In the wake of Lucy Flores' accusation of inappropriate touching by Joe Biden, Morning Joe has wrapped Biden in a warm embrace, metaphorically nuzzling his neck and planting a big warm kiss on the top of his head.
On Monday's show, Joe Scarborough and former Hillary campaign aide Adrienne Elrod rose first to support good old Uncle Joe. Then came Mika Brzezinski with a more explicit defense of Biden's creepy behavior. Yes, Brzezinski acknowledged, Biden is "extremely affectionate and flirtatious." But it's in a "completely safe way." She suggested that Flores had misconstrued Biden's behavior, and ended by claiming that Biden never "meant anything from it except to be nice, to be kind."
Here's Brzezinski:
He is extremely affectionate, extremely flirtatious, in a completely safe way. I am sure that somebody can misconstrue something he's done. But as much as I can know what's in anyone's heart, I don't think there's a bad intent on his part at all. And I read the account, and I was like, yeah, that's [chief?] Biden. But never thought for a second that he meant anything from it except to be nice, to be kind.
So Brzezinski thinks Flores was wrong to feel "uneasy and gross" that Biden got so physically personal with her? Maybe she would have understood in similar circumstances that it was just good old Joe doing his thing. But Flores, who had never met Biden before, had no reason to think that it was anything other than it appears: a powerful old politician using his position to cop a feel from a much younger woman.
But how nice for Biden that Morning Joe has his back.
Here's the transcript.
MNSBC
Morning Joe
04/1/19
6:20 am EDTJOE SCARBOROUGH: Mika, what do you think? I know you weren't incredibly pleased with what you saw this weekend: the attacks of [sic, presumably 'on'] Joe Biden.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Well you know, I think this is a very extensive and careful conversation that we need to have. Coming up we got a three-hour show, we can have it here. We'll play the comments that Lucy Flores made to Kasie Hunt last night. Take a look at those and listen. I don't -- is it an assault? I'm not sure what she was describing, so we'll listen, and try and understand where this conversation goes from here.
There's a lot of things I know about Joe Biden, and I've known him for a long time. He is extremely affectionate, extremely flirtatious, in a completely safe way. I am sure that somebody can misconstrue something he's done. But as much as I can know what's in anyone's heart, I don't think there's a bad intent on his part at all. And I read the account, and I was like, yeah, that's [chief?] Biden. But never thought for a second that he meant anything from it except to be nice, to be kind.
