Veteran journalist Tom Brokaw on Friday had some surprisingly tough words for rioting liberals at the campus of UC Berkeley, calling it “outrageous” that they would encourage violence over a speaker they didn’t agree with. Appearing on Morning Joe, Brokaw also heaped praise on Judge Neil Gorsuch as “distinguished” and wondered why Democrats were picking a fight.
Regarding the riots at Berkeley, Brokaw derided, “They go to one of the great universities in the world. They are privileged people at that university and they can't hear somebody who comes and has a message that is” unpopular. He scolded the protesters “I think it's outrageous, quite honestly.”
Brokaw also dismissed the idea of fighting Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee:
The fact is that this man has a very distinguished background in the judicial world. He has a doctorate from Oxford. He is — I have friends in the federal judiciary who don't agree with his philosophy, but say there is not a better judge in the federal circuit right now than him. So why pick that as a fight?
A partial transcript is below:
<<< Please support MRC's NewsBusters team with a tax-deductible contribution today. >>>
Morning Joe
2/3/17
7:30TOM BROKAW: Well, looking at Berkeley, which was just short of anarchy in my judgment, it was so reminiscent of what I was doing on that campus in 1966, ‘67, '68. I spent a lot of time on that campus.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Yeah.
BROKAW: They did, in fact, help the change of the rules about student participation and so on. But the violence that you see here only feeds the beast. It will only solidify the Trump followers in saying “These are not people that I want to be associated with. This is not how you respond.” And they are supposed to be — they go to one of the great universities in the world. They are privileged people at that university and they can't hear somebody who comes and has a message that is completely contrary to what anybody else wants to hear, but is allowed to speak that message on the campus? I think it's outrageous, quite honestly and I think it's contrary to what they are attempting to do.
7:31am ET
BROKAW: A lot of young people come to me and say, “I'm just outraged by what is going on.” I said, “Rage is not a policy.” That is my advice to them. You've got to figure out what you want to do. For example, there is going to be a big push back about Judge Gorsuch on the part of the Democrats. They are going to make that one of a testing places for them. The fact is that this man has a very distinguished background in the judicial world. He has a doctorate from Oxford. He is — I have friends in the federal judiciary who don't agree with his philosophy, but say there is not a better judge in the federal circuit right now than him. So why pick that as a fight? Because who are you going to get next? And what issues are you going to raise given the reality of where the Democrats are at this moment?
