Call it a liberal-media variation on "physician, heal thyself."
Joe Scarborough spent much of the first hour of today's Morning Joe pontificating about where the Democrats went wrong. His focus was not their tactical moves, but their broader failure to understand and connect with the American people regarding their concerns.
As if Scarborough—Democrat flunky that he has duly been—hasn't himself personified the very problems of which he complains? Captain Nantucket has his pulse on the working class? And now, in the wake of the Democrats' disaster, he dares to lecture the Dems about where they went wrong—without admitting and apologizing for his contribution to their defeat?
Huffed a haughty Scarborough:
"It's time for the Democrats to look in the mirror and figure out exactly what went wrong. We'll just see if they're self-aware enough to do it."
Making my Chanukah gift list now. Joe Scarborough: Mirror [make it a big one.] Point and laugh as Scarborough declares "I hate Monday morning quarterbacking here, I really do." Insincerity oozes from every pore.
Scarborough scolded the Kamala campaign for failing to respond to Americans' concerns about illegal immigration, and to that iconic ad showing Kamala, in her own words, expressing support for taxpayer-funded sex change surgery for inmates, including illegal immigrants.
Perhaps Scarborough can go back over the months and point to moments when he second-guessed Dem strategy. But overall, there has been no show more slavishly devoted to parroting Dem themes than Morning Joe. There's a reason why Joe Biden made Morning Joe his favorite show, calling on his staff to watch it, and becoming phone buddies with Scarborough.
And when others were calling out Biden's undeniable decline, it was Morning Joe who claimed that Ol' Joe was "sharp as a tack," and Scarborough himself saying "f-you" to people who don't believe this is "the best Biden ever."
Scarborough approvingly quoted Al Sharpton's criticism of the Democrats for being run by "beltway insiders." But what is Morning Joe other than a platform for an endless stream of such insiders, all spouting the same Dem talking points? Nary a dissenting Dem voice is heard. Let alone—heaven forbid—an actual Trump-supporting Republican.
In a final bit of utter obliviousness, Scarborough castigated Dems who suggest the party's strategy should be to "just say that Donald Trump is evil."
This from the man, and the show, whose stock-in-trade, whose virtually daily offering, has been to condemn Trump as a fascist, a "full-on Hitler," a would-be dictator, and an existential threat to Madisonian democracy. We called him "the king of Nazi analogies on TV."
Will Scarborough ever have the integrity to admit and apologize for his own failure to abide by the prescriptions he now loftily doles out to the Democrats? Don't bet the rent on it!
Here's the transcript.
MSNBC
Morning Joe
11/7/24
6:05 am ETJOE SCARBOROUGH: There were such transformational changes in this race yesterday. You know, Jonathan asked at the end of his show, where should Democrats go from here? I'd suggest France for a couple of weeks and think it over.
32% of Americans, only 32% of Americans who voted, identified themselves as Democrats. Donald Trump won, if I'm not mistaken, I think I saw this in Mike Allen's newsletter, one of three votes from people of color. And Donald Trump has put together a working-class coalition across racial lines that nobody has done in this country in over 50 years.
And so, yes, people need to look back at the campaign, and they need, they certainly should feel free to call out Donald Trump for all the things that he said that were shocking and deeply offensive.
But if you're a Democrat right now and think that's going to get you elected four years from now, it didn't get you elected a couple of nights ago. So again, it's time for the Democrats to look in the mirror and figure out exactly what went wrong.
And I think, Willie, you and I have been talking about it over the last four years or so. It shouldn't be really that hard for them to figure out exactly where they went wrong. We'll just see if they're self-aware enough to do it.
. . .
I hate Monday morning quarterbacking here, I really do . . . But, Jonathan Lemire, there was some reluctance to go there, to talk about the things that were concerning Americans, that really mattered this year. Illegal immigration, the mass border crossings. Yes, they put a bill out there, and, yes, that was good, but there wasn't anything more definitive on it than that. That was something that concerned Hispanic voters. That was something that concerned black voters. That is something that concerned all voters.
We will talk again, we've been talking about the transgender ad that we kept talking about on this show. Thirty thousand times it ran, over 30 million dollars. And kept talking about it, saying, this is going to be a problem in the three states that you need.
. . .
And yet, they just didn't respond to it, because they were afraid to respond to it, because it might offend some small subset of their base.
. . .
They have lost working class America. The question is, how long until they understand that this isn't just about tax cuts. This isn't just about economics. This is about cultural markers that matter greatly in these people's lives?
. . .
Whatever issue you want to talk about, you gotta be able to say it, and make sure that you're willing to stand up to the extremes in your party that are pushing an agenda that puts you, according to Reverend Al Sharpton, outside the mainstream of 80% of people, not only inyour party, but 95% of the people across America.
Let me quote Reverend Al Sharpton from right here this morning: "The Democratic party is led by beltway insiders and not people on the ground. I exist only as a civil rights leader, and I've lasted as long as I have, because there is a huge vacuum that must be filled."
And so,you're exactly right. It's, the beltway insiders are the people who are seen as out of touch with middle class, working class Americans.
. . .
I read in the New York Times today. And gain, people are going, what are they doing? Why don't they just say that Donald Trump is evil? Da-da-da-da.
You can do that if you want to lose for the next four years. You can do that if you want to lose for the next eight years.
