Gov. Martin O'Malley Hits Hard on Face The Nation

In a nationally televised appearance Sunday morning on CBS News' Face The Nation, Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley compared one potential Republican presidential candidate to insult-comedian Don Rickles and said the others were all running to be the "Mad Hatter" of tea party members. 

O'Malley, in a faceoff with Republican Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi, said the GOP presidential candidates are pandering to the tea party by obstructing President Barack Obama's attempts to resuscitate the battered national economy he inherited from former President George W. Bush.

"The do-nothing tea party Congress" has offered "no alternatives" to create jobs, O'Malley said. 

Barbour countered that O'Malley was suffering from "amnesia" by neglecting to mention that Obama enjoyed Democratic majorities in Congress that passed all of the president's legislative priorities, including the controversial health care law.

"Now they're saying [Republicans] have gotten in [Obama's] way," Barbour said. "I hope the Democrats run on President Obama's record. The policies of Obama have made the economy worse, not better."

The exchange between the two men began cordially enough with Barbour complementing O'Malley's fit physique after show host Bob Schieffer asked the Mississippi governor if New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is "too fat" to be president. Many have speculated that Christie is considering a run for the GOP nomination for president.

Barbour joked that he assumed Schieffer was asking that question of him because of his own struggles with his weight and not of O'Malley, "who has never had a double chin." Barbour added that being slim, like O'Malley, and not fat, like Christie, can give a candidate an advantage of a better first appearance.

Schieffer than asked O'Malley, whom he called a "slim, trim governor," his thoughts on the issue.

"I've never had an introduction like that," O'Malley said.

But O'Malley, who also serves as chairman of the Democratic Governors Association chose not to discuss Christie's weight. He said Christie brought "entertainment value" to the race—"if you like Don Rickles." He then launched into a point-by-point dissection of what he said was the New Jersey governor's record of ineffective governance on education, job creation and fiscal management.

"It's not effective governance," O'Malley said.

Schieffer said O'Malley evaded the question about Christie's weight.

"That was not an evasion," O'Malley said. "It was a redirection."

Barbour then replied that O'Malley's "long, prepared redirection" demonstrated "how afraid the Democrats are of Chris Christie."

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Earlier post:

Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley is scheduled to appear this morning on the CBS News show Face The Nation at 10:30 to discuss politics with Mississippi's Republican Gov. Haley Barbour.

O'Malley, the chairman of the Democratic Governors Association, will be talking about the 2012 political campaign and other issues of the week. The show will also feature Sen. John McCain.