This is a rush transcript from “Hannity,” May 28, 2009. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: George W. Bush has always been the victim of ruthless attacks from the left, but as Mark Hemingway of the National Review points out, comments by Harry Reid in his book may be the most outrageous yet.
Now on page 3, the Bush bashing begins when Reid recounts a story told to him by the late Senator Lloyd Bentsen in which he was praising former President George Herbert Walker Bush. But Reid writes, quote, “Bentsen paused and said, ‘But watch out for his wife. She is a b****.'”
Reid goes on to say, quote, “I have never had anything against Mrs. Bush, but guided by Bentsen’s crude advice, I’ve always said that our 43rd president is more like his mother than his dad.”
And Senator Reid’s missteps don’t end there. He’s being hit hard from the GOP for the mega fundraiser that he hosted in Vegas earlier this week, and here’s what the National Republican Senatorial Committee is now saying.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: While Nevada families are hurting and losing their jobs, Harry Reid throws a blowout Hollywood party for himself at Caesar’s Palace. Why?
SENATE MAJORITY LEADER HARRY REID, D-NEV.: That’s part of Washington.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: And joining me now with reaction to all of this is Governor Mike Huckabee. Of course his show on weekends, Saturday and Sunday, 8:00, right here on the FOX News Channel.
• Video: Watch Sean’s interview
Good to see you. First of all, Harry Reid, the surge has failed, the war is lost. Is Barbara Bush now 84 years old?
MIKE HUCKABEE, FORMER ARKANSAS GOVERNOR: Well, first of all, Barbara Bush is one of the most truly wonderful human beings that I’ve ever been around, and anybody who’s know her knows that she’s stern, she’s made of the right stuff, she was a great mother to her children, a terrific first lady, and I think that any comparison to her is a compliment.
HANNITY: All right. But Harry Reid has a history now. First of all, to say this I think it’s so obnoxious and so over the line and so over the top. Couple that with telling our troops the war is lost that they’re presently fighting.
Doesn’t — is that maybe to explain to you why he has a 50 percent disapproval rating in his own state?
HUCKABEE: Well, I think he and Joe Biden are fighting for who’s going to be the one who ends up with gaffer of the year.
HANNITY: Yes.
HUCKABEE: And you know in the White House they talk about let’s go win one for the gaffer, and they’re talking about either Harry Reid or Joe Biden.
But here’s the interesting thing and you and I have both written books. You know that — it’s different if you make some comment off the cuff when you’re at the podium, and you say something stupid. And I’ve done that so many times.
HANNITY: I’ve never done that.
HUCKABEE: Well, I have.
HANNITY: No, I’m kidding. I’m just teasing.
HUCKABEE: Lots of times. In fact, I do it almost every time I go to a podium.
HANNITY: Yes.
HUCKABEE: But when you write a book, you know what you’ve said.
HANNITY: Yes.
HUCKABEE: Editors know what you’ve said.
HANNITY: Absolutely.
HUCKABEE: It goes through a number of eyes, and so that’s what is a little different here. This is not just some sort of unguarded moment. This is a very calculated, thoughtful piece of writing that he’s put down, unfortunately. We may be selling more books of his than he ever did because it’s been in the tank the whole time.
HANNITY: Yes. I mean that’s the thing. Nobody’s ever picked up on this. This is crazy.
HUCKABEE: Would you want to read a book by Harry Reid?
HANNITY: No. No.
HUCKABEE: I mean his speeches are bad enough, for heaven’s sake. So the last thing I want to do is read.
HANNITY: No. That’s a great point. But — for example, I’m speaking Saturday to the Republican Party in the commonwealth of Virginia, OK?
HUCKABEE: Yes.
HANNITY: So I’m going to be there Saturday.
HUCKABEE: Great people.
HANNITY: In Richmond, all right?
HUCKABEE: Yes.
HANNITY: And I see that Virginia’s back in play for Republicans. Delaware is in play, Chris Dodd is in trouble. If they can get somebody to run against Reid, how do you see the 2010 election shaping up with all the contortions that Republicans are going through about we’re too conservative or moderate, it seems to be shaping up as a real opportunity for Republicans.
HUCKABEE: It’s going to be, I think, a terrific opportunity for Republicans. A couple of things. Democrats have won many of the congressional elections over the last two cycles, not with liberal candidates, but with Democrats who are more conservative than the Republican they ran against.
These were pro-life, pro-Second Amendment Democrats who would get in there and win. No, I’m not ready to take the pulse and declare this one dead. I think we’ve got a lot of life left in this.
HANNITY: All right. I want you to comment on what I was asking Dick Morris. Dick’s position is, you’re going to lose the Sotomayor debate, she is a judicial activist, she says so. She mocked and joked about it. She has said some very racial things. She has a bad position on racial preferences that I think is out of synch with people. I think the Republicans should stand on their principles.
HUCKABEE: Well, sure, they should. I think what they’ve got to do is to frame everything in context of the — to me appropriate respect for her amazing biography. And I do. I marvel at it. I.
HANNITY: I agree. It’s quintessentially American. It was.
HUCKABEE: It is American. It’s Alberto Gonzales, it’s.
HANNITY: It’s Clarence Thomas.
HUCKABEE: Clarence Thomas.
HANNITY: It’s Miguel Estrada.
HUCKABEE: Sure. There are a lot of people who have had terrific biographies, and we should celebrate that as Americans regardless of the ideology. When she gets into the Senate hearing, should Republicans ask tough questions? If they don’t, they ought to go home because they don’t deserve the title senator. That’s what the Senate is supposed to do.
HANNITY: Well, Pat Roberts is the first one to come out and said he’s against — he’s going to vote against her, and I got the sense because we’ve interviewed this week Senator Orrin Hatch, and John McCain voted against her the first time.
HUCKABEE: Yes.
HANNITY: For the Second Circuit, so I would assume that after the vetting, after the new comments, after that videotape, I think she’s probably — and the Latina versus white male comment, do you think that was racist?
HUCKABEE: It’s hard for me — unless she explains it.
HANNITY: You don’t want to say it.
HUCKABEE: I don’t want to say it because I don’t have her full explanation, and I do know as one of those people who’ve been at the podium way too many times that something can be lifted out of the total context and out of the…
HANNITY: Let me ask the question in a different way.
HUCKABEE: OK.
HANNITY: If it were a white male that said that in reverse, would there be any chance they could be confirmed?
HUCKABEE: No, they’re toast. Absolute toast.
HANNITY: Well, explain the double standard to our audience. What does that mean?
HUCKABEE: There is a double standard. It’s also that life isn’t fair. The media doesn’t treat conservatives the same way it treats people on the left, and any time any of us think that we’re going to walk into that arena and be treated fairly, it’s like playing LSU in football in Baton Rouge.
If you think that’s going to be a friendly arena, you haven’t been to Baton Rouge in an LSU football game.
HANNITY: All right. We’re going to get into the economy here in just a minute here, but I don’t know if you’re watching the restructuring of, quote, “GM.” You noticed how the government is getting 70 plus percent.
HUCKABEE: Yes.
HANNITY: The unions are getting their fair share, but the debt holders, they’re trying to basically pawn off nothing to them, and that is frightening because who is going to want to take on the debt of any corporation knowing that this could happen?
HUCKABEE: Nobody. Why would you invest in an oil field in Venezuela if you think Hugo Chavez is about to nationalize it? Why would you buy into an American company if you think the government is going to take it over and pick out who’s going to come out best from it?
The real dangerous thing is the demonization of those who did make a good faith investment knowing that it was risky, but not realizing that it was an absolute disastrous investment. There are pension funds that will take care of the retirement of elderly teachers that may go bankrupt because we’re so busy taking care of the unions.
That’s what’s outrageous.
HANNITY: Every American is not seeing this, but I’m telling everybody out there that will listen, anybody out there that will listen, we are going to feel the impact of all of this spending. We have a special tomorrow about it, the 101 instances — top waste instances, but I’ve got to tell you, we’re all going to feel this.
We can’t sustain it, and it’s like I’m trying to warn people. I don’t care what happens in the short term. Long-term we’re in trouble, and I think you agree with me on it.
HUCKABEE: I do agree, and I think all of us have known families, young couples maybe that were young when we were young, and we watched them spend — and have everything, and gosh, you know, how can they do that? And then one day it didn’t work.
HANNITY: You have the winner of “American Idol” this weekend?
HUCKABEE: Kris Allen is going to be with us. It’s going to be a lot of fun. We’ve got Tracy Lawrence, country singer.
HANNITY: That’s great.
HUCKABEE: Jim Gibbons, the governor of Nevada, will be talking about Obama being too busy to come talk to the governor but not busy enough to do 18 hours for Harry Reid.
HANNITY: And we’ll be watching. Governor, good to see you. Thank you.
HUCKABEE: Good to see you, Sean.
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