some of these people backed charlie crist in 2010 and said that marco rubio had absolutely no prayer in that senate race, and what he did is he proved them wrong. in fact he chased charlie crist out of the republican party and then beat him in the general election. and then this go-around a lot of those same people, well, almost all of them are in jeb bush world. and they re saying oh, jeb is different than charlie. and it s true, jeb bush is a different person, different politician than charlie crist. he is a good and solid republican and his record shows that. but the reality is jeb bush s people and jeb bush s messaging in macro looks exactly like the same sort of denial campaign that charlie crist was waging. and marco rubio tap-danced around charlie crist. and again, last night he did it to jeb bush. he basically said to jeb, we all know why you re doing this, you re desperate. he was at least nicer than that because rubio still wants to come across as the hopeful positive hopy ch
i would hope as we get copycats, they get less attention. i do think he got to a place where he was getting a lot of interviews and people were sort of putting him on. we went live today with it. i know that was a hard decision. it was a very hard decision for cnn to decide what to do when he went live today to claim this, make this prepoverty preposterous claim. i m sure people are wondering, did we overplay this? this is hard questions. some guy is standing on a street corner holding a stick of dynamite with a fuse lit. you sort of feel you have to go look at that. he is manipulating us. let s move on from him. zuhdi jasser shall the imam from the proposed islam center in new york has said this has become a national security issue whether or not this islamic center proceeds, whether it proceeds
emphasize that point to save face and to give himself a reason to call this off. but in the question and answer session that followed, i made it clear that what he said is not accurate and okay. this pastor hates islam. he doesn t believe muslims should be allowed into the united states. he has preached that he doesn t want any new mosques to be built in america anywhere. he admitted in an interview with me that he is basically the definition of a bigot. why should the imam in new york negotiate with this guy that, it s important to remember, represents a few dozen people and sells used furniture on ebay to make a living? why should be there a meeting? i don t think there should be a meeting. he requested a meeting and i m willing to schedule it with the imam in new york.
should have covered it. it s been an interesting conversation, but i think the reason general petraeus commented on it, which is why cnn covered it, is because he had to. it s because as dr. jasser says, it was getting out in the bloodstream in other ways. when gergen and i were working in the white house, if cnn didn t cover it, it doesn t happen. now it does. this guy understands that. he gives crazy religious fanatics a bad name but knows how to manipulate the media. i suspect paris hilton even thinks he s a publicity whore. i don t think it s very easy call, actually. the real responsibility morally is with this preacher. he is the man who is inciting hate and should be held accountable for it. everyone stick around. we ll continue this discussion and take a quick break. we ve got a lot more to cover. stick around. we ll be right back.
face and to give himself a reason to call this off. but in the question and answer session that followed, i made it clear that what he said is not accurate and okay. this pastor hates islam. he doesn t believe muslims should be allowed into the united states. he has preached that he doesn t want any new mosques to be built in america anywhere. he admitted in an interview with me that he is basically the definition of a bigot. why should the imam in new york negotiate with this guy that, it s important to remember, represents a few dozen people and sells used furniture on ebay to make a living? why should be there a meeting? i don t think there should be a meeting. he requested a meeting and i m willing to schedule it with the imam in new york. does it worry you that sorry. go ahead. i feel that he is not