On Friday's Velshi and Ruhle show, MSNBC co-hosts Ali Velshi and Stephanie Ruhle gave a forum to frequent MSNBC guest Kurt Bardella -- known for being a Republican who trashes his right-leaning former client Breitbart News -- so that he could discuss his decision to finally officially switch to the Democratic party.
The move will be no shock to those who have observed his appearances on MSNBC in which he has hyperbolcally claimed that the white racist rally in Charlottesville "is the Republican Party," and has even taken liberal policy positions on issues like gun control.
At 11:26 a.m. ET, after recalling the latest on Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore and the sexual molestation accusations against him, Velshi began to introduce the next segment: "The GOP's handling of that scandal -- the Roy Moore scandal -- has one Republican saying that's enough."
Referring to a piece in USA Today by Bardella, Ruhle added:
In a USA Today op-ed, Kurt Bardella -- a former spokesman for several Republican lawmakers and Breitbart News -- says Roy Moore is the last straw for him. He's switching over to the Democratic party. Kurt joins us now from Washington. Kurt, what exactly about the Roy Moore situation makes you want to switch parties?
After Bardella complained about the Republican National Committee supporting Moore in spite of the accusations against him, Velshi did manage to squeeze in one noteworthy point in that many Republicans are refusing to support Moore. Velshi:
The Republicans in the Senate -- almost every last one of them -- have distanced themselves from Roy Moore. They've said that, if he's elected, there are going to be challenges to him being seated, that he'll be investigated by the ethics committee where he will -- unlike the situation we have now, he will have to testify or at least speak under oath in a way that if he were to lie, would get him into trouble. Not all Republicans are supporting Roy Moore.
After Bardella responded, Ruhle followed up by switching the subject to Steve Bannon's role in the Republican party. It did not occur to anyone to ask whether Bardella is also changing his policy positions to fit the Democratic party -- or, given some of his commentary in the past -- was he already a liberal Republican anyway?
Additionally, it could also be pointed out that each major political party is prone to taking positions on sexual misbehavior or other corruption depending on whether they are the party in power, and, in another 20 years, there may be another Bill Clinton-type President that Democrats will make excuses for again as in the 1990s.
Below is a transcript of relevant portions of the Friday, December 8, Velshi and Ruhle on MSNBC:
11:26 a.m. ET
ALI VELSHI: The GOP's handling of that scandal -- the Roy Moore scandal -- has one Republican saying that's enough.
STEPHANIE RUHLE: In a USA Today op-ed, Kurt Bardella -- a former spokesman for several Republican lawmakers and Breitbart News -- says Roy Moore is the last straw for him. He's switching over to the Democratic party. Kurt joins us now from Washington. Kurt, what exactly about the Roy Moore situation makes you want to switch parties?
KURT BARDELLA: I think when you reach a point where the party leadership -- the President of the United States, the Republican National Committee -- would rather help elect someone who is a known child sex predator preying on teenagers at the local mall -- they would rather put that person in office than someone who is a prosecutor who went after the KKK and white-collar crime, Doug Jones, who happens to be a Democrat -- but they would rather put someone like Roy Moore in office than that just out of blind partisanship. That's a line that's gone too far for me.
VELSHI: But, Kurt, you know, the Republicans in the Senate -- almost every last one of them -- have distanced themselves from Roy Moore. They've said that, if he's elected, there are going to be challenges to him being seated, that he'll be investigated by the ethics committee where he will -- unlike the situation we have now, he will have to testify or at least speak under oath in a way that if he were to lie, would get him into trouble. Not all Republicans are supporting Roy Moore.
BARDELLA: Well, I think, you know, just the other day, when Mitch McConnell got asked about Roy Moore, he hedged his answer on that, so it's not so absolute. The Republicans who are now saying that, if he were to win, that they're not going to try to move to unseat him, that that may not be viable for them. And I don't see a whole lot of them going to Alabama campaigning for Doug Jones. I don't see a whole lot of them cutting checks to try to help Doug Jones.
I don't see any of them speaking out against the RNC and sending money and resources to them. Don't see any of them talking really about Donald Trump's relentless campaigning now on Twitter and in person for Roy Moore. So a lot of what bothers me is the collective silence, that after the initial stories broke and there was some outrage and reservations expressed, all of that kind of dissipated as time went on, as it looked more and more likely that Moore could win, all of those critics kind of went silent.
RUHLE: What does this mean for Steve Bannon? Steve Bannon has become increasingly more public and more powerful as sort of the renegade, but now you've got the RNC supporting Roy Moore, Steve Bannon supporting Roy Moore. Where is Steve Bannon in all of this? Does he want to stand with Mitch McConnell? He hates his guts?
[BARDELLA]
