Did Huma vet the questions in advance . . . or maybe write them? Talk about your weak, servile interview. This was pitiful. Given the chance to interview Hillary Clinton on today's Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski failed to ask a single tough question. Nothing about the email scandal. Nothing about the transcripts of her big-dollar speeches to Wall Street. Nothing about having lost seven of the last eight races to Bernie Sanders.
Instead, Joe and Mika lobbed a series of super-slow softballs. Examples: it must feel good to be back in New York and sleep in your own bed. Multiple questions as to whether Bernie is qualified to be president. Wondering whether Bernie should get out of the race [this the morning after he crushed her in Wisconsin]. Asking if Bernie is a Democrat. They might just as well have skipped the interview and read from Hillary's latest press releases. Joe and Mika squandered the opportunity to put Clinton to the test. A shame.
Mika even managed to get in a pitch for her heroine Elizabeth Warren to have an important place in a Hillary administration.
It was an absolutely embarrassing performance by Joe and Mika. If Joe knew they weren't going to be able to ask any tough questions, he should have declined to participate and just let Mika have a nice little Coffee Talk with Clinton.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Welcome home!
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: H-i-i-i-i-i!
JOES: You get to be home for two weeks!
HILLARY CLINTON: I can't believe it. I am so excited to be in New York!
MIKA: That's got to be a relief.
CLINTON: Sleeping in my own bed!
JOE: Oh my God: I know! To be able to sleep in your own bed has to be kind of a nice added benefit after all these months We've been talking about Bernie Sanders' New York Daily News interview. And I want to start with that. And ask you in light of the interview, in light of the questions he had problems with, do you believe this morning that Bernie Sanders is qualified and ready to be President of the United States?
CLINTON: Well, I think the interview raised a lot of really serious questions --
. . .
JOE: So is he, so is he, is he qualified? I know there are a lot of examples of where he came up short and the interviewers were having to repeat questions, so the question--and I'm serious!--if you weren't running today and you looked at Bernie Sanders, would you say, this guy is ready to be President of the United States?
. . .
JOE: But do you think he is qualified and do you think he is able to deliver on the things he is promising to all of these Democratic voters?
. . .
MIKA: How important are the members of the Bernie Sanders movement as you move forward and as you start to close this gap between you and him completely and rule him out as your opponent and win the nomination, how important is it to attract those voters? How do you intend to do that?
. . .
JOE: So is it time for Bernie Sanders to reach the same conclusion, the same very difficult conclusion that you had to reach in 2008, that I've made my point, I fought the good fight but now if I go forward, it's going to hurt the Democratic party? Is it time for Bernie Sanders to end his campaign, unite behind you so you can focus on Donald Trump or Ted Cruz?
CLINTON: Joe, I'm the last person who would tell anybody to walk away from a campaign
. . .
MIKA: I think the one area where Bernie Sanders is just pounding away, and he makes a good point, is about income inequality, the big banks. And then he kind of beautifully kind of creates a circle that actually brings criminal justice reform into the message, and people are really responding to that. And in some areas some may say you have a trust issue with that. How do you bridge that? How do you really gain the trust in those areas and [turns to Joe]--don't get mad at me-- but does Elizabeth Warren have a role in the Clinton White House?
JOE: Oh, my lord. She cannot get through an interview without bringing that name up.
MIKA: She has a vehicle for that, for that message.
CLINTON: Both of us really admire her. So I am looking forward to working with her closely.
. . .
JOE: Let me ask you one final question about Bernie Sanders. Is Bernie a Democrat? Do you consider Bernie a Democrat?
CLINTON: Well, I think he himself doesn't consider himself to be a Democrat.
