Category Archives: Joe Scarborough

June 30, 2011 · 12:25 PM

MSNBC suspends Mark Halperin for Obama comments

You wanna know who the real “d**k” is in all of this?  Mark Halperin…

Morning Joe Blog

Statement from MSNBC:
Mark Halperin’s comments this morning were completely inappropriate and unacceptable.　 We apologize to the President, The White House and all of our viewers. We strive for a high level of discourse and comments like these have no place on our air.  Therefore, Mark will be suspended indefinitely from his role as an analyst.

Statement from Mark Halperin:
I completely agree with everything in MSNBC’s statement about my remark. I believe that the step they are taking in response is totally appropriate.

Again, I want to offer a heartfelt and profound apology to the President, to my MSNBC colleagues, and to the viewers. My remark was unacceptable, and I deeply regret it.

The video showing Halperin’s stupidity:

 A full eleven minute clip of the segment can be seen here…

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February 18, 2011 · 3:26 PM

Joe Scarborough: Wisconsin Public Unions Are ‘Greedy’ Free Riders

This is precisely the reason I do not watch Morning Joe…

Think Progress

Showing solidarity in opposition of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) Budget Repair Bill, which would effectively eliminate collective bargaining for public employees, citizens have continued to flood Wisconsin’s state Capitol today. The Senate was expected to pass Walker’s proposal yesterday, but to support the workers, the Democratic members of the Senate left the state, leaving the Republicans unable to achieve a quorum for the vote

This morning, in apparent opposition of the protests, MSNBC host Joe Scarborough said that the unions “free-ride” and are “greedy“:

SCARBOROUGH: Are you kidding me? They are shutting down the state. You see these young students, mike, instead of trying to end a war, they are trying to make sure state employees don’t have to pay off 3 percent of their salary to our — or 4 percent of their salary for health care benefits. They are trying to make sure that these people do not have to pay what every other American who works outside of government has to pay. Are you serious?

You’re going to shut down schools because you have a union that is so greedy that they want their people to be held to different standard than working class americans who sometimes pay 15 percent of their salaries to benefits? [...] hey, we are not going to let you get a free ride on benefits.

More…

Watch:

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December 30, 2010 · 7:30 PM

Morning Joe to run again?

Morning Joe

Image via Wikipedia

Politico

Former Florida Rep. Joe Scarborough says he would consider running for office again but, for the time being, thinks he’s better off right where he is.

“We have more influence doing the show,” said Scarborough, who hosts MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” and is a columnist for POLITICO. “There are 435 members of Congress. There’s one ‘Morning Joe’ show.”

But that could change. “An absence of leadership” could draw him back to elective office, he said in an interview with Parade magazine published Thursday. “The same thing that had me run the first time, in 1994, when I felt the country was veering off dangerously in the wrong direction.”

Scarborough represented Florida in the House from 1995 to 2001 but resigned just months into his fourth term to spend time with his family. His wife “always tells people, ‘He’s not going to be able to run for anything because I’m not going to let him start a campaign,’” he said.

“Look what’s happened to Barack Obama over the last two years or George Bush for eight. It’s a blood sport. But at some point, I may feel the need to run for office again.”   More…

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December 16, 2010 · 11:29 AM

Scarborough: DeMint And Kyl ‘Owe Harry Reid An Apology’ For Questioning His Faith

I’m not a Scarborough fan, but he’s on point with this one…

Think Progress

In their quest to deny Democrats and President Obama any legislative victories in this lame duck session of Congress, Sens. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and Jim DeMint (R-SC) have sunk to a new low: questioning Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) faith for potentially keeping Congress in session through January 4, 2011. Kyl said Reid is “disrespecting” Christians, while DeMint said it’s “sacrilegious.” Yesterday on the Senate floor, Reid fired back. “I don’t need to hear the sanctimonious lectures of Senators Kyl and DeMint to remind me of what Christmas means,” he said.

Today on MSNBC, the Morning Joe crew ripped into Kyl and DeMint for their remarks. “These are not serious people,” Mike Barnicle said, adding, “Do they really think we’re that stupid?” Co-host Willie Geist said, “This rises to the level of self-parody.” Host and former GOP congressman Joe Scarborough was the most incensed at the senators’ comments, noting that American troops are fighting in Afghanistan during the holidays and that they owe Reid an apology.

[...]

Scarborough said later in the show that Vice President Biden’s office called to associate themselves with Scarborough’s remarks and emphasize “how offended the Vice President was at these senators’ questioning the faith of Harry Reid.” Watch the segment:

 
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December 7, 2010 · 4:41 PM

Live And Direct: MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough Tells His Critics “Kiss My Ass”

No one can accuse Joe Scarborough of being “tight-lipped” or “reserved”…

Mediaite

MSNBC’s Morning Joe makes a point about being delightfully unscripted–and it sure lived up to the bill Monday. In a discussion of extending the Bush tax cuts, Joe Scarborough spoke quite clearly off the cuff, looking directly into the camera and advising those who “made fun of me a year and a half ago for saying this was going to be 1994 Kiss my ass.” Yes!

Even better, though, was Mika Brzezinski’s reaction: a startled “oh!” She then wrinkled her nose ever so nicely and shook her head in disappointment at her potty-mouthed co-host. “Terrible, that wasn’t very civil,” she said.

“No, it wasn’t,” conceded Scarborough. “I’m sorry.”

Efforts by Scarborough to write the KMA moment off to a Morning Joe writer quickly went nowhere:

I said it jokingly. It was a punchline. It was in my script. Oh, I’m sorry, we don’t have scripts.

The light moment led to a political point by Scarborough, reflecting on his own time in Congress in 1995, and comparing it to the precarious political position President Obama faces today:

“We Republicans came in thinking we owned the world. Thinking that Bill Clinton was finished, thinking that we had him cornered. Very arrogant about how we were going to push him around. And he punched us in the face. He pushed us back…We were disciplined and smart. We continued and continued and continued through August, September, October, shut the government down. It was a staring contest and Bill Clinton didn’t blink. This president is blinking in December.”

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November 17, 2010 · 7:40 AM

Michael Bloomberg & Joe Scarborough: The Independent Odd Couple

Leave it to Huffington Post’s newest Senior Political Editor, Howard Fineman  to break this story!  This is huge, if it plays out.

The Huffington Post – Howard Fineman

There’s no campaign yet, and there may never be, but New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and MSNBC’s morning talk-show host Joe Scarborough have begun trying to figure out whether they could be an independent presidential ticket in 2012 — and who would be better to be on top if it happens.

They’re the Odd Couple of Guys Outside the System.

The two are friends and, in both public and private, mutual admirers. They spent the day after the midterm elections complimenting each other at a Harvard symposium — Vanity Fair was there to document it all for a spring issue — bemoaning the same political rift they may try to exploit to win the White House.

Well-placed sources tell The Huffington Post that the mayor and the host have talked about running together, with Bloomberg in the top spot. In an interview, Scarborough, a former GOP congressman from Florida, issued a firm yet carefully-worded denial. “We haven’t discussed it directly,” he said, adding, “Have people discussed it in his sphere and in my sphere? I think so.”

Bloomberg’s chief political lieutenant, Kevin Sheekey, did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

On “Morning Joe,” Scarborough has repeatedly praised the mayor and talked up the likelihood — and the necessity — of an independent presidential bid by someone, even if it isn’t going to be Bloomberg leading it.

It can get effusive. “I don’t know anybody who has seen what Bloomberg’s done for this city,” the host said on his morning program in October, “who would not say that he is one of the best administrators we have had in American politics in quite some time.”

Continue reading…

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July 7, 2010 · 5:29 PM

Matthews: Palin Can Win GOP Nomination

 

Who’s been passing “Tweety” the kool-aid?
 
Not only does Chris Matthews think Sarah Palin could run for president, but he thinks she could win the Republican nomination.

“An early knockout is the way she can win,” he said on “Morning Joe.” “The media will try to destroy her, of course, but if she goes early, wins early, I think she can win it before anyone can stop her.”

He envisioned her winning the Iowa Republican caucus, losing in New Hampshire, but winning in South Carolina, where her endorsement just helped push Nikki Haley to victory. Then it would be up to Michigan, where Palin has been pounding the pavement on her book tour.

Joe Scarborough, alluding to Palin’s influence over the latest stretch of Republican primaries, at least agreed that “Sarah Palin’s star is on the rise.”

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July 1, 2010 · 12:17 PM

Scarborough stands by accusation of Boehner: He is ‘not known as a hard worker.’

 Think Progress

As ThinkProgress first noted yesterday, MSNBC host Joe Scarborough said on his show that “every Republican” he talks to on the Hill tells him House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) is “not a hard worker.” He added, “Every Republican I talk to says John Boehner, by 5 or 6 o’clock at night, you can see him at bars. This morning, Scarborough addressed the issue again, clarifying that he was not making a first-hand observation, but rather reporting what other Republicans had told him. Scarborough did not back away from the accusation, however:

SCARBOROUGH: On this John Boehner issue, though, obviously Capitol Hill is very small. People know what everybody does on Capitol Hill. And John Boehner is known as a guy that likes to golf, likes to have a good time, and is not known as a hard worker. Again, I don’t know that personally. I know that, though, from talking to scores of Republicans over the past several years.

Responding to Scarborough’s comments, Boehner’s spokesman Michael Steel said “the only time he’s ‘around town’ these days is to raise money for our House Republican team. Thus far this year, he’s headlined more than 230 events and raised about $27 million. And that’s just the beginning.” As MSNBC political analyst Mark Halperin noted this morning, that statement “didn’t really deny” the reports of Boehner’s drinking habits. Moreover, the New York Times’ Gail Collins does the math on Boehner’s fundraising and concludes:

Think about that. The year is only half over, so that means Boehner is averaging about 1.25 fund-raising events per day. No wonder he looks tired. No wonder he doesn’t know that the deep-water drilling moratorium only involves deep-water drilling.

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June 30, 2010 · 4:57 PM

MSNBC’s Scarborough: ‘Every Republican I Talk To On The Hill’ Tells Me John Boehner ‘Is Not A Hard Worker’

I’m not surprised in the least.  It’ shows with the entire GOP leadership. 

Think Progress 

On MSNBC’s Morning Joe, host Joe Scarborough made a damning accusation against House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), with whom he used to work in the House of Representatives. Scarborough said that the rap on Boehner amongst people who know him best is that he’s lazy:

SCARBOROUGH: I hear it on the Hill, I’m sure you hear it on the Hill all the time, it’s not reported but so many Republicans tell me this is a guy that is not the hardest worker in the world. After 5 o’clock, 6 o’clock at night, he is disengaged at best. You can see him around town. He does not have, let’s say, the work hours of Newt Gingrich. … Every Republican I talk to says John Boehner by 5 or 6 o’clock at night, you can see him at bars. He is not a hard worker.

Growing exasperated, Scaborough scolded VandeHei: “How can you not know if he’s a hard worker! You work for Politico, you guys say you’re the smartest guys on the planet. You’re the young guns that get all these spreads, that you own Washington. You hear from people more than I hear from people. What do they tell you about John Boehner’s work ethic!?” VandeHei responded that while he has heard that concern, it is “not the knock I hear most frequently.” After Scarborough called Boehner “lazy,” VandeHei responded that he’s “not necessarily lazy,” but rather, he doesn’t have “fresh ideas” and a “vision.”  Watch:

Politico’s co-founder and executive director Jim VandeHei, doing his best to defend Boehner from Scarborough’s accusations, first tried to dodge the discussion but then said, “Well, a lot of those bars are fundraisers for Republicans, his people might say.”

Scarborough retorted that his accusation about Boehner’s work ethic “comes from every Republican I talk to on the Hill.” VandeHei, again defending Boehner, said that’s “not the biggest knock” on him and added that he didn’t know if John Boehner is a hard worker.  Watch:

Not only is Boehner apparently “lazy” and lacking in a “work ethic,” but he’s also disconnected. Yesterday, the House Republican leader compared the financial crisis to an “ant” that Democrats are trying to solve with a “nuclear weapon” in the form a financial regulatory reform bill. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said that comment demonstrated “how out of touch” Boehner is.

Update:  In an email to Politico, Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said, “Boehner grew up with 11 brothers and sisters and his dad owned a bar, but the only time he’s ‘around town’ these days is to raise money for our House Republican team.”
 
Update:  Scarborough tweets, “How sad that Republicans get upset when I simply repeat what GOP members say about DC leaders every day.”

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May 21, 2010 · 11:23 AM

Scarborough bashes his own network, says Rand Paul shouldn’t have appeared on Maddow

Let’s see if Scarborough gets a “time out” on MSNBC the way other news anchors have.

Think Progress

Appearing on MSNBC nearly one year ago, Kentucky GOP candidate Rand Paul said, “I am happy tonight to announce on The Rachel Maddow Show that I’m forming an exploratory committee to run for the U.S. Senate.” So it was natural that, one day after emerging victorious in his GOP primary, Paul returned to the show. And Maddow — as any responsible journalist would have — pressed Paul on the hot topic of the day: whether he supported the 1964 Civil Rights Act. After offering a weak defense of his views that he later had to completely step away from, Paul said it was “a poor political decision” to appear on the show and called Maddow part of the “loony left.” This morning, MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough seemed to take Paul’s side and threw his own network under the bus:

JOE SCARBOROUGH: I will not mention any names, but I’ll just say one of the top conservative leaders in Washington, DC, not elected, but a real opinion-shaper, had two questions. First of all, how could he have been so stupid to have walked into this type of controversy? And secondly, this is part of a news story so I’m going to say it, what the hell was he doing on MSNBC? This isn’t an anti-MSNBC situation but you don’t find a whole lot of very liberal Democrats going on Fox News election night or the night after to do their victory lap. They’re wondering whether he’s ready for prime time.

Maddow provided Paul a fair forum, giving him approximately 15 minutes to explain his views. The “poor political decision” that Paul made was not in appearing on her show, but rather in opposing portions of the Civil Rights Act. Rather than applauding his network’s journalistic feat, Scarborough is bashing it because his preferred candidate didn’t fare well.

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