MSNBC Gets Stood Up by Senate Budget Chairman Kent Conrad
[Updated with video.] Where in the world was Kent Conrad? The Senate Budget Committee Chairman was supposed to appear on Thursday's Morning Joe program to dispute the idea that the Democrats are being irresponsible for not passing a budget in over 1000 days. Senator Conrad left viewers without a defensible argument, because he never showed up for the interview. [See video below. MP3 audio here.]
Hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski seemed clueless as nobody was on camera when they shot over to Capitol Hill for the interview. The irony of the Senator not showing up for an interview to defend the do nothing Senate from being labeled as irresponsible was so clear that the liberal cable network MSNBC couldn’t help itself. Even the left-leaning Brzezinski joked, “Maybe he’s looking for the budget.”
A slew of technicians came on screen in the shot, each of which were briefly mistaken to be Senator Conrad. Scarborough made a final attempt to get an answer from what turned out to be just another technician, stating “Let’s go back to Kent Conrad, he’s there now and we’ll figure out why they haven’t done a budget in a thousand days.” All we were left with was an empty shot of Capitol Hill and the literal sound of crickets. In the end, viewers got neither an answer nor a budget from a top Democrat in the Senate.
Here’s the transcript of today’s blunder:
Morning Joe
2/16/12
8:23:35
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Hey welcome back to "Morning Joe" you know what we've been talking about how democrats have gone 1,000 days without a budget.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Yes they have.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Let's get answers right now.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Nothing wrong with that.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Let’s go to Capitol Hill, we’re going to talk to the budget chairman.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Senator Kent Conrad
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Kent Conrad. By the way, Rolling Stone, my main man Paul is on the cover. Oh wait– TJ, do you have the wrong shot there?
TJ: It, um – This is the right shot.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: That’s the right shot?
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Well I don’t see him.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: He’s not there
TJ: Maybe he’s running late, I don’t know.
MIKE BARNACLE: He could be at Cardinals spring training
JOE SCARBOROUGH: I was looking for an answer to that question. Where’s the budget?
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Maybe he’s looking for the budget.
MIKE BARNACLE: No, I think he went to spring training.
TJ: Wait, there he is. Nope, my bad.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Oh wait, is that him? Excuse me Senator. Senator.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Turn around, congressman.
TJ: No, no, that’s not him.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: So, anyway, Paul McCartney on the cover of Rolling Stone, I’m always very excited about that. Paul’s fresh start.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Can we check one more time?
JOE SCARBOROUGH: There we go. Let’s go back to Kent Conrad, he’s there now and we’ll figure out why they haven’t done a budget in a – thousand days.
[Cricket noises]
JOE SCARBOROUGH: That, wasn’t him. Well Harold, we’re going to play act and you’re going to be the Democratic budget chairman now for the morning.
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Comments
Countrywide called...
Submitted by almostacowboy on Thu, 02/16/2012 - 2:25pm.
and he's in it for the do-re-me.
LOL
Submitted by Galvanic on Thu, 02/16/2012 - 2:50pm.
Excellent!
Was that a skit?
Submitted by EddieB on Thu, 02/16/2012 - 2:50pm.
Don't watch the show, but surely that was a skit. Did they really expect anyone to answer that question? I've been waiting a thousand days for someone in the adminstration to explain the lack of a budget.
This ought to be news every day. Heck I just thought of a t-shirt idea. Instead of "Where's the Beef" we need a "Where's the Budget" shirt. If anyone beats me to it, I want a share.
Obama is running against "the Do-Nothing Congress"
Submitted by Galvanic on Thu, 02/16/2012 - 2:51pm.
If they get specific about who in the Senate is doing nothing, the game is over.
do nothing...
Submitted by BrianS on Thu, 02/16/2012 - 2:51pm.
did nothing. what did they expect?
An interesting shot
Submitted by KornKing on Thu, 02/16/2012 - 3:18pm.
Why is it watching Bubbles here brings back memories of Les Nessman?
...these's a good joke in here somewhere
Submitted by vrwc13 on Thu, 02/16/2012 - 3:36pm.
Smoke and mirrors not adjusted right?
Teleprompter broken?
Dropped budget on way over, taking a long time to gather it all up?
obama is taking a second look between holes?
btw: what is a (Religion) Unitarian Universalist?
v
The burden of life is from ourselves, its lightness from the grace of Christ and the love of God. - William Bernard Ullanthorne
Much biblical material is mythical or legendary...
Submitted by vrwc13 on Thu, 02/16/2012 - 3:46pm.
...maybe that's what happened, the budget was reallly mythical and legendary. No wonder he didn't show up.
"We do not, however, hold the Bible – or any other account of human experience – to be either an infallible guide or the exclusive source of truth. Much biblical material is mythical or legendary." - Unitarian Universalist (Wiki)
v
The burden of life is from ourselves, its lightness from the grace of Christ and the love of God. - William Bernard Ullanthorne
Well
Submitted by KornKing on Thu, 02/16/2012 - 4:18pm.
There may be something out there
...the dog ate my budget!
Submitted by DumbCanuck on Fri, 02/17/2012 - 12:34am.
................
"There... Are... Four... Lights!"
Kiss Off
Submitted by CJohnson on Thu, 02/16/2012 - 3:37pm.
I thought Mika slept with her copy of the budget and was now intimately familiar with it. Why not have her tell us if she needed an abortifactint.
That's right, she made out
Submitted by Schofield Kid on Thu, 02/16/2012 - 8:50pm.
That's right, she made out with it the other day when it came out!! Maybe she should be on "my weird addiction" like that guy who has sex with his car....
Two words: bathroom
Submitted by Beukeboom on Thu, 02/16/2012 - 3:41pm.
Two words: bathroom emergency.
Bueller? Bueller?
Submitted by KyWriter on Thu, 02/16/2012 - 3:58pm.
Conrad? Conrad? This just shows the esteem the Democrats have for MSNBC. Useful idiots, but nobody important enough to make time for.
it was the perfect response
Submitted by c5then on Thu, 02/16/2012 - 4:26pm.
What else than an empty screen and the sound of crickets chirping could have been a more honest response to the pre-arranged question of why the Senate has not passed a budget in over 3 years?
Perhaps the only other response would have been for him to show up and respond " cause we didn't wanna".
Madison and Jefferson and Franklin built a Republic - Roberts killed it!
Being from North Dakota that
Submitted by goon on Thu, 02/16/2012 - 4:40pm.
Being from North Dakota that would be a good description of Kent Conrad who is an empty suit, an empty screen and crickets chirping... Good Riddance.
"Maybe he’s looking for the budget."
Submitted by LinTaylor on Thu, 02/16/2012 - 7:24pm.
Gotta give credit where credit's due, that was actually pretty funny.
Mika
Submitted by amyshulk on Fri, 02/17/2012 - 12:42am.
Yeah, but who is going to fill in for Mika tomorrow when she is "visiting the South of France"?
Ronald Reagan
I'm not an art historian obviously, but I remember a teacher
Submitted by drsamherman on Thu, 02/16/2012 - 8:50pm.
once saying a certain school of Asian art believed in partial images so the viewer's imagination could fill in the rest of the picture. Is this the Senate's version of Asian art? Just imagine a balanced budget is there?