Hotline After Dark -- Speak Now Or Forever Hold Your Peace

The Hudson plane crash completely dominated last night's TV coverage, but there managed to be some reaction to Pres. Bush's farewell speech, AG-designate Eric Holder's confirmation hearing and Pres.-elect Obama's stimulus plan. First up, Bush's goodbye:

FNC's O'Reilly: "I thought the president's speech was good. He's certainly entitled to give it and should give it. Lists his accomplishments and what he believed he did for the country. But he should have done it a long time ago, because by not answering his critics, which became louder and louder and more hateful and more hateful, the critics basically beat him in the public relations battle" ("O'Reilly Factor," 1/15).

Ex-WH press sec. Scott McClellan: "There was opportunity wasted. ... You're not even going to begin to get people to really tune in and listen to what you have to say unless you express candidly where your mistakes and misjudgments were. And the president won't even acknowledge a single mistake of significance. ... There is plenty of opportunity missed in all these exit interviews, and the exit press conference, and the farewell speech tonight" ("Countdown," MSNBC, 1/15).

CNN's Blitzer: "I thought he was gracious in welcoming a new president of the United States. ... And he went about as far as he wants to go, certainly, as he can in acknowledging mistakes, acknowledging things didn't always go well" ("No Bias, No Bull," 1/15).

More after the jump.

(KATHERINE LEHR)

Huffington Post's Arianna Huffington: "I think the big headline is to paraphrase Paul Simon still delusional after all these years, because it was delusional from beginning to end. ... The most kind of stunning thing for me was when he said that he, at least, would be given credit for making the tough decisions as though making tough decisions that are wrong is actually something you should take credit for" ("Rachel Maddow Show," MSNBC, 1/15).

Syndicated columnist Tony Blankley: "I do believe he's staking his legacy on his foreign policy and on his anti-terrorism. And he's probably set the model that I suspect, after the dust settles, Obama and the president after him are going to follow. But ... I think we all resented the fact he didn't veto a lot of appropriations bills. I don't think he wanted to waste his chits on domestic stuff, because he was hoarding them all so he could fight the war against terrorism. He's paid a tremendous price for that" ("Hannity," FNC, 1/15).

Ex-WH adviser David Gergen: "What's so striking in this speech ... he sees reality through a very different lens than most Americans. To end the central story of his presidency is that of the threat of terrorism of 9/11 and that he protected the homeland over these last seven years. He deserves credit for that. ... Most Americans will give him some of that, but I think they feel he's left us with two wars that we aren't necessarily winning, with a nation whose national debt has been doubled under his watch and with an economy that's been careening down, costing us lots and lots of jobs" ("AC 360," CNN, 1/15).

YOU'VE REALLY GOT A HOLDER ON ME

Meanwhile, pundits and journos examined Holder's confirmation hearing.

Ex-WH adviser David Gergen: "I think he'll have more negative votes than he would like, but he handled himself overall today very, very well. Senator Specter did draw some blood with those questions about the Marc Rich pardon. But Holder, I think, acquitted himself extremely in response to it" ("AC 360," CNN, 1/15).

FNC's Barnes: "He has taken the notion of 'I'll learn from my experiences' to quite an extreme here, trying to say he's a better person, and would be a better attorney general because of the Marc Rich case. The Marc Rich case was an outrage. If he thought it was just a tax fraud case, as he said today, then he was probably the only person in the universe who thought that about Marc Rich. ... If this were a Republican, he wouldn't get anywhere" ("Special Report," 1/15).

MSNBC's Maddow: "The headline out of the Holder hearing is not the fireworks, but how the process of taking over this dilapidated house, this foreclosed on house of justice has brought to the fore a lot of really scary and alarming stuff from the Bush era that is going to be with us for a long, long time" ("Rachel Maddow Show," 1/15).

OMG!

And during an appearance on "NewsHour," House Min. Leader John Boehner outlined his views of Obama's stimulus plan.

PBS' Warner: "When the Democrats unveiled their $825 billion stimulus plan, their blueprint today, you came down to the press gallery and said, 'Oh, my God.'"

Boehner: "I looked at this package over lunch, right before I went to the press gallery. There's over a half-a-trillion dollars worth of spending. And it looks like 14 years worth of liberal Democrat ideas that were stuck in the back of a cabinet somewhere. And it's not the kind of spending, in my view, that will stimulate our economy, create jobs, and, even more importantly, preserve jobs that are out there today. I just believe that, if we're going to help American families and small businesses, we need to leave more money in their hands, tax less, let them make good decisions with what they can do with more of their own money to create jobs and keep jobs."

Warner: "But were you really surprised? I mean, isn't the scope of it pretty much what President-elect Obama has talked about?"

Boehner: "Oh, no, no, no. This is nothing like the president-elect has talked about. ... It's just more of the same kind of wasteful spending that we have seen in the past. I was really -- I was shocked. ... And that's what why I said what I said."

More Boehner: "We have to remember, now, this is the congressional Democrat plan. This isn't Senator Obama's plan. And, so, I'm hopeful that we are going to continue to work with him to move a package quickly that is responsible. ... He's made it clear that he wants to take a more middle path. ... He wants a bipartisan plan to pass the Congress. He's reached out to us. And we have reached out to him to work with him. And we have to understand that the plan unveiled today by the liberals in Congress had no Democrat -- or had no Republican input at all, at any level" (PBS, 1/15).