My colleague Becket Adams was right on target in saying that it was “shrewd” for Fox News to hire former Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Donna Brazile as a regular analyst. And she’s wise to take the job, even if her best efforts still will not likely change any minds among Fox viewers.
When Brazile said her goal was to engage conservative listeners while advocating liberal positions with “civility and respect,” she wasn’t just blowing smoke. Despite occasional lapses into partisan overenthusiasm — including her infamous leaking of debate questions to Hillary Clinton in 2016 — Brazile is indeed one of the few Washington partisans to be consistently engaging and cordial to those of differing political persuasions. As we say in my native Louisiana, Brazile is “good people.”
Allow, please, a personal anecdote. Late in the NFL season of 2009-10, the one that would crown the New Orleans Saints as Super Bowl champions, the Saints played the Redskins on an icy day at the D.C. area’s FedEx Field. A group of Louisiana expatriates had all gotten the word to congregate at a particular tailgate party outside the stadium.
One of the tailgate attendees that day was John Von Kannon, the legendary longtime director of development for the conservative Heritage Foundation. He was there with his neighbor and dear friend Rich Masters, a moderate Democratic consultant also with deep Louisiana ties. As Masters recounts it, in Von Kannon’s last week of a brave but losing fight against cancer, Von Kannon suddenly said, “Hey, Rich, you know what one of my favorite memories is? One of my favorite ever? It was at that tailgate party at the Saints-Skins game. I looked up and there, standing over that huge vat of gumbo, were Bob Livingston [the strongly conservative, New Orleanian, House Appropriations Committee chairman under Speaker Newt Gingrich] and Donna Brazile, sharing the same gumbo, deep in conversation, genuinely friendly and laughing together. We need more of that, Democrats and Republicans still friendly together. I’ll miss that.”
That genuine friendliness, in this case over turkey-bone-and andouille gumbo, is typical of both Livingston and Brazile. That’s why I believe Brazile meant it, literally and figuratively when she said yesterday that “Just as it takes many ingredients to make a good gumbo, it will require listening to many voices before we are able to move forward as one people.”
Conservative pundit Erick Erickson, who worked frequently with Brazile when he was the most prominent “in-house conservative” at CNN the way Brazile will now be one of Fox’s very few liberals, has written and Tweeted a number of times about his respect and fondness for Brazile.
And as partisan as Brazile is, she isn’t afraid to call out her fellow Democrats. Two years ago, she famously ripped Hillary Clinton for what Brazile called an unethical arrangement in which the Clinton campaign shared cash with the DNC.
All of which is to say that Brazile is not just offering empty rhetoric when she says this: “Will I agree with my fellow commentators at Fox News? Probably not. But I will listen. … I will also freely admit the weaknesses in liberal arguments and the strength in conservative positions.” And: “I am so excited to join the honest and passionate debate at Fox News about our future.”
Conservatives should welcome Fox’s hiring of Brazile. She’ll add an interesting voice, challenge our assumptions, and improve the quality of political discussion.
