On Wednesday’s Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Michael Patrick Leahy spoke with special guest former Breitbart colleague and Washington journalist Neil McCabe.
During the third hour, McCabe weighed in on the prospect of Joe Biden becoming the Democratic presidential nominee with Michelle Obama as vice president.
Leahy: We are joined by our very good friend my former Breitbart college and Washington journalist Neil McCabe. Good morning Neil.
McCabe: Happy Easter Michael.
Leahy: Happy Easter to you. The Lord has risen. And Neil you and I have something in common. We are Irish-Catholic. I was an altar boy if you can believe that.
McCabe: As was I.
Leahy: Were you really? You weren’t there when they were doing the last mass in Latin, were you?
McCabe: No.
Leahy: You are a younger man than I am because I knew all of the Latin responses way back when.
McCabe: When I started it would have been 1974 and there were still high school kids who helped train us in the Latin. And they would throw Latin stuff around with the priests and the ushers who would be hanging out. But we have the Vatican surplice and we had a communion rail.
And then they got rid of the communion rail. And then they went to the white robe with the ropes. But I refused to switch. (Leahy laughs) I looked like some kind of acolyte or deacon or something with my Vatican surplice. I refused to change.
Leahy: Speaking of the American religious tradition. Barack Obama in his endorsement of Joe Biden yesterday hearkened back to it. He called for a great awakening to have everybody come and support Joe Biden. I don’t know. That seems like a bit of stretch to me.
McCabe: I think its kind of ironic though because somebody needs to wake up Joe Biden (Leahy laughs). That’s the great awakening.
Leahy: That is funny! He’s sleeping in his basement in Wilmington, Delaware. That’s what I think is going on with Joe Biden.
McCabe: There are a lot of crazy things. There are senators who have endorsed Joe Biden and their own kids are in the videos of Joe Biden, basically running his hands up and down their bodies.
Leahy: I know. Very awkward and creepy stuff.
McCabe: But this is the mistake that Republicans are going to make with Joe. With Joe Biden, you can criticize his personality and insult him personally but people are going to vote based on the agenda. They know what the O-Biden agenda is going to be.
And you and I worked very closely in 2016 for the Breitbart polling and people didn’t like Donald Trump. The poll we put out on election day 2016Â if I remember correctly, it was a 45% strongly disapproval. 45% strongly disapproval for Trump yet Pat Cadell told us he wins.
Leahy: Yes.
McCabe: Because America wants their country back.
Leahy: The late great Pat Cadell.
McCabe: With Biden and the Democrats they are going to be talking about abortion and guns and taxes. And the Republicans are not going to contest. The Republicans are not going to say we are the pro-life party. The Republicans are not going to say we are the pro-gun party. Just like we saw in Virginia. They got rolled. The Democrats ran on more abortion and less guns.
And the Republicans refused to contest it and the message that it sent is that we agree with the Democrats. And so people are going to make the mistake that you can insult Joe Biden because its a layup right? But his agenda is what is really at stake. That’s sort of the Achilles’ heel of Republican consultants and staffers, they’re leftists. They hate conservatives.
Leahy: The big question for you is what is the over-under of whether or not Joe Biden will actually be able to make it to November in terms of not entirely humiliating himself with the inability to put one sentence after another.
McCabe: Let me put it this way, Mike. If I make the line July 4 will you take before or after that Joe Biden is the anticipated nominee?
Leahy: Yeah, well. I’d say he’ll be the nominee.
McCabe: I don’t know.
Leahy: Ahhhh, intrigue. Roll out what the scenario would be to replace Joe Biden. I guess you are assuming he will start revealing even further his cognitive difficulties.
McCabe: What will happen is they are going to have a virtual convention maybe right?
Leahy: Yeah, maybe.
McCabe: So a virtual convention you just basically do whatever you want. What they are going to have is a virtual vice presidential nominee. There is no more horsetrading for the VP slot for the convention anymore. That’s even announced before the convention. So what they do is they announce the VP for Biden and then when Biden is unable to continue that person moves up.
Leahy: So OK. Now here’s the thing. Who is going to pick the VP? Will it be Biden or will it be…
McCabe: Obama is running the Biden campaign because when Biden announced his new campaign manager was an Obama loyalist, basically Obama has taken over the campaign. So that’s why you saw Beto O’Rourke and Klobuchar and Buttigieg. They all lined up and endorse Biden. That’s why Bernie Sanders basically cow towed and said, (Zombie voice) “Master, I will endorse Biden.” Now Obama is calling the shots.
Leahy: So who does he pick for the VP? Who does Obama pick for vice president?
McCabe: Obviously if you put Michelle Obama on the bottom of the ticket. The plot of the Manchurian Candidate was that the senator who was Angela Landsbury’s husband who was the senator played the inspector in Barney Miller. I forget his name. The actor. He was the VP guy and then brainwashed son kills the presidential nominee.
Leahy: Right. In that movie the Manchurian Candidate. Right. Exactly.
McCabe: Wow! If Michelle Obama was the VP nominee and give people time to metabolize and digest that. And then Joe says I just can’t do it anymore.
Leahy: So it becomes Michelle Obama. Is that what you see as a possibility?
McCabe: That would be fun. Cuomo would be devastating against Trump.
Leahy: But Joe Biden promised he’d pick a woman.
McCabe: Yeah, see that’s the problem.
Leahy: But hey! It’s 2020. Maybe there is some operation in Andrew Cuomo’s future? (Leahy laughs)
McCabe: The progressives don’t trust Cuomo. There are reasons that he’s devastating against Trump.
Leahy: Yes. He toes the line on a lot of ideological issues like gun control etc. But he does evidence some practical leadership skills which you see in his press conferences.
McCabe: Yeah. And he’s been to the degree possible, he’s been a reformer in New York. In fact, especially in his early days of his first state of the state address could have been read by the Tea Party. So he does have an understanding of what’s going on. I think it would be very interesting if Michelle Obama was the vice presidential nominee. That would be amazing. Exquisite. I don’t know if they have the guts to pull it off though.
Leahy: If they wanted to pull it off, here’s the big question. If they wanted to pull it off could they pull it off?
McCabe: They can’t get Joe Biden elected President of the United States. Whoever is the VP, if Joe Biden is nominated and elected that VP is going to be president. There is no way Joe Biden gets elected or serves. As long as the Republicans run on issues and not personal criticism. Remember all the criticism they did of Bill Clinton. Where did that get them?
Leahy: Not very much. Neil McCabe, thanks so much for joining us. Thanks again and have a great week.
Listen to the full third hour:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Obama conservative?? Delzell, are you smoking some of Husseins weed or what! Maybe conservative compared to farrakhan or maybe the reverend white. But even then, dont disgrace the conservative base with your unthought out ideas of conservatism. You’re really making us who get a laugh out of your “insights, ” question your IQ or lack there of. However, if you’re saying obama is actually too conservative, God help us if you could appoint a president.
Biden would have done better to have chosen Elizabeth Warren as his running mate as she would have a better chance of persuading the Sanders voters to support Biden. Obama, however, is too close to her conservative husband to have that appeal. If Biden cannot get the Sanders supporters on board by November, he will have the same trouble Hillary Clinton had four years ago against Trump.