This is a rush transcript from “Hannity,” February 10, 2010. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: Another Obama nominee has bitten the dust. Now, this time it is Craig Becker a labor lawyer and one of the president’s nominees to the National Labor Relations Board.
Now, the Senate yesterday blocked a vote on his nomination by 52-33 margin. Now, 60 votes were required for his nomination to proceed. All 41 Republicans joined against him, but they were joined by Democrats Ben Nelson and Blanche Lincoln.
Now, Becker was heavily backed by the SEIU and other unions, and now the president of the AFL/CIO, Richard Trumka, is pushing the president to use a recess appointment to get Becker back in the game.
So the Democratic defections on this vote signal a crack in the armor of the Democratic majority, or was this just another radical nominee whose failure was just predestined?
Joining me now is the author of the New York Times bestseller, “Culture of Corruption.” Michelle Malkin is here.
Welcome back. First of all, no surprise, this guy has a pretty radical background. You’ve been following the story. So are you surprised by the vote?
MICHELLE MALKIN, AUTHOR, “CULTURE OF CORRUPTION”: Well, I think that Ben Nelson and Blanche Lincoln the Democrats that joined the Republicans in torpedoing this nomination have seen the light. And once again we are reaping the dividends, the great dividends of the Massachusetts miracle. Scott Brown of course, also joined the Republicans in voting down this nomination.
And just a little history about Craig Becker and just how radical he is. Not only was he backed by the SEIU and other big labor, but of course, he worked for SEIU. He was their chief attorney and has been on record for years talking about wanting to sabotage the regular rules of democracy when it comes to union elections.
This guy would have carried water for card check, the big labor agenda item of Andy stern and all of the other big labor bosses to have to basically give a huge power grab in these union elections and take away the secret ballot from workers and sabotage workers’ rights.
So this was a big defeat for big labor. But of course, the SEIU and all of these other big labor organizations that have donated millions and millions of dollars to the Democrats, are not going to relent. And that’s why you’re seeing the call for a recess appointment now.
HANNITY: But here’s what I don’t understand from a political point of view. The president’s poll numbers are tanking. The Democrats are in real trouble. And I think it’s fairly obvious and transparent why Blanche Lincoln and Ben Nelson voted — voted the way they did. They’re trying to at least create the appearance that they’re more moderate than they really are.
Here’s my question, though. Where are people at the White House, politically speaking? Forget about their radicalism. I mean, after Daschle and Geithner and Van Jones and Holdren and Kevin Jennings and all these other radicals that have been appointed.
Where is somebody saying to the president, “This is not the right guy at the right time heading into a midterm election. Did you see what happened to Massachusetts?” Where are those advisers?
MALKIN: Well, they are not inside the White House. And they’re not outside the White House. When you have Andy Stern as the most frequent visitor to 1600 Pennsylvania, so much so that he ought to just set up a cot there and sleep overnight. There are none of these people who have their ear to the ground and who are in touch.
And of course, after the Massachusetts election it was clear that these people still did not get it, Sean. And that’s why you’ll have them persist. They owe big labor, big time.
And even now, the latest buzz on the Hill is that somehow they’re going cram the card check legislation into the jobs bill. That has been one of the rumors on Capitol Hill. That and legislation, of course, is something that none of us will have seen by the time they voted on it. There’s a draft that’s been floating around. It’s another big legislative Christmas tree crammed with the kind of payoffs we saw with the health care bill last December.
So — so no, they don’t exist, Sean. Rational voices do not exist there.
HANNITY: Karl Rove made a good point on this program when he said usually, for example, the State of the Union we saw, what Justice Alito saying “not true” when the president stated about the recent Supreme Court decision, it was the Supreme Court justice that was right. It was the president that was wrong.
And you would think that somebody that read that script prior to that speech would have informed the president that he was wrong. Not only in attacking the Supreme Court justice and the Supreme Court, but on the facts he was wrong. So, I really don’t know, you know, what’s going on there. Does somebody need to be fired? Does Rahm “Rahmbo Dead Fish,” does he need to go? Does Geithner need to go? Does Eric Holder need to go? Do you see mass firings in the future?
MALKIN: Well, as I’ve always said, the fish rots from the head down. The corruption rots from the head down. And this really lies at the feet of the commander in chief.
If anyone needs to be fired, of course, it’s Barack Obama, who’s responsible for all of these botched nominations, for all the radicalism, for refusing to listen to the American people. And the opportunity to do that is coming up fairly soon.
HANNITY: All right. I think a big message could be sent in November. And I think this will be, for those that don’t understand the importance of elections, I think this is going to be one of the most important midterm elections, literally, in our lifetime. This is not hyperbole; I’m not overstating the case. And I think there’s going to be a big message sent by the American people.
Here’s my next question. For the last few nights on this program, we showed in one speech the president using the term “corpseman”, instead of navy corpsman, three times. So much was made in the media about Governor Palin having seven words on her hand before her Tea Party convention speech in Nashville.
We went back in the archives. This is not the first time he said “corpseman.” You found it. You also put it on your Web site. This is back in October of 2009. The president got it wrong then. Roll tape.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA, OCT. 26, 2009: At this very moment, pilots and air crews around the world, Navy corpseman, on the ground in Afghanistan.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: All right. So my point is — it’s funny, but while the media may not pay attention to it, but I’m thinking you’re the commander in chief, you ought to know that it’s corpsman. Why not?
MALKIN: Yes. And he made that mispronunciation in front of the corpsmen at the Naval Air Station at a graduation ceremony last fall.
And a reader who sent along that video made the point that it was — it’s quite galling — and this is somebody who was a former soldier — that there was nobody among his staff, and this goes to your point about where is the staff people to keep him onboard. There was nobody who corrected him between the time he mispronounced it in October and the time he mispronounced it last week.
What does it tell you about how out of touch this man is with the military?
And there are enough double standards between how he’s been treated and how Sarah Palin has been treated to fill an entire football stadium or an entire graduation ceremony for that matter.
HANNITY: Well, maybe the new book by Michelle Malkin at some point, the unfair treatment of conservative women in America. How’s that, Michelle? I think that would be a best seller.
MALKIN: Yes. I could write that one in a day, Sean.
HANNITY: All right. Michelle Malkin, good to see you. Appreciate it.
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