Webloggin » Video - Huckabee Campaign Chairman Takes a Crack at the Wisdom of the Washington Press Corps

Chris Wallace and Mike Huckabee campaign chairman Ed Rollins got into it a bit during an interview on Fox News after the announcement that Huckabee took Iowa. During the exchange Wallace had asked Rollins about a blog article that appeared on Townhall.com where Rollins was allegedly overheard bad mouthing Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson and Rudy Giuliani.

The blog article must have hit a sore spot as Rollins became defensive in explaining his comments that appeared in the blog entry while confirming that he did indeed say that Giuliani is “done, has no money, and was hurt terribly by those police cruises with his girlfriends.”

Wallace took the opportunity to follow up on that answer in an exchange where Rollins became agitated, calling Wallace and the rest of the Washington press corps “wise men”, with a final swipe that “all the wisdom doesn’t live in the press corps.”

Chris Wallace became a bit defensive himself in response. Brit Hume and crew at Fox News Studios had a good time with it, laughing that “It’s always good to get an interview with a joyful victor.”

The short exchange involved the two talking over each other as Chris Wallace tried to get out a question that eventually led to the following statement by Rollins.

Wallace: The question I’m just asking is have, has he and has you learned anything from those and will he be a more effective campaigner down the road?

Rollins: We learned that the wise men who sit like you and the others and basically said that Huckabee doesn’t have a snowballs chance in heck can still go out to the public and make their case so all the wisdom doesn’t live in Washington and all the wisdom doesn’t live in the press corps. We’re very grateful for you giving us the opportunity to go talk to the public but the public is ultimately who gets to make the decisions.

The full transcript (as heard in the video) was a bit more colorful with Rollins actually going negative on Giuliani in confirming the Townhall.com blog entry from Amanda Carpenter that was posted by Jonathan Garthwaite at 4:52 PM this afternoon.

This was an interesting interview. I am not sure why the campaigns feel that the press shouldn’t ask them questions such as the ones that Wallace asked. They were fair and in fact quite accurate.

I also note that early on Rollings put much of the emphasis on his wife, blaming her naivety for the comments when it was in fact Rollins himself that had the big boisterous mouth. Finally, the interview with Wallace not only confirmed the quotes in Amanda Carpenter’s blog but it also confirmed that Rollins is indeed actively going negative ahead of New Hampshire. These people don’t make mistakes like this and I believe it might have been a calculated move.

On the other hand Rollins is not really helping Huckabee with this type of exchange from my perspective. He was not gracious and from the comments that I have seen flying around the blogosphere it seems that many people are offended.

Here are some of the other comments that Rollins is reported to have said over that lunch:

-Rollins let the f-bomb fly twice and told his blonde female dining companion a joke about flying the Confederate flag in the South Carolina state capitol.

-Rollins indicated several times their campaign was the victim of “dirty tricks” and that they were being unfairly outspent.

-Rollins made a phone call to Lou Dobbs and said he would ready to have drinks with him after Iowa to talk about Hillary. There also was a reference to Rollins’ recent comments about wanting to knock Romney’s teeth out, as Rollins told Dobbs “they are all porcelain.”

-Rollins also called Andrea Mitchell and predicted Obama would take Iowa tonight. He called Mitchell “sweetie” several times.

-Rollins believes Rudy Giuliani is “done,” “has no money,” and was “hurt terribly by those police cruises with his girlfriends.”

-Rollins called said Fred Thompson was “as disgrace as a candidate. Fred has been a friend a long time, but has never converted a single vote. No one is taking him seriously.”