On Thursday, MSNBC’s Morning Joe began with the hacky hosts swooning over President Biden’s “ambitious” address to Congress and hailing his proposed socialist schemes to spend trillions of dollars to massively expand the size of government. The Democratic Party shills also deceptively cited viewer snap polls of the speech to claim the President’s radical agenda enjoyed support from “the overwhelming majority of Americans.”
“Well, it was sweeping, it was optimistic. It was very progressive, a very ambitious agenda that I think a lot of people on the left are going to like and others are going to be concerned with the price tag,” co-host Joe Scarborough proclaimed. Brushing aside those concerns over Biden’s wildly expensive plans, the anchor touted: “This address getting great initial reaction from, once again, the overwhelming majority of Americans.”
Co-host Willie Geist promoted polls from various liberal media outlets making it seem like Americans all agreed with Democrats wanting to bankrupt the nation and increase government power:
Yeah, as so much of his legislation, both passed and proposed, has overwhelming support from a majority of Americans. These are those initial polls, these are snap polls of course. President Biden’s address to Congress, in the latest CBS/YouGov poll, 85% of viewers approved of the President’s speech, 15% disapproved. The CNN/SSRS poll, 71% said the President’s speech made them feel optimistic about the country’s direction. In that CBS poll, 78% felt optimistic about America after listening to the President’s speech....73% said they would move the country in the right direction...
What he failed to mention was those were polls of people who actually watched the speech – a fraction of the U.S. population. In addition, the vast majority of viewers of presidential addresses tend to be of the same party of the president. The polls were basically just measuring what Biden’s biggest fans, partisan Democrats, thought of the speech.
Geist fawned over Biden presenting “a transformational agenda” and celebrated that the days of limited government were over:
But he told the Congress and he told the country that we are in the middle of four crises, as he laid it out. And it requires this kind of government action. That he’s going to step in and the era that began with President Reagan’s inaugural address, saying that government is the problem, officially ended last night.
The irony was that during live coverage of the address on NBC’s streaming service, Peacock, Wednesday night, Scarborough repeatedly applauded the speech as “Reaganesque.”
Scarborough agreed that the era of Reagan “did officially end last night,” before marveling: “...this was the most sweeping, progressive agenda that anybody has delivered before Congress, as a president. Maybe since LBJ in ’64 or ’65, maybe even more progressive and more ambitious than that agenda.” Brzezinski happily concluded that Biden wasn’t “a transitional figure,” she asserted: “I think transformational is what Joe Biden is setting out to do.”
Turning to liberal Washington Post columnist David Ignatius minutes later, Scarborough continued his cheerleading: “...Democrats are coming up with a grand, sweeping, breathtaking, and if you’re a small government conservative, very concerning agenda. But one that is overwhelming popular with the American people.”
Ignatius hailed the “transformational agenda” and touted: “The New York Times wrote in its story this morning that he’s trying to rewrite parts of the social contract in America.” He hoped that Biden would “govern over the heads of the Republican Party in Congress, to bet that the American people want and need the kinds of social changes that he’s talking about.”
Still living in a poll-based fantasy, Scarborough imagined Americans loved Biden’s big government power grab: “Again, you look at these numbers, after watching the speech, and these snap polls – only snap polls, only polls – 78% of Americans say they are optimistic about their country. We just – I don’t think I’ve seen those numbers actually since I’ve been in public life, for a quarter of a century.”
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Here is a full transcript of the April 29 coverage:
6:00 AM ET
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MIKA BRZEZINSKI: What did you think of the President’s address last night, Joe?
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Well, it was sweeping, it was optimistic. It was very progressive, a very ambitious agenda that I think a lot of people on the left are going to like and others are going to be concerned with the price tag. Myself and maybe one or two others on this set today may be concerned. But I think most Americans, Willie, despite what Tim Scott said in the Republican response about Joe Biden tearing America apart with his policies, they don’t agree with that assessment. They haven’t agreed with that assessment over the first 99 days of this administration. And if you look at the flash polls last night out by several organizations, they didn’t agree with that assessment last night. This address getting great initial reaction from, once again, the overwhelming majority of Americans.
WILLIE GEIST: Yeah, as so much of his legislation, both passed and proposed, has overwhelming support from a majority of Americans. These are those initial polls, these are snap polls of course. President Biden’s address to Congress, in the latest CBS/YouGov poll, 85% of viewers approved of the President’s speech, 15% disapproved.
SCARBOROUGH: Wow.
GEIST: The CNN/SSRS poll, 71% said the President’s speech made them feel optimistic about the country’s direction. In that CBS poll, 78% felt optimistic about America after listening to the President’s speech, 13% felt pessimistic when it comes to Biden’s policy proposals and his speech. 73% said they would move the country in the right direction, while 27% said it would move in the wrong direction. So again, those are just snap polls taken immediately after the speech last night.
But Joe, as we talked about on Peacock last night, he put out a transformational agenda. We knew that it was there, some of it as already passed. But he told the Congress and he told the country that we are in the middle of four crises, as he laid it out. And it requires this kind of government action. That he’s going to step in and the era that began with President Reagan’s inaugural address, saying that government is the problem, officially ended last night.
SCARBOROUGH: It did officially end last night. And Mika, this was – John Heilemann brought it up last night on Peacock, I think others agreed. Certainly this was the most sweeping, progressive agenda that anybody has delivered before Congress, as a president. Maybe since LBJ in ’64 or ’65, maybe even more progressive and more ambitious than that agenda.
BRZEZINSKI: Well, and a transitional figure, I don’t think so. I think transformational is what Joe Biden is setting out to do. And by the way, if you look at how – the metrics of his progress is that he always overshoots the runway, instead of underperforms. Look at the COVID shots, 100 million planned by the first 100 days, 220 is the result.
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6:05 AM ET
SCARBOROUGH: David Ignatius, we really did have a tale of two parties last night. And we have now for quite some time. Few would have guessed that Joe Biden would be the one that provided such a clear, ideological blueprint for his party, but that’s what history has revealed to us. And then you have the Republican response, which, again, a lot of jabs here, a lot of jabs there. But reminds me of that line from The Art of War, that tactics without strategy is just the noise before defeat. I fear for Republicans that’s what we continue to see, while Democrats are coming up with a grand, sweeping, breathtaking, and if you’re a small government conservative, very concerning agenda. But one that is overwhelming popular with the American people.
DAVID IGNATIUS: Joe, it’s fascinating, Biden is accelerating in this first hundred days. He was a more confident man last night than he was on inauguration day, in my judgment. This is a transformational agenda. And The New York Times wrote in its story this morning that he's trying to rewrite parts of the social contract in America. These are fundamental things. They’re going to have Democratic support, but I think that the essence of what Biden is trying to do is govern over the heads of the Republican Party in Congress, to bet that the American people want and need the kinds of social changes that he’s talking about. That they hunger for free community college, that they’re desperate for child care to help take care of their kids so they can go back to work more easily, and that they want to tax the rich more to pay for it. That’s the bet that Biden’s making.
I heard in the speech, the usual Biden offer to negotiate. He’s ready to talk, he’s got $4 trillion on the table. I can’t imagine that at the end of the day, that that’s the number that we’re going to end up with. So, I think, when you look at this speech and you think back four years ago to Trump’s discussion of American carnage, this is American optimism. This is something that is just at the heart of our politics, is that upbeat spirit. As Biden said, never bet against America, it’s always a losing bet. That was the basic premise. Instant polls say people like it. You know, we can be sure, as you know, Joe, Republicans on the Hill are not going to like it. So can he govern over their heads? That’s what I’m waiting to see.
SCARBOROUGH: Well, he certainly has so far, Willie. Again, you look at these numbers, after watching the speech, and these snap polls – only snap polls, only polls – 78% of Americans say they are optimistic about their country. We just – I don’t think I’ve seen those numbers actually since I’ve been in public life, for a quarter of a century.
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