According to MSNBC’s Richard Wolffe, who was recently named the vice president and executive editor of MSNBC’s revamped website, U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice and Attorney General Eric Holder have faced criticism recently because they’re black.
On Monday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Hardball,” Wolffe made the surprising claim when host Chris Matthews asked who would replace Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
“I think it’s Susan Rice,” Wolffe said. “There is the question about John Kerry. But I think now that John McCain has sunk his teeth in, he’s made it about presidential authority. And frankly, it’s outrageous that there is this witch hunt going on the right about these people of color, let’s face it, around this president. Eric Holder, Valerie Jarrett, now Susan Rice — before, it was Van Jones. This is not about who is hawkish in the same way John McCain is about foreign policy, because if you look at Iran and Libya, Susan Rice checks those boxes. This is a personal vendetta. It’s about presidential authority.”
Matthews reminded Wolffe that, during the 2000 presidential campaign, McCain was the target of a whisper campaign suggesting he was the father of a black illegitimate child. McCain’s adopted daughter is from Bangladesh.
“There is no other way to look at this, because look at her foreign policy and by the way, look at what John McCain said about Condi Rice’s nomination. We’re running this story on the front page of the MSNBC website right now. Back then – four years — eight years ago, John McCain said the people — the Democrats who were questioning Condi Rice’s credentials, they were engaged with bitter innocence, they needed to move on. Why has he changed his tune? What is it about Susan Rice? And the answer is there aren’t any good foreign policy explanations for it.”
(h/t RCP Video)