There's a new liberal sheriff in town, and his name is Joe Scarborough.
Sheriff Joe is on the lookout for any media varmints billed as liberal, but who ain't liberal enough to suit Scarborough's standards. We saw Sheriff Scarborough in action on today's Morning Joe.
When Mika Brzezinski referred to Harold Ford, Jr. as "the lone liberal co-host of Fox News show The Five, Scarborough cut Mika off:
"Wait. Wait a second. Now, Harold. Willie, if you agree with both sides, you're not liberal, right? Harold's like -- he's just an agreer, right? [Imitating Ford] Here I agree with your side, I agree--"
Mika stood up for Ford, a former Morning Joe regular. "No. He very smartly brings in his side by being kind to both sides. Do not mistake that." Sneered Scarborough: "I'm not mistaking anything."
The agreeable Willie Geist -- not known for stirring up controversy himself -- did a Ford imitation, saying:
"I agree with everything Harold said. I agree with everything you said. And I agree with everything Mika said." Willie added that he had seen Ford last night, and "I love that man."
Scarborough certainly can't be accused of not being liberal enough. Joe's such a Biden toady that he devotes virtually every show to defending his boy and tearing down Trump. So much so that it was recently revealed that Biden is "obsessed" with Scarborough's show, that the two Joes, Biden and Scarborough, have become frequent phone buddies, and that Scarborough has become an informal Biden adviser.
Note: During his days as a Congressman from Tennessee, Ford had a solidly liberal record. For example, he received a 94% rating from the hyper-liberal teachers' union, the NEA; a 78% rating from Planned Parenthood; and 80% from the radical-left Americans for Democratic Action.
As for Scarborough, back before he quit Congress five months into his fourth term as a Republican congressman representing a district in Florida's conservative panhandle, Joe had a strongly conservative record. But that was before he hitched his star to MSNBC, and transmogrified into Joe Biden's biggest media booster--and enforcer against any supposedly liberal media types who aren't liberal enough for Scarborough's liking.
And whereas Mika described Ford as the "lone liberal" on The Five, after Scarborough finished swiping at Harold, Mika played a clip of a second liberal co-host on The Five's panel--Jessic Tarlov. She cheered Dem Rep. Jamie Raskin as "spot on" in claimig that the Biden impeachment inquiry is toast.
And for good measure, Scarborough again aimed his insult machine at House Investigations Committee chairman James Comer. Back in October, we caught Scarborough claiming that Arnold The Pig from the 60s sitcom Green Acres "would do a better a better job than James Comer." Today, Scarborough fantasized about Arnold The Pig as Comer's chief counsel, whispering in his ear.
Note that the Democrats on The Five are actual Democrats. Ford might not be the most partisan guy, but Tarlov definitely has a hard Dem edge. And neither are known to take shots at their fellow Dems.
Contrast Ford and Tarlov with what we like to call "MSNBC Republicans" -- the likes of Michael Steele and Charlie Sykes, who can be counted on to trash Republicans in general—and Trump in particular.
Here's the transcript.
MSNBC
Morning Joe
2/22/24
6:26 am ETKEN DILANIAN: What's really at issue here is, when did the FBI, when did the Justice Department, when did Congress start to understand that this informant not only was maybe unreliable, but was actually, you know, a fabulist who made up all kinds of things, and was also talking to Russian intelligence? That is a big deal, that's a momentous development.
MIKA BRZEZINSKIl: So, a lot of this constant twisting and turning, wherever the disinformation leads you, lands on Fox News. The lone liberal co-host of Fox News, the show 'The Five' --
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Wait. Wait a second. Harold, I don't know -- Willie, if you agree with both sides, you're not liberal, right? Harold's, like, he's just an agreerer, right?
MIKA: No-o-o-o.
SCARBOROUGH: Well, no. [Supposedly imitating Ford] Here I agree with your side. I agree with you guys.
MIKA: He very smartly brings in his side by being kind to both sides. Do not mistake that.
SCARBOROUGH: I'm not mistaking anything. What do you think about our friend Harold? What is he? He's an agreer.
WILLIE GEIST: [Facetiously imitating Ford] I would just say, I agree with everything Harold said. I agree with everything you said. And I agree with everything Mika said right there.
By the way, I saw Harold last night. I love hat guy.
MIKA: What Harold does, he goes, I respect what you say. I respect what you say. But here's what I think.
