On the 12 p.m. hour of the October 23 edition of MSNBC News Live, anchor Chris Jansing, during a discussion with Republican strategist Edwina Rogers and Democratic strategist Julie Roginsky about Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's (D-NY) re-election campaign, asked: “What about the concern that Senator Clinton -- frankly acknowledged it's legitimate to consider in the voting, we just heard it -- that she is laser-focused on the presidency and not on representing the people of New York?” Jansing, however, was referring to a video clip MSNBC aired minutes earlier in which Clinton said: “I have made no decisions about any future plans, and if that is a concern to any voter, they should factor that into their decision on November 7th” -- a statement that bears no resemblance to Jansing's characterization of it.
Jansing also asked Roginsky about the New York Daily News' October 23 article reporting that Clinton's Republican opponent in the upcoming election, former Yonkers mayor John Spencer, said “the senator used to be ugly -- and speculates she got 'millions of dollars' in plastic surgery.” Jansing, rather than focusing on the propriety of Spencer's attacks, asked Roginsky if they represent “just the reality in politics” that “looks count and this is all fair game.” Roginsky criticized the very subject, saying: "[W]e're living in Bizarro World. I don't understand what we're talking about here. There's a war in Iraq, you know, Social Security is about to be privatized if this president has his way, a whole host of issues that really concern people. And we have a Senate candidate in a major Senate race talking about plastic surgery?
From the 12 p.m. hour of the October 23 edition of MSNBC News Live:
JANSING: Julie, there was talk in the last campaign -- I remember this well because I was out there -- about John Kerry Botoxing. Now, you have this on Hillary Clinton. Is this just the reality in politics, simply that, you know, looks count and all this is all fair game, Julie? Is that right?
ROGINSKY: I mean, we're living in Bizarro World. I don't understand what we're talking about here. There's a war in Iraq, you know, Social Security is about to be privatized if this president has his way, a whole host of issues that really concern people. And we have a Senate candidate in a major Senate race talking about plastic surgery? It's just appalling to me that he would even bring this up as an issue. And the reality is that he's got nothing else to talk about. She's been -- Hillary Clinton's been a wonderful senator for New York, and of course he's got nothing else to talk about besides these kinds of --
JANSING: Well, there is something else he talked about repeatedly --
ROGERS: Well, it's a tough state.
ROGINSKY: Yes.
JANSING: -- and we said this -- we said this, Julie. What about the concern that Senator Clinton -- frankly acknowledged it's legitimate to consider in the voting, we just heard it -- that she is laser-focused on the presidency and not on representing the people of New York?
ROGINSKY: Well, she has certainly -- has certainly said that that's something that she's considering, but I don't think there's anybody in the state of New York that would say she hasn't been a wonderful senator for New York. And that's borne out by the fact that her polling numbers are tremendous and the fact that people will re-elect her in an overwhelming landslide come November 7th.
[...]
CLINTON: I have made no decisions about any future plans, and if that is a concern to any voter, they should factor that into their decision on November 7th.
