some pretty scary stuff last week....We saw members' offices that were trashed. We saw death threats....Do you think the parties have an obligation to try to tone down some of this runaway rhetoric? Is it, in fact, dangerous?" The Senator defended tea party protestors: "I've been with hundreds of thousands of tea party patriots...and I've never seen any violence or heard any bad language....it's unfair and untrue to try to paint this whole American awakening with some of the bad comments that we heard last week in Washington."

Later turning to Bachmann, Schieffer tried to portray the Congresswoman as extreme: "You said last week that health care reform was dangerous and you equated it with tyranny. Do you really mean that?...You said that you thought Barack Obama had anti-American views....what do you mean the President is anti-American?" He continued his interrogation by pointing to comments made by Sarah Palin: "[She] famously said last week that it is not time for Republicans to retreat. It is time to reload....said she wasn't talking about guns. She was talking about getting out there and using the vote. Do you think Sarah Palin has overstated it here?"

Tapper Asks WH Adviser If It's Appropriate To Raise Money Off Death Threats?
By Noel Sheppard | March 28, 2010 | 12:37 PM EDT

UPDATE AT END OF POST: CBS's Bob Schieffer asked DNC Chairman Tim Kaine about this issue.

On Saturday, NewsBusters asked if journalists should find it interesting that President Obama's campaign arm is using alleged death threats against Democrats as a vehicle to raise funds to defend newly enacted healthcare legislation.

On Sunday, ABC's Jake Tapper was up to the challenge not only addressing this issue on "This Week," but doing so with his guest White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett.

After reading the text of the solicitation that was posted at the Organizing for America website earlier in the week, Tapper asked, "[I]s it appropriate for Democrats to try to raise money off of those threats?" (video embedded below the fold with transcript, relevant section at 5:50):

Kaine Laughs Off Sleazy Patronage Deals. Sebelius: Kansans 'Wildly Supportive' Of ObamaCare Substance
By Mark Finkelstein | March 4, 2010 | 11:22 AM EST

 

Someone submit the Morning Joe java to Henry Waxman for analysis.  There seems to be something in it causing top Dems to experience serious delusions . . .

On today's show, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius claimed that the people of her home state of Kansas are "wildly supportive" of the substance of ObamaCare.  Unfortunately, suggested Sebelius, they're just too ignorant to know what's in the blessed bill.

Later, DNC Chairman Tim Kaine didn't deny that the Obama admin had engaged in two sleazy patronage deals, involving Joe Sestak and Scott Matheson.  Instead, the DNC Chairman laughed off the cynical, and possibly illegal, arrangements.  "Life is life," smirked Kaine.

To Morning Joe's credit, the patronage deals and the Charlie Rangel situation were discussed throughout the show.  The withdrawal of Dem Rep. Eric Massa from his re-election race, amidst allegations he sexually harrassed a male staffer, was also discussed, though not raised with Kaine.  Would an RNC Chairman appearing on the show the day after the Mark Foley affair erupted have gotten a similar pass?

NBC's Lauer to Dem: 'We' Versus Republicans
By Geoffrey Dickens | March 3, 2010 | 11:22 AM EST

On Wednesday's Today, NBC's Matt Lauer, during an interview with DNC Chairman Tim Kaine seemed to overtly take sides with the Dems as he mocked the GOP's PR strategy of calling reconciliation the nuclear option, as he questioned Kaine: "It does appear, pretty clear now, that the Democrats are gonna have to go it alone in the Senate, what, what we call reconciliation, what the Republicans are calling the nuclear option."

Now perhaps Lauer was using the term "We" as in "we in the media" and not "we Democrats" but later on Lauer expressed concern about the state of the Democratic Party in New York as he asked Kaine about that state's embattled governor: "And David Paterson, the governor of New York. Should he resign? Is he damaging the Democratic Party by sticking around?" [audio available here]

The following is a complete transcript of the interview with Kaine as it was aired on the March 3 Today:

Unopposed on CNN, DNC Chair Tim Kaine Defends Stimulus on Anniversary
By Julia A. Seymour | February 17, 2010 | 1:47 PM EST

It's no surprise that Democratic National Committee chair Tim Kaine would agree with the Obama administration about the effectiveness of last year's stimulus packages. That's why CNN's "American Morning" should have at least included a single critical guest Feb. 17.

Kiran Chetry began the interview by citing a CNN poll that showed public skepticism regarding the stimulus.

"What do you say to Americans who feel that this $862 billion was basically wasted?" Chetry asked.

Kaine defended the stimulus by citing a New York Times piece saying that the stimulus "has pretty much done exactly what it was intended to do." The former governor gave the stimulus credit with getting the economy growing again. Kane also said it saved or created 2.4 million jobs.

CBS’s Rodriguez: Democrats ‘Stand to Lose a Lot in the Fall’
By Kyle Drennen | January 7, 2010 | 12:06 PM EST
Maggie Rodriguez and Tim Kaine, CBS Speaking to Virginia Governor Democratic Party Chairman Tim Kaine on Thursday’s CBS Early Show, co-host Maggie Rodriguez pointed out a potential dire situation for Democrats in the 2010 midterm election: “Your party stands to lose a lot in the fall. Its 60 vote majority in the Senate, dozens of seats in the House, as well as Governor seats across the country.”

An on-screen headline posed the question: “Democrats in Trouble?” Rodriguez summed up the circumstances under which Democrats could do well in the fall: “...two things have to happen. One, the economy has to improve, and, two, health care has to not only pass, but show that it’s working.” She assumed that health care passing would be a good thing for Democrats and failed to ask Kaine about the lack of openness in the legislative process.

Rodriguez asked for Kaine’s assessment of the situation. Unsurprisingly, the DNC chair was optimistic about his party’s chances: “I think both are going to happen....I think the passage of historic health care and continued improvement of the economy is going to actually surprise some people in November in terms of how Democrats do.”