Hotline After Dark -- A Family Affair

The news that AK Gov. Sarah Palin's (R) 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, is pregnant spread fast. Pols and pundits weighed in on whether it is a legitimate political issue.

NPR's Williams: "It definitely shouldn't be in political play. It's nobody's business. It's a family issue, and it's one of these things where you don't want the kind of pressure that comes from me and you going on some 17-year-old who is in the middle of a personal crisis. But the key point is that initially Senator [John] McCain said he knew about this at the time that he selected Sarah Palin, but he didn't disclose it. And I wondered why he didn't at that time" ("On the Record," FNC, 9/1).

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN): "I think what this says about ... Palin is that she is a very consistent woman. She's very strong pro-life, because we all know that she carried her final child, Trig, to term. He is a Down Syndrome baby. And now when her daughter is in a situation with an unplanned pregnancy, there is Sarah Palin with her husband, standing right behind her daughter. ... It shows great judgment on the part of Sarah Palin" ("LKL," CNN, 9/1).

Dick Morris, asked if McCain should have still picked Palin knowing this information: "You know, you do. And it's the biggest argument for John McCain right now, that he knew about it and he wasn't intimidated. He went ahead with it. And he said hey, plenty of American parents face this situation. There's no shame in it. I'm not going to hide it under a barrel. I'm going to go with this lady. That is just terrific for the statement that it sends" ("O'Reilly Factor," FNC, 9/1).

Radio host Stephanie Miller: "Vetting might have been a good idea. ... [Palin]'s under investigation and the party that lectures everybody else about family values, about moral values, now has a teenage pregnant daughter. I mean, honestly, I couldn't believe it when I first heard this story. This goes to John McCain's judgment? This is the most qualified person he could have picked?" ("LKL," CNN, 9/1).

After the jump, a GOP convo update, Obama on Gustav and Rove discusses his "blow-hard" comment about Biden.

(KATHERINE LEHR)

STORM WATCHERS

Laura Bush and Cindy McCain appeared together on "On the Record" last night, and they discussed Hurricane Gustav's impact on the GOP convo.

L. Bush: "We're paying attention to what is happening on the Gulf Coast, and I know that organizers of the convention will look at it day by day. ... But today Cindy and I went to service projects at Target and Fed-Ex and the Red Cross are doing together to put together hygiene kits for all of the people who had to evacuate and were in shelters in various places. A lot of good things I think will come out of this very first day of the convention with people really making an effort to give to the people across the Gulf Coast as we watch and hope that there won't be that much damage."

C. McCain: "We're playing it by ear. Obviously, we're waiting to see what happens and what the level of devastation down there" (FNC, 9/1).

NBC's Gregory: "White House sources are saying tonight that President Bush is now preparing to address the convention tomorrow night in primetime at 10:00 Eastern. He would do so via satellite from the White House. I say preparing to do that because it is not final. I'm told by White House officials that the convention planners, the McCain campaign, and party officials who will make a final determination about what the program will be tomorrow" (MSNBC, 9/1).

Syndicated columnist Mark Shields, on the political implications of the hurricane on both parties: "I'm not sure we know yet. Obviously, the apparent bullet that's been dodged in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast and the lack of a loss of life and the response that seems far better organized is at least a neutralizing and not a liability for the administration, or for the Republican Party, or for John McCain, maybe even a minor plus. The absence of George Bush and Dick Cheney is probably a serious blow to the ad-makers of Barack Obama who were looking for some fresh footage of McCain and Bush together" ("NewsHour," PBS, 9/1).

GOP strategist Mary Matalin, asked if it is beneficial to McCain that Bush and Cheney are not at the convo: "These delegates are conservatives. They are the face of the party, they love this president. They love Dick Cheney. You may think he's Darth Vader, but they wish he could have run again. This is a place where they would have been welcome" ("Hannity & Colmes," FNC, 9/1).

Ex-WH adviser David Gergen: "I do think John McCain and the Republicans have handled Hurricane Gustav well. They've been sensitive. ... And I think that did well and they showed a lot of respect for the victims, and you have to give them credit. I mean, they sacrificed a night of their convention to do this and I think that they deserve high marks for the way they've responded" ("Election Center," CNN, 9/1).

DROP IT LIKE IT'S HOT

CNN's Cooper caught up with Obama.

Cooper: "John McCain was here on Sunday in Mississippi, looking over preparations for this storm. You chose not to come in advance. Why did you choose to do that? And do you have any plans to come in the days ahead?"

Obama: "With the Secret Service operation that we have around me these days, what happens is, is that, when we land anywhere, there has to be coordination with local law enforcement officials. And it ends up drawing away resources from people who need to be doing the kind of job that they're doing to help folks on the ground. So, what I didn't want to be is a distraction just for a photo- op. What we're going to do is examine, over the next couple of days, the severity of the damage, how we can be most helpful. If I can be helpful by going down there, I will be down there in a hot second."

Cooper: "Some of your Republican critics have said you don't have the experience to handle a situation like this. They in fact have said that Governor Palin has more executive experience, as mayor of a small town and as governor of a big state of Alaska. What's your response?"

Obama: "Well, you know, my understanding is, is that Governor Palin's town of Wasilla has, I think, 50 employees. We have got 2,500 in this campaign. I think their budget is maybe $12 million a year. You know, we have a budget of about three times that just for the month. So, I think that our ability to manage large systems and to execute, I think, has been made clear over the last couple of years. And, certainly, in terms of the legislation that I passed just dealing with this issue post-Katrina of how we handle emergency management, the fact that many of my recommendations were adopted and are being put in place as we speak, I think, indicates the degree to which we can provide the kinds of support and good service that the American people expect" ("AC 360," 9/1).

WEIRD SCIENCE

And Karl Rove was on "Hannity & Colmes" last night, and he was asked if he referred to Joe Biden as "a big blow-hard doofus."

Rove: "Well, in an off-the-record uttering, yes, I did. ... Look, I think he's overrated. And I thought -- look, he came up with a goofy idea when we talked about the surge. ... Remember, this is the guy who voted for the Iraq war and condemned the president for acting unilaterally. So there's a discussion about the surge, and he offers up a suggestion which is unfathomable, which is the United States would unilaterally -- unilaterally -- take a sovereign country and split it into three parts, tell the Kurds to go to one place, the Shia to go to another, the Sunni to go to another."

FNC's Colmes: "If you don't agree with the plan, you can certainly debate the plan, but why call him a doofus?"

Rove: "I got carried away."

Rove, asked if he would like to apologize to Biden: "Well, I apologize to the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations committee for disagreeing with his plan. ... Let's go back to the merits of his plan. His plan was weird" (FNC, 9/1).