Reince "rinse" Priebus, the RNC chairmen went nuclear on Hillary Clinton this morning as he talked to David Gregory on Meet the Press. He shoveled every right wing talking point at Gregory and just about blamed her for ruining white bread. I have to give props to Dancing Dave for not succumbing to Karl Rove's antics unlike someone I know at CNN.
"rinse" was so energized that he predicted Hillary would not even run as a presidential nominee for the Democratic nomination in 2016.
REINCE PRIEBUS: Well, when Senator Johnson tried to ask her questions about Benghazi and her response is, "What difference does it make?" I can assure you that that will be an issue if she does decide to run. My view, though, David, is that, given the month she just had, I actually doubt very much whether she actually will run for president in 2016.
"rinse" peered inside his crystal ball and saw the future for Hillary and is only looking out for her. Priebus defended Karl Rove, agreed that her age and health is an issue, blamed HC for Benghazi, Boko Haram's kidnapping of almost three hundred teenage girls, Syria and Russia.
"rinse" says he's not afraid of Hillary's candidacy, but after watching and listening to him on MTP, I'd say she's their worst nightmare.
DAVID GREGORY: What about the Republicans saying this was over the line? Should Karl Rove apologize?
REINCE PRIEBUS: I don't-- yeah, it's up to Karl Rove. I mean Karl Rove's a political operative, I understand--(OVERTALK)
DAVID GREGORY: But do you think it was over the line?
REINCE PRIEBUS: Look, I think that health and age is fair game. It's fair game for Ronald Reagan. It's fair game for John McCain. When people came at John McCain and said maybe he's psychologically not fit because he was a prisoner of war. And so look--
DAVID GREGORY: Though wasn't-- wasn't it part of why there was a backlash against that is there was innuendo, there was a suggestion about, "He's just not-- his brain doesn't work right." Or in this case, it's, "Her brain may not work right, and she's hiding something about it." Was that over the line?
REINCE PRIEBUS: Look, I don't think there's a graceful way to bring up age, health and fitness for a candidate that wants to be president of the United States. I think the more important issue for me, as leader of this party, is what's the record of Hillary Clinton. What was her record as a secretary of state? Benghazi, Boko Haram, Syria, Russia. Those are going to be the issues that I believe will cause her to rethink whether she actually--
DAVID GREGORY: And we should-
REINCE PRIEBUS:--wants to run for president.
DAVID GREGORY: But we can get to that. But Karl Rove doesn't do things by accident. What he injected was an attack into the firmament of the Republican grassroots. You're head of the party. Would you like to sidestep away from this, or would you like to double down?
REINCE PRIEBUS: No. Listen, it's not a matter whether sidestep or double down. It's going to be an issue. It's going to come up, David. We're going to be at this point at some time if Hillary Clinton runs for president. I mean the issue of her health and her age is going to come up. And it's--
DAVID GREGORY: Do you think she suffered some---sort of brain injury that raises legitimate questions about whether she's healthy to serve as commander-in-chief?
REINCE PRIEBUS: I'm not a doctor. What I do know is that the issue's going to come up, as it does for any person running for president. What I think is going to make her rethink whether she should actual run for president-- by the way, I don't actually think she will, but she has another month, which she just had. But the issues that I talked about are going to be the issues that make her--
DAVID GREGORY: So--REINCE PRIEBUS:--unacceptable to--(OVERTALK)
DAVID GREGORY: But that's what I want to follow up on. The month that she just had. Gail Collins writing sympathetically toward her in The New York Times over the weekend. I'm going to put a portion of that up on our screen, get your response for it. "For the right, Clinton's responsible for nearly everything bad that occurs in the world, including the terrible kidnapping of the Nigerian schoolgirls, which happened either because Benghazi made us look weak,” according to Laura Ingraham, “or because the State Department never formally designated Boko Haram as a foreign terrorist organization. Somewhere right now someone is working on a story that will reveal that Hillary Clinton started the elevator fight between Jay-Z and his sister-in-law." Is the mission to persuade her not to run?
REINCE PRIEBUS: No, it's not the mission. But, you know, she's coming out with a book called, I think it's Hard Choices, or something like that. She's made a series of bad choices. And this writer that you just quoted, talk about sweeping things under the rug. Benghazi shouldn't be swept under the rug, four diplomats had died. Boko Haram, these people have over 200 girls in Nigeria. The Syria issue, the Russian recent-- listen--
DAVID GREGORY: Let's be clear, because there will be a lot of follow-up on that. Are you suggesting that somehow Hillary Clinton, as Secretary of State, who got started in independent review of what happened at Benghazi was trying to sweep Benghazi under the rug?
REINCE PRIEBUS: Well, she is trying to sweep Benghazi under the rug. She absolutely is. And if you want any evidence of that, ask the families of people who lost their sons in Benghazi. They've talked plenty about what happened in Benghazi. The fact of the matter is--
DAVID GREGORY: That doesn't--it doesn't mean that she swept it under the rug. They may be dissatisfied, right, with--(OVERTALK)
REINCE PRIEBUS: Well, when Senator Johnson tried to ask her questions about Benghazi and her response is, "What difference does it make?" I can assure you that that will be an issue if she does decide to run. My view, though, David, is that, given the month she just had, I actually doubt very much whether she actually will run for president in 2016. I know a lot of people around her want her to run. And I think that they're purposely creating this environment around her. She's causing us to talk about her today.
DAVID GREGORY: Is she the candidate that you, as the head of the Republican party, most fear?
REINCE PRIEBUS: No, I don't-- actually, I don't fear. I think Hillary's a known product. Actually, I think it's sometimes worse running against a blank slate. Hillary has decades of history for us to explore. You know, her role in HillaryCare, when she was First Lady. Her Senate experience, where there's nothing significant to point to. And her secretary of state experience, which is not just not significant, but there's all kinds of problems for.
