President Jimmy Carter stopped by MSNBC’s "Morning Joe" on Monday March 24, and was immediately treated to a slobbering video montage courtesy of co-host Mika Brzezinski.
Brzezinski, whose father Zbigniew Brzezinski served as Carter’s National Security Advisor, narrated a five minute pre-taped segment highlighting her time in the White House. The segment ignored the negatives of the Carter Administration but was full of sappy pictures of a young Mika at the White House where she recalled that she “named my pet rabbit after the man who became the first president of Iran after the 1979 revolution, Bunny Sadr.” [See video below.]
The segment began with Joe Scarborough beaming at Carter before asking “When I met him, I didn't talk-- foreign policy and I looked at him and I said why do you keep getting younger? He keeps getting younger.” Mika then hyped How Carter’s “smile is so vibrant” before narrating how “We didn't always get it at the time but what we had was a front row seat to history and the 39th President of the United States.”
Mika’s obsession with the Carter Administration continued:
World events were my childhood. I named my pet rabbit after the man who became the first president of Iran after the 1979 revolution, Bunny Sadr. We took family vacations wherever my dad had to work like rural China and southern and very rural Ukraine. We even hosted the leader of China, Deng Xiaoping at our farmhouse in McClain.
My mom cooked and handled everything that night but there were many state dinners at the White House too where my mother put aside her art career and gracefully, while not so dutifully, pulled off the role of White House wife. She hated the rules of the Washington social bubble but thrived regardless as my father’s chief adviser.
The swooning over Carter didn’t end, as Brzezinski mentioned how, “In the eyes of a daughter the Carter White House culminated in the vision of her father receiving the Medal of Freedom from the leader of the free world. But to dad, jimmy Carter wasn't just the Commander in Chief. He was his confidant and his jogging partner.”
All of this occurred before the actual interview which was designed to help Carter push his latest book. The former president must have loved the free publicity courtesy of the folks at MSNBC. Mika’s segment with Carter followed a similar tone to that of her colleague Andrea Mitchell who on Sunday sucked up to the Georgia Democrat during an interview that aired on “Meet the Press.”
See relevant transcript below.
MSNBC
Morning Joe
March 24, 2014
7:22 a.m. Eastern
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Welcome back to "Morning Joe." Knowing President Carter is going to be here today brought back so many memories from your childhood, Mika.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: I know.
SCARBOROUGH: I’ve got to tell you though, it's a great honor to have the president here and I wanted -- we tried really hard. He's traveling all the time. Tried with his last book to have him here. He came here. When I met him, I didn't talk-- foreign policy and I looked at him and I said why do you keep getting younger? He keeps getting younger.
BRZEZINSKI: His smile is so vibrant. You know, as you all know, my father served as your National Security Adviser so I put together a look back at what it was like from my eyes seeing the two of you two work together. Take a look. That’s me along with my big brother Mark the future Ambassador to Sweden. My bigger brother Ian, a future Republican who would work for PresidentBush and my dad and mom at one of many White House events. We didn't always get it at the time but what we had was a front row seat to history and the 39th President of the United States. From a private dinner during John Paul II official visit to the U.S. in 1979 to hosting world leaders. Wherever Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter went there was Amy. Even to celebrate Secretary of State Cy Vance’s birthday onboard Air Force One. And if my dad was there, chances are he brought me. I had greasier hair than Amy Carter and I'm looking at a picture of me, her, and a security guard on a golf cart at Camp David. Please proceed and tell us the story.
ZBIGNIEW BRZEZINSKI: Well, the security guard was there by accident. But maybe historically involving divine foresight. Because you almost killed, I think, the Prime Minister of Israel.
BRZEZINSKI: Oh, Menachem Begin.
ZBIGNIEW: Yeah with that golf cart.
BRZEZINSKI: I hit him in the shins. It wasn't that bad.
ZBIGNIEW: You and Amy Carter so at least it wasn't just the Brzezinski clan involved.
BRZEZINSKI: It would have looked like you put me up to something.
ZBIGNIEW: The president's daughter was involved.
BRZEZINSKI: World events were my childhood. I named my pet rabbit after the man who became the first president of Iran after the 1979 revolution, Bunny Sadr. We took family vacations wherever my dad had to work like rural China and southern and very rural Ukraine. We even hosted the leader of China, Deng Xiaoping at our farmhouse in McClain. My mom cooked and handled everything that night but there were many state dinners at the White House too where my mother put aside her art career and gracefully, while not so dutifully, pulled off the role of White House wife. She hated the rules of the Washington social bubble but thrived regardless as my father’s chief adviser. And my dad will now concede he didn't follow all the rules of the west wing either. So let me ask you about the energy crisis where we, I think we had cars lining up at gas stations and I believe the White House had a policy at what level the air-conditioners could be at. Would you like to come clean?
ZBIGNIEW: Yes, I'll make a public confession.
BRZEZINSIKI: Please.
ZBIGNIEW: The president said the air-conditioning -- what are those things called? The units that activate them?
BRZEZINSKI: Yes, what is that?
ZBIGNIEW: Thermostat. Yes, at 80. In other words, air-conditioning couldn't go on until the temperature in the room crossed 80. So, of course, I respected the president's decision, but I merely placed a lamp on a little table underneath the thermostat, which I turned on because it helped me read my materials sitting near there. And, of course, the lamp created heat. Therefore, in my room, the thermostat was activated at 80 but 80 was reached so much earlier than otherwise was the case.
BRZEZINSKI: So you were surprisingly cool while the White House was a hot box?
ZBIGNIEW: Therefore more effective serving the president.
BRZEZINSKI: In the eyes of a daughter the Carter White House culminated in the vision of her father receiving the Medal of Freedom from the leader of the free world. But to dad, jimmy Carter wasn't just the Commander in Chief. He was his confidant and his jogging partner. I've got pictures of you jogging with the president.
ZBIGNIEW: He wrote on that picture when he gave it to me, he and I were really, if I may say so, it sounds impertinent, but also personal friends, I liked the guy, admired him and he was warm and he was funny. He wrote on this photograph, Zbig, at least once we are in step which is an illusion to the fact that in privacy, I would sometimes take a different position than his and then we would discuss it.
