In an appearance on this weekend’s “Meet the Press” on NBC, Bay Buchanan, an adviser for Mitt Romney’s campaign, staunchly defended her candidate and pushed back hard against her fellow panelists, including Joe Scarborough, David Brooks, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and Democratic strategist Dee Dee Myers.
Transcript as follows:
BUCHANAN: This is just like four to one. I should be allowed to speak, you know, for each one of these people here.
SCARBOROUGH: Wait, wait, wait. You don’t like the Margaret Thatcher fan or Ronald Reagan fan?
BUCHANAN: Please, let me make a point here.
SCARBOROUGH: Don’t put me as a four to one. I’m not. I’m a small government conservative.
BUCHANAN: Joe, on this set, you appear to be one of the four.
SCARBOROUGH: I’m also with the Wall Street Journal editorial page and I’m also with every conservative. I’m with — you name the — I’m with Rush. You name the conservative — they have my concern, Bay. So, please don’t characterize me as being one of these four.
GREGORY: Go ahead, Bay.
SCARBOROUGH: I love them all. But I’m not one of them.
BUCHANAN: To characterize the personal life of Mitt Romney as Dee Dee [Myers] has is to show that she does not know the man. She does not know what he has done.
SCARBOROUGH: I know what he’s done.
BUCHANAN: This is a man who has spent a life in serving others. That is the basis of what he believes, and he has given.
MYERS: I’m not questioning that, Bay. I’m not saying that.
BUCHANAN: Yes, you are.
MYERS: No, I’m not.
BUCHANAN: Number two, we are in perilous times in this country. We are looking at financial ruin. We are looking at dependency. We’re a nation of people dependent on their government. And that is what Barack Obama gives us. And he promises more of that in four more years. This election will decide if we take that path or with Mitt Romney, if we take a path where we actually allow people, those who are troubled now, those who can’t make ends meet, those relying on food stamps to pay for their —
GREGORY: You can defend Gov. Romney, that’s fine. But this is just — these are political talking points more than being responsive to some of the political reality. The political reality, the unfavorable ratings of Mitt Romney, you’re a political professional. You understand how campaigns operate. If people don’t know it, who bears the blame for that? Look at his high unfavorable ratings at 50 percent, the highest of any candidate running in recent memory. This is an image problem that his philosophical statements in this speech in May to fundraisers only exacerbates.
BUCHANAN: It’s because of the way it has been falsely interpreted, deliberately so, I might add.
GREGRORY: By David Brooks? By Joe Scarborough?
SCARBOROUGH: By Joe Scarborough? This is nonsense. No, no, I’m sorry. I have to cut this off. David Brooks –
BUCHANAN: Which side are you on? You are taking this country –
SCARBOROUGH: The Wall Street Journal editorial page. Laura Ingraham. Rush Limbaugh. I can go on and on. If you want to blame the media for Mitt Romney’s inept campaign, Peggy Noonan said it best, this is a nightmare of a campaign. And the most troubling thing is, it’s not that a lot of us Republicans don’t think he can win. We do believe he can win. But when he says he has no need to turn this campaign around, after a disastrous week, where you see Ohio slipping away, Wisconsin slipping away, Iowa slipping away, Michigan slipping away, that is a political concern. Not an ideological concern. That is a political concern.