Two weeks to the day after slamming FNC’s Bill Sammon for saying that the media "hate the Tea Parties almost as much as they hate Sarah Palin," as if the word "hate" were an outrageous choice of words, MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough on Tuesday’s Morning Joe used the same word as he asserted that President Obama should have tried sooner to work with moderate Republican Senator George Voinovich because the Ohio Republican "hates" Republicans more than Obama does. Scarborough: "We’ve been saying here on the set for probably six months now that Voinovich, if the President would work with Voinovich, he hated Republicans more than Obama hates Republicans."
Notably, Scarborough even contradicted himself, without seeming to realize it, on the February 9 show, as the MSNBC host used the word "hated" to describe the press attitude toward Palin when she was first introduced to the public by John McCain in 2008, even while he was railing against Sammon's use of the same word. Scarborough:
And, by the way, we called out the media when they attacked her without even knowing who she was. And we said they hated her in the press early on without knowing her because she was a pro-life woman. Now, did they get past that and start reporting on her down the middle? They tried. But again, they don't hate her. I don't think they under-, a lot of people don't understand somebody from Wasilla who hunts, who is pro-life. There is a cultural gap. But to just say that they hate...
Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Tuesday, February 23, Morning Joe on MSNBC, from about 6:08 a.m.:
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: A $15 billion job creation bill, as we just mentioned, is moving forward in the Senate after a rare bipartisan breakthrough, ending months of congressional gridlock. The support of five Republicans, including the Senate’s newest member, gave Democrats enough votes to break a GOP filibuster. Senator Scott Brown, who was sworn in three weeks ago, was joined by Senators Snowe, Collins, Voinovich and Bond.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Hey, I just, really quickly, look at, keep those faces up there. And we’ve been saying here on the set for probably six months now that Voinovich, if the President would work with Voinovich, he hated Republicans more than Obama hates Republicans. And I really think it’s been a missed opportunity not to get Collins, Snowe, and Voinovich together on a team that could help – again, for the President politically whether I support the bills or not.
