Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D., Mo.) told MSNBC anchor Craig Melvin on Wednesday that it was a "mistake" for Democrats to choose former Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear to deliver the Democratic rebuttal to President Donald Trump's address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night.
"I don't think that Governor Beshear is the future of the Democratic Party. He's a retired governor. What was their thinking there? Why have a guy like Steve Beshear give the response versus an up-and-comer in the party?" Melvin asked.
"Well, your problem is you asking about thinking, and that didn't happen," Cleaver said. "Look, the governor did a fabulous job in terms of health care when he was in Kentucky. He did everything well."
Cleaver then said that the people of Kentucky had a positive opinion of Beshear, but would have preferred to see Rep. Cedric Richmond (D., La.) or former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro.
Melvin asked Cleaver who chose Beshear.
"I don't know. I would imagine that the leadership of the House and the Senate. We obviously didn't have anything to do with it," Cleaver said.
Cleaver said he just left a meeting where fellow Democrats said that they will be in trouble if they don't start presenting an image of a millennial movement in the Democratic Party.
"I don't mind saying when we make mistakes, and that was a mistake," Cleaver said about Beshear delivering the rebuttal.
Beshear delivered his rebuttal to Trump's speech from a diner in Lexington, Kentucky surrounded by fellow diners who were described by conservative radio host Laura Ingraham as "cardboard cutouts" on Twitter.
Can someone pls rearrange the cardboard cutouts behind Beshear.
— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) March 1, 2017