From Wednesday night’s Fox News All-Stars.
On Wednesday’s transfer of power in the House of Representatives:
I’m always struck — I’m a sucker for this — the quiet majesty of the transfer of power. We are a country that’s been doing it for almost a quarter of a millennium, and to see it, even though it’s not at the presidential level but at the House level, is still impressive.
I was also struck by the speeches. Nancy Pelosi went on and on – it was a bit of a rally for her, a lot of applause from her side about all their achievements — as a result of which they were kicked out of office on their ear, I would say, as an aside.
And then the Boehner speech: I thought it was a good speech but he was really heavy on the humility. “Dust to dust” is as humble as you get. And this after all is a guy who led the party to the biggest House landslide in over 70 years. I thought he slightly overdid it. I’m not looking for a glorious triumphalism, but I think he didn’t exactly have to wear a sackcloth. … I would have hoped for a little more pep and vigor in the acceptance [speech].
On liberal pushback to the reading of the Constitution scheduled for Thursday:
It is truly astonishing. One member of Congress called it a long, dull document. The New York Times editorial called reading of the Constitution in the House “presumptuous.” Liberals got in trouble in the ’60s and ’70s for being on the wrong side of the flag (in antiwar demonstrations) and now three decades later, they want to be on the wrong side of the Constitution?
On Robert Gibbs stepping down as press secretary effective February:
I take Gibbs at his word. He did want to have the policy and adviser position and apparently he didn’t get it, he must have thought his second choice was to step out and leave and make money.
He worked six years with Obama since he ran for the Senate in ‘04, and anybody who worked inside of a campaign knows — I was a speechwriter in my late 20s — you have to be young and energetic if you want to live through an experience like that. It is day and night and it is exhausting. He’s been there six years and I can understand why he would want to get out and make speeches and maybe come back in a second term.