From Fox News’s Chris Wallace earlier today during a segment headlined, “Can Clinton Convince Her Supporters to Back Obama?”
WALLACE: Nancy Pelosi berating the press for focusing on the rift between Clinton and Obama, saying it is all in the past. But will Clinton be able to heal the wounds tonight when she takes the stage?….Are we covering [the “rift” ] or are we over-covering it?
Hmmm. Let’s see. After a very quick and limited (“Clinton supporter,” “Wallace”) Nexis search:
August 25
WALLACE: Tomorrow night is absolutely vital, I think, second only to Obama’s speech on Thursday night, because there is still a big division… with polls showing that somewhere between 30 percent and 50 percent of Clinton supporters are not on board the Obama bandwagon… So that is job one for her, and some would say it’s job one for this convention is party unity, to get all of the Democrats behind Barack Obama…
August 24
WALLACE: But, Governor Kaine, Obama and Clinton have been — you know, the primary battle has been over now for almost three months…And yet there are, as we see in the polls, a lot of Clinton supporters who are still upset, still bitter. Do you think those people who are still so upset are going to be won over or bought off by the fact that her name is placed in nomination here on the floor, if she gets a roll call?
August 24
WALLACE (to Obama communications director, Robert Gibbs): Why shouldn’t Clinton supporters be angry?
August 24
WALLACE: Well, Brit, apparently, from all the reporting, Hillary Clinton was never seriously considered by Obama or his team as a running mate, never consulted about it. Was that a mistake? And could he possibly pay a price among Clinton supporters here in Denver?
August 17
WALLACE: Do you really think that a roll call vote is going to satisfy those Clinton supporters who are still, a couple of months after the fact — still unhappy and bitter about her defeat? Do you really think they’re going to settle for the pageant of a roll call?
August 17
WALLACE: Bill [Kristol], doesn’t it almost ensure — I mean, we’ve got thousands of us pesky reporters around looking for a story. There’s not a lot of news at these conventions. They’re fairly pre-packaged. Doesn’t this now ensure that at least for the first three days of this convention the story is, “Oh, the Clintons, oh, the Obamas, the soap opera, are the Clinton supporters going to try to disrupt the convention?”
“At least for the first three days of this convention.” Several days prior, even.
Liz Cox Barrett is a writer at CJR.