I’m Not Going for Scarborough’s Fare
Can you stand a bit of cynicism about Morning Joe with your Morning Jolt?
MSNBC morning show host and former GOP congressman Joe Scarborough takes to the pages of Politico to demand that the Republicans “take on” Sarah Palin: “Republicans have a problem. The most-talked-about figure in the GOP is a reality show star who cannot be elected. And yet the same leaders who fret that Sarah Palin could devastate their party in 2012 are too scared to say in public what they all complain about in private. Enough. It’s time for the GOP to man up.”
So what is the net impact of Scarborough launching this broadside, asserting that his green room is the epicenter of a vast secret underground of intimidated Palin doubters? Nothing much. Sarah Palin is no more or less popular than she was before Scarborough’s op-ed. If any Palin fan was shaken off the bandwagon, I have yet to find them. I doubt Scarborough’s argument was sufficiently odious to stir a backlash among Palin critics. Not one Republican doubter — let’s assume for the sake of argument that his unnamed folks exist, and they do complain loudly in the MSNBC green room — will come forward and denounce Palin because Joe Scarborough called upon them to do so. In fact, he may have made it impossible for any GOP figure of any significance to do so, since none of them want to be seen as taking their marching orders from an MSNBC host. And I doubt Scarborough’s audience will be any larger or any smaller because he’s staked out his position standing athwart Sarah Palin yelling stop.
However, Scarborough did get 20 or so blogs to link to the piece. So if that was the goal, mission accomplished.
Jim Treacher notices that Scarborough offers his scathing sneering piece, contending on the same day he announced he’s joining a group that aims to promote “civility and respect” in the public dialogue. “Say what you want about Scarborough’s laundry list of criticisms, but at least he’s keeping it civil,” Treacher observes, tongue firmly in cheek. “Yay, civility! Also: respect. Words are fun to say.”
At Legal Insurrection, William Jacobson is particularly unimpressed: “There is a lot which could be said about Joe Scarborough’s very personal and demeaning screed against Sarah Palin, but I’ll rest on this response: ‘You are the Alan Colmes of MSNBC, and I mean no offense to Alan Colmes.’ On second thought, maybe I just insulted Alan Colmes. Sorry.”
Matt Lewis tries to find the valid points, and probably invites quite a few heated responses from Palin fans himself: “Scarborough refers to Palin as a ‘reality show star,’ but is she really? Now that we have all seen her TLC program, ‘Sarah Palin’s Alaska,’ I’m not so sure that is a fair classification for it. When people hear the term ‘reality show,’ they likely think of ‘Keeping Up With the Kardashians’ or ‘The Osbournes.’ Calling ‘SPA’ a reality show is not entirely inappropriate, but I would argue that it is also a documentary/travelogue . . . while I think the criticism over Palin comparing herself to Reagan was overblown, I do think Scarborough’s main thesis — that Palin may not be ready for prime time — deserves consideration. Anyone running for president (and she is considering it) deserves such scrutiny. Is she serious enough? Does she have the intellectual heft or gravitas? These are all fair questions.”
Why do I suspect that Scarborough is hoping Palin will fire back on her Facebook page, guaranteeing a day or two of headlines about the “PALIN-SCARBOROUGH BRAWL” and ensuring the most attention he has enjoyed in years? How far away can a “How to Save the GOP from Sarah Palin” book deal be? Between Keith Olbermann’s suspensions and fights with management, Ed Schultz’s arson threats, Bill O’Reilly’s fireworks on The View, and Glenn Beck’s big rallies on the Mall, all the big cable hosts seem to spend as much time making the news as reporting it. Scarborough has chosen the easiest and most well-trod path to a white-hot spotlight: defining himself as a furious foe of Palin.
So, Joe Scarborough is a jerk. This is news? That someone who can survive and thrive at a place like MSNBC for as long as he has is a jerk? Anyone surprised? At all?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSadly, Scarborough is struggling to remain relevant. And his only possible route is to take on the most popular politician in America. As a bonus he panders to the average MSNBC viewer.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbusePretty good example of the old expression about the company you keep. Put a sensible conservative like Scarborough in moonbat land long enough and he becomes a paranoid fruitcake like the rest of them.
Then again, maybe it is just a sad attempt to garner some cheap attention. If conservatives stopped paying attention to MSNBC, their ratings would fall by half.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseProbably best to avoid attacking motives.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseJoe Scarborough… a failed musician and high school teacher who rode the coat tails of an abortion doctor killer to a political career… belittling anyone
Pathetic. Don't lose your day-job, Joe. Stick with your moonbat friends at MSNBC.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseScarborough may achieve irrelevance someday, but he will have to work up to it. Anyone who mentions Sarah Palin increases his ratings -- in MSNBC's case, it would increase their rating 100% -- from 10 viewers to 20. Gov. Palin should just ignore those worth ignoring like Scarborough.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWake up folks. Let's not ignore the message, just because we don't like the messenger.
Face it, Scarborough is right on with this one. I was a big Palin supporter when McCain nominated her, but was very disappointed in her performance during the election. She can whine all day about "gotcha" journalism from Katie Couric, but come on, she can't name one other bad Supreme Court decision - of which there were many, many to choose from - Kelo, Hamdan etc. She can't name a single newspaper she reads? Even if she didn't just make up a few - NY Times, Wall Street Journal etc. What Palin should have done, was go back to Alaska and proved that she could be a good Governor and a good leader. Instead she resigns and her contribution is whining on Facebook about the "lamestream" media jumping on her for the North Korea/South Korea thing and not calling out Obama for saying there were 57 states. I just can't envision a Mitt Romney, a Mitch Daniels, a Marco Rubio, aPat Toomey, a John Thune or a Tim Pawlenty doing that. Frankly, its embarassing. They know the media is lined up against them - but let the Media Research Center carry the flag there.
And Scarborough is right in her dissing of George H.W. Bush as a "blue blood" - he makes great points about his record in WWII, and her dissing of Reagan as well.
Sorry, I am with Scarborough on this one - he is right on. If we nominate Palin, we'll get killed in 2012. Killed.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMassachusetts Conservative:
Please stop with the lies. Palin never "dissed" Reagan. Look at the interview. Which by the way wasn't even with Sean Hannity as Scarborough contends, but Mike Wallace. Apperantly, Mornin' Joe was not concerned with getting his facts straight in his lame hit-piece on Sarah.
And actually, I would prefer to see Romney, Daniels, etc, add ANYTHING to the debate. They are practically invisible. Last time I heard from Romney he was making excuses for RomneyCare, and last time I heard from Daniels he was arguing for imposing a VAT Tax on everyone and everything. Not exactly what I look for in a President.
And being from Massachusetts, I see that you fall in line with your state GOP brethren from a few decades ago:
“National opinion polls continue to show Carter leading Reagan by an apparently comfortable margin of about 25%. They also show that more moderate Republicans like Ford would run better against the President. This suggests that Reagan is not the strongest G.O.P. choice for the November election and that he clearly faces an uphill battle. Party operatives are plainly unhappy with his selection. In Massachusetts, where both Bush and Anderson defeated Reagan, party leaders are not yet reconciled to the Reagan candidacy. Says one: “There’s a vacuum of leadership at the national level; and what appears to be the Republican Party’s response? A 69-year-old man who has done virtually nothing for years."
Time Magazine, March 31, 1980
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMSNBC anchors attack Palin often. I don't recall Palin ever responding to anything said on that channel
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI'm afraid, in the past, Jim, that I have suffered from post-heading-pun-fatigue. This one, however, was fantastic. Forgive me.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseScarborough fare? Not music to my ears. I prefer the parsley, sage, rosemary and tyme; they are more pleasing to the senses. I can remember, though, when Opportunistic Joe was a conservative. Or pretended that he was.
Advice to Gov. Palin: Never get into a stinky contest with a skunk - the skunk has a huge advantage. And as for GOP establishment types preemptively trashing conservative women; did anyone notice that Christine O'Donnell's margin of defeat (after absolutely merciless 'friendly fire')was almost exactly the same as in the Connecticut Senate contest, and no one wrote Connecticut off ahead of time?
I'm not saying that Ms. O'Donnell was the best candidate for Delaware, only that we should let the conservative grass-roots (not the aging GOP dinosaurs who got us into this mess) decide who our candidates shall be.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI'm not sure about Scarborough's tone, but I tend to agree with Matt Lewis that his thesis deserves more consideration than its getting. Palin as a political promoter is free to avoid accountability; Palin as a presidential contender is not. The former Governor's leadership chops leave a lot to be desired, and I don't think she can survive an entire campaign on charm. While a public brawl of the kind Scarborough suggests would be a bad thing, Palin's flirtations with a '12 campaign set my teeth on edge. I'd appreciate the person who dissuaded her from going any further.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseJohn Galt - Brilliant. I adore Sarah Palin, she is one tough cookie (is that sexist?) I first fell in love with her, politically speaking, when they showed footage of her firing an M4 on an Alaskan National Guard training range. The woman could handle the weapon.
Compared to bubbling Biden and effeminate Obama, there is just no comparison.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseJoe who?
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse