On Thursday’s Morning Joe, MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski defended Dick Durbin, saying his claim that "Loretta Lynch...is asked to sit in the back of the bus on the Senate calendar" was "not race baiting."
Following a recap of Durbin’s comments, Brzezinski mentioned in passing that black Republican Senator Tim Scott charged Durbin with race baiting, which she mockingly dismissed without so much as a display of Scott’s comments. “Really?”
Brzezinski’s desperation to defend Durbin was so great that Joe Scarborough broke the 4th wall of liberal bias, declaring "We have the race baiting clip but we don't have the clip of the black Republican."
Mika cautioned Joe, "That was not race baiting."
To be fair to MSNBC, there may be no clip of Sen. Scott’s comments. According to Politico, they came from an interview. But even if there was a clip, Brzezinski might have been reluctant to show it, given that she did not even project the comments onscreen and read them aloud, as is the typical format on Morning Joe. Politico offered some of his comments:
"It is helpful to have a long memory and to remember that Durbin voted against Condoleezza Rice during the 40th anniversary of the March [on Selma]. So I think, in context, it’s just offensive that we have folks who are willing to race bait on such an important issue as human trafficking...Sometimes people use race as an issue that is hopefully going to motivate folks for their fight. But what it does, is it infuriates people."
As if omitting the bulk of the Republican’s opposition was not enough for Brzezinski, she proceeded to blame them for Durbin’s race charged attack: "I'm just saying the Republicans are opening themselves up to all of this. Name one attorney general that has taken longer to be confirmed, name one attorney general nominee that has a cleaner, more exemplary record than Loretta Lynch. On top of it they don't like Eric Holder, they want him out of there. This is politics. And quite frankly, they're opening themselves up to this."
So, she doesn’t understand the Republican strategy and this failure on her part makes them fair game for charges of racism? Thankfully, not everyone was as deep in the tank for Durbin. Mark Halperin of Bloomberg News insisted that Republicans shouldn’t "be using [Lynch’s] confirmation as a pawn" but also opined that "Dick Durbin shouldn't have said that."
Some of the transcript is below:
SEN. DICK DURBIN: Loretta Lynch, the first African-American woman nominated to be Attorney General is asked to sit in the back of the bus when it comes to the Senate calendar. That is unfair. It's unjust. It is beneath the decorum and dignity of the United States Senate.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Hours later, Senator
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Wow.
BRZEZINSKI: Tim Scott, the chamber's only black Republican hit back, accusing Durbin of race baiting. Really? But the holdup does raise questions.
SCARBOROUGH: Wait, wait, wait. We don't have that? We don't have that clip?
BRZEZINSKI: Wait a minute, you really don't want to see--
SCARBOROUGH: We have the race baiting clip, but we don't have the clip of the black Republican?
BRZEZINSKI: That was not race baiting.
SCARBOROUGH, accusing: Listen. We understand what this is about. And it's not about race...
BRZEZINSKI: I'm just saying the Republicans are opening themselves up to all of this. Name one attorney general that has taken longer to be confirmed. Name one attorney general nominee that has a cleaner, more exemplary record than Loretta Lynch. On top of it they don't like Eric Holder, they want him out of there. This is politics. And quite frankly, they're opening themselves up to this.
...
MARK HALPERIN: And Republicans, I don't think, should be using her confirmation as a pawn but I also think Dick Durbin shouldn't have said that.
