E-mail a friendDavid Brody
airdate February 7, 2008
David Brody is senior national correspondent for the Christian Broadcasting Network, covering Capitol Hill and the ‘08 presidential race. The veteran news journalist has worked at the ABC affiliate in Colorado Springs—where he won an Emmy for producing the top newscast—as executive sports producer for the Washington, DC CBS affiliate and as a radio reporter with the Focus on the Family group. He also writes a blog, The Brody File, which draws significant attention during election cycles.
David Brody
Tavis: David Brody is an Emmy-winning journalist who serves as the senior national correspondent for the Christian Broadcasting Network. In that capacity he's been covering the presidential campaigns for both parties over the past year. He joins us tonight from Washington. David, nice to have you back on the program.
David Brody: Thanks, Tavis, glad to be here.
Tavis: Let me start with the news on the conservative, on the Republican side of the - Freudian slip. The news on the Republican side of the aisle this week was not so much John McCain, as we all know now, but Mike Huckabee, yes?
Brody: Well, there's no doubt about it. Mike Huckabee really, this past week on Super Tuesday, was the story. John McCain's racking up delegates, sure, but the reality is, who expected Huckabee to go in, even in the South, Tavis, and win five states? And quite frankly, he almost had Missouri. About 8,000 votes there in Missouri, and he would have had Missouri, which would have been a huge prize.
But the reality is that Huckabee is moving, and the question a lot of people have is well, exactly why? Because he has been pigeonholed, Tavis, as the evangelical candidate, but I have traveled with this guy, I interviewed him four times, been on the campaign trail for almost a year with him, and I can tell you that it is a much different impression when you see him in person because what happens is voters, when they see him, they look at him and they go, "You know what? I might be able to vote for this guy."
They really see the populist streak. It's more than evangelical issues, so to speak. Sure, does he get the life and the marriage votes? Yes, of course he does. But it's beyond that. He speaks their language, it's the little guy against the big guy, small guy versus corporate guy, and he resonates. And it's funny, Tavis, Ed Rollins, his senior campaign manager, told me privately in New Hampshire a few months ago, he goes "Listen, if we - " or about a month ago. He says, "Listen, if we had one more week in New Hampshire, we would have won this thing." And that's pretty telling.
Tavis: You said a moment ago, David - you acted a bit surprised that he did as well as he did in the South. Maybe I misread that, because I always thought that he had a chance to do well specifically in that Bible Belt.
Brody: Yeah, he was going to always do well in the South. The question was was he able to pull off any victories? And of course Georgia, Alabama, you go down the list - Tennessee - he actually did it. Evangelicals came out and supported him. But what's interesting here is you move forward, and this is going to go on, Tavis.
Mike Huckabee is here to stay whether people like it or not, especially Mitt Romney. But in the few weeks going into February and even into March, he is targeting places like Virginia, Texas, Kentucky, Mississippi - there's a wide swath still of the South and some other conservative states where he believes he can play well, and that campaign is revved up, ready to go.
Tavis: When you were last year, David, on this program - we're honored to have you back - but when you were last here I asked you this question about Romney's Mormonism and you had just had a conversation with him not long before you appeared on this program. Let me ask you now on this side of Super Tuesday what kind of impact his Mormonism had on this race.
Brody: Well, to a certain degree, it had an impact. And if you go into the numbers, and let me get specific with you, in the South you will see where it talks about weekly churchgoers, McCain does better than Romney. Whatever that tells you, it tells you something, but there seems to be some sort of disconnect, in the South at least, when it comes to the Mormonism issue.
Now, the bigger problem for Romney all along has been the authenticity issue, and that has been a constant, and really, Tavis, that trumped all along the Mormonism issue. The headlines go to Mormon issue, but the authenticity issue, this flip-flop narrative that formed on Romney so early, really took hold. And that's why, as he tries to position himself as the Republican wing of the Republican party or the true conservative, he's got issues, though, within the base as well for a guy that where were you a few years ago on this type of stuff? And that has hampered him to a certain degree.
Tavis: All right, so that's Huckabee, that's Romney. Now we jump to the big winner and still the frontrunner on the Republican side, John McCain. I want to do two things here, David. First I want to put on the screen here a quote from James Dobson, who you know well - the head of Focus on the Family. Here's what James Dobson says, and I quote here.
"I am convinced Senator McCain is not a conservative and in fact has gone out of his way to stick his thumb in the eyes of those who are. I cannot and I will not vote for Senator John McCain as a matter of conscience, but what a sad and melancholy decision this is for me and many other conservatives," close quote, from James Dobson, one of the stalwart Republican conservatives.
And then of course today, John McCain, trying to respond to that kind of criticism, gave a major speech at CPAC, a conservative political action conference in Washington, where you are tonight, trying to blunt this kind of criticism, trying to shore up his conservative flank. Talk to me about John McCain and how he navigates what is a very tricky and thorny journey with conservatives.
Brody: There are pot holes ahead, Tavis, no doubt about it. But listen, Dr. James Dobson does indeed represent hundreds of thousands, some will say millions, of evangelicals who have concerns about John McCain. There is a faction of evangelicals that do. But here is the part that may get missed a little bit, and why John McCain can win in Oklahoma, for example, on Super Tuesday, or do well in places like Missouri and some other places - South Carolina especially.
He won South Carolina and he did pretty decent among evangelicals. The reason, Tavis, is because he wears his patriotism on his sleeve. It's the former POW. The flags are flying high in the South regarding the American flag, and they love their country down there. Of course we all do, but in the South, you know how it is down there. It's extremely patriotic.
McCain taps into that. The evangelicals understand that, they also understand national security. And a lot of times, as we go back to pigeonholing, a lot of times evangelicals are pigeonholed as just about the life issue or marriage issue. But they also care deeply about national security, 9/11, the war in Iraq, and John McCain taps into that and that's a big part of it.
So what he's going to do, Tavis, to get back to your question, is he's going to focus in on national security and wasteful spending - two major policy planks, if you will, of the Republican Party, and say, "Listen, I'm a Reagan conservative. He was tough on terrorism, so to speak, or tough on national security, and I will be too."
And he was tough on wasteful spending - though the Democrats would argue that - but John McCain will say, "Listen, I'm going to be tough on wasteful spending as well." And so he's going to make the conservative argument, he's going to throw in his 24-year pro-life record, he's going to talk about how he's voted for Alito and Roberts, and he's going to cast a narrative here that says, "Listen, you can trust me, to a certain degree."
Whether or not evangelicals buy into it remains to be seen, and that's where Huckabee comes in because whether or not he becomes the nominee, which obviously will be a tough road for him, or a VP candidate for McCain to insulate him in the South with evangelicals, that will be an interesting storyline going forward.
Tavis: Some folk think that that's a pretty formidable ticket, McCain/Huckabee.
Brody: No, I think there's no doubt about that. The concern, though - and you can see it crafting now - is okay, well, then therefore Mike Huckabee is one heartbeat away from the presidency and you are going to have a lot of folks say, "Well, wait a minute here - Mike Huckabee as president?" And there is going to be a narrative crafted there as well.
Tavis: You mentioned a word a moment ago, David, pigeonholed, and I've been thinking about this. I want to run this past you, since you cover these issues every day. I think John McCain has a story to sell here and I don't think that even he is tapped into it as yet. They keep referring to John McCain - we in the media keep referring to him as a maverick.
If I'm McCain, I'm saying if maverick means I'm for campaign finance reform, if maverick means I'm opposed to torture, if maverick means I'm for human rights and civil rights, if maverick means I'm for immigration reform, he may never win over Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh and Dr. James Dobson, but I think that's a message that sells with many other Americans, and it's not a forgone conclusion, then, that he has to surrender Hispanic voters or Black voters or any other voter to Hillary or Barack, ultimately. Does that make sense to you at all?
Brody: Oh, it makes perfect sense, and as a matter of fact that's a great point, because let's think about this country. A lot of people say this country is somewhere center to conservatives, moderate to conservative. That remains to be seen, but the bottom line is McCain, in essence, is playing to the middle of the country, there's no doubt about it. Is the country ready for a far right president? No. A far left president? No.
But right in the middle, the sweet spot, is where McCain lies, and that's part of his popularity, there's no doubt about it. Also, Tavis, let's call a spade a spade here. In Washington D.C., you better work with the other party. The last time I checked, anything controversial in the Senate needs 60 votes. And so you'd better work across the aisle.
John McCain, as you said, will craft a narrative to say, "Listen, I'm a guy that can work across the aisle with, a Joe Lieberman or a Russ Feingold or even a Ted Kennedy." Yes, I know, conservatives will hit the floor fainting at that point, but independents, moderates, general election strategy - it could indeed work.
Tavis: Not even just those names you mentioned. This guy has worked with Hillary Clinton. They've traveled together on the Armed Services Committee.
Brody: Well, and also let me point out, as we kind of switch a little on the Democratic side, Barack Obama taps into this as well. And so it would be a fascinating race. Not to go off on a rabbit trail here a little bit, but Barack Obama and John McCain in essence - and by the way, they work together on one of these ethics bills in the Senate.
But them both talking about changing the discourse in Washington and working across the aisle, they both would have somewhat of a same narrative, 146-171. The age disparity will be very interesting if that ever came to fruition.
Tavis: Well, there are so many things that could possibly, perhaps, maybe, we'll see, come to fruition, and we'll be covering it here as often as we can on this program, as will David Brody on the Christian Broadcasting Network. David, nice to have you on, as always.
Brody: Oh, a pleasure, Tavis.
Tavis: Take care.
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