Monday on Morning Joe, the conversation jumped from the DNC email scandal to Hillary Clinton’s VP Choice of Tim Kaine. Co-host Joe Scarborough insisted that the news on DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz and her inappropriate email etiquette “stepped on” the selection of Tim Kaine, but that didn’t stop the panelists from praising the pair as the first day of the Democratic National Convention kicked off in Philadelphia.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Also I’ve got to say this stepped on -- there were so many things that stepped on what Trump wanted people to talk about. But this stepped on—
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Tim Kaine!
SCARBOROUGH: —the selection of Tim Kaine. Now, we may, some people in here may disagree. I think Tim Kaine is about as good of a choice –
BRZEZINSKI: He’s awesome.
SCARBOROUGH: —as Hillary Clinton could have made. [Applause around tavern] This is a guy –
BRZEZINSKI: Puts me over the top.
Co-host's Scarborough and Brzezinski went on to tout the achievements of Senator Kaine, pointing out his time as Mayor of Richmond and Governor of Virginia which qualify him as the “perfect device” to make Donald Trump look “irrational and crazy.” Yet, even Senator Sanders expressed disappointment in the pick, suggesting he would have preferred Elizabeth Warren who is more aligned with his ultra-progressive ideology.
While those who continue to “feel the Bern” aren’t thrilled with Kaine, that didn’t stop Bloomberg politics editor John Heilemann from declaring Clinton and Kaine to be the “most qualified ticket in history.”
JOHN HEILEMANN: Three things that are true. One is, between him and Hillary Clinton, this is the most qualified ticket in terms of sheer resume that’s ever run on either ticket in the history of the election. The second thing is Tim Kaine is a tough street fighter. He has never lost an election in all those ones he won—
BRZEZINSKI: But also the sweetest guy.
HEILEMANN: —not lost one, very nice guy, but also really tough politician. And the third was I was down in Miami for that event. The contrast between the body language and the chemistry between Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine and Donald Trump and Mike Pence could not be more dramatic.
Heilemann rounded out his rant by expressing excitement that Clinton and Kaine will just look “fantastic” when they campaign together after the convention. For weeks now many on the left have accused Kaine of being the most boring and “vanilla” choice for VP, yet somehow overnight he has miraculously risen to the status of a “tough street fighter.”
Liberals exaggerating their own success is nothing new, but to say Clinton and Kaine are the “most qualified ticket in the history of the election” is a gross mischaracterization of the pair.
View Full Transcript Here:
07-25-16 MSNBC Morning Joe
06:18:05 AM – 06:21:08 AMJOE SCARBOROUGH: This whole argument that if this had happened to Republicans the press would go wild. Well guess what, the press is going wild.
SAM STEIN: It did!
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: We’re going wild!
SCARBOROUGH: And by the way, we're using the entire first block on what is the news.
BRZEZINSKI: What is the DNC chair.
SCARBOROUGH: Also I’ve got to say this stepped on -- there were so many things that stepped on what Trump wanted people to talk about. But this stepped on—
BRZEZINSKI: Tim Kaine!
SCARBOROUGH: —the selection of Tim Kaine. Now, we may, some people in here may disagree. I think Tim Kaine is about as good of a choice –
BRZEZINSKI: He’s awesome.
SCARBOROUGH: —as Hillary Clinton could have made. [Applause around tavern] This is a guy –
BRZEZINSKI: Puts me over the top.
SCARBOROUGH: This is a guy who fought as a civil rights lawyer. He went to Honduras fighting for civil rights. Worked with Jesuit priests.
MIKE BARNICLE: Jesuit missionaries.
BRZEZINSKI: Fluent in Spanish.
SCARBOROUGH: He was a Jesuit missionary in Honduras. The guy has been DNC chair, and he did it right. He's been a senator. He's been a governor of a swing state. A mayor. I'm telling you, and they're going to attempt to make Donald Trump look irrational and crazy. Tim Kaine—
BRZEZINSKI: Two governing partners.
SCARBOROUGH: —is a perfect device to do that. I think it was a home run. I know a lot of Progressives—
BRZEZINSKI: Totally.
SCARBOROUGH: —don't think so, but if you want to keep Donald Trump out of the white house, hard to find a better selection than that, Willie.
WILLIE GEIST: Yeah well I mean, Progressives were always going to poke holes if it wasn't Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders. That’s who they wanted, you see those protests, I understand that completely, but the argument that he's vanilla, which John Oliver kind of had fun with last night, papers over the fact that he has incredible credentials and he’s also good with the press and he has all these things that make him a good antidote and good leavening agent to Hillary Clinton.
SAM STEIN: I think it’s the stylistic thing right, they wanted vanilla for the contrast it creates with Trump. It's a roll of a dice in some respects because a lot of people said we want someone to put the [inaudible] in we want someone to attack him. What Clinton has decided is in fact the contrast with Trump is more important than the attack dog.
SCARBOROUGH: And, by the way, he should not try to be an attack dog. He should be himself. And the contrast will be pretty overwhelming, not just between himself and Trump, but between himself and 90% of people in Washington.
JOHN HEILEMANN: Three things that are true. One is, between him and Hillary Clinton, this is the most qualified ticket in terms of sheer resume that’s ever run on either ticket in the history of the election. The second thing is Tim Kaine is a tough street fighter. He has never lost an election in all those ones he won,
BRZEZINSKI: But also the sweetest guy.
HEILEMANN: --not lost one, very nice guy but also really tough politician. And the third was I was down in Miami for that event. The contrast between the body language and the chemistry between Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine and Donald Trump and Mike Pence could not be more dramatic.
BRZEZINSKI: And on 60 Minutes yeah.
STEIN: Trump didn’t even stay on stage when Pence spoke.
HEILEMANN: These two like each other. They're happy to be campaigning together.
BRZEZINSKI: She's relaxed.
HEILEMANN: They're relaxed around each other. It's comfortable.
BRZEZINSKI: She’s got a partner.
HEILEMANN: I don't think Donald Trump and Mike Pence may ever see each other again for the rest of the campaign. These two are going to be on a bus tour in the rust belt immediately after this convention. They're going to look fantastic together.
