It wasn't exactly a mea culpa. But on today's Morning Joe, Scarborough did a modified walk-back of his strong criticism that we noted yesterday of campus protesters and the failure of administrators to discipline them, and how it will all lead to Biden losing in November.
Scarborough mentioned that after his comments yesterday, he had received critical comments from "well-intentioned" critics who said it was right to protest the Vietnam War, and right to protest Israel's war after the October 7 slaughter by Hamas. So he backtracked to suggest he only meant to mock rich white kids. [?]
I'm certainly not saying this of all the student protesters that are out there. And certainly not children of Palestinian families who have lost loved ones through the years in this war, in this conflict. I will say, though, among, again -- and I've spoken with some of them. I want to be careful.
But among these white, woke, pampered, elitist -- I'm not supposed to use that word. Let's say children from wealthy families that decide, as Dr. Brzezinski said so many years ago, that they're going to play radical for a weekend and then go home to Mommy and Daddy's mansion, there's a complete ignorance about the complexities of this issue.
Why did Scarborough single out "white," woke, elitists? Surely there are black and brown woke elitists who are cluelessly protesting on campus. Why does Scarborough give them a pass, hmmm?
Sounds like Scarborough is between the same rock and hard place as Biden: wanting to express solidarity with Israel, but without overly offending his left-wing base.
Willie Geist then came in repeated everything Scarborough just said. "You go, guy!" Both Scarborough and Geist stressed that they have been very critical of Netanyahu's handling of the war -- which would seem to be required at MSNBC.
To their credit, Scarborough and Geist did express that Jewish students don't feel safe on campus, and described how clueless many of the protesters are, with no understanding of the genocidal implications for Jews of "from the river to the sea," or of the generous two-state deal that Israel offered the Palestinians 2000, but which the Palestinians peremptorily rejected.
Here's the transcript.
MSNBC
Morning Joe
4/30/24
6:11 am EDTJOE SCARBOROUGH: I had a lot of nice, wonderful, well-intentioned people that watch this show, love this show, write me yesterday, and I wrote a lot of them back, called one or two back, saying, you know, Joe, the Vietnam war was a bad war, Joe; you were talking. And this Gaza thing, we understand the kids and what they're doing.
I understand, obviously, the protest to an unjust war. And we've, of course, been bitterly critical of Netanyahu's response in Gaza. So we understand all that. I'm curious what your thoughts are on -- and we're going to talk to Jonathan Greenblatt in one moment -- but how you balance that with not just outside agitators but also a rising sense of antisemitism on college campuses and social life.
And I will tell you, I know, I know first-hand from friends and family members that Jews are being pushed to the side socially. And, and that, that woke white girls and boys coming from elite families are telling their friends that they can't hang out with Jewish friends.
And I could go on. I've been -- and maybe one of the reasons I was engaged as I was yesterday is, I've been hearing about this now for three, four, five, six months. Where Jewish students don't feel safe on college campuses. And this isn't a bubble wrap or snowflake moment. This is people talking about genocide, screaming at them as they try to go to their English class on campus.
. . .
You know, Willie, the thing is, and I'm certainly not saying this of all the student protesters that are out there. And certainly not children of Palestinian families who have lost loved ones through the years in this war, in this conflict. I will say, though, among, again -- and I've spoken with some of them. I want to be careful.
But among these white, woke, pampered, elitist -- I'm not supposed to use that word. Let's say children from wealthy families that decide, as Dr. Brzezinski said so many years ago, that they're going to play radical for a weekend and then go home to mommy and daddy's mansion, there's a complete ignorance about the complexities of this issue. Now, of course, if you listen to the show, you would understand many of the complexities of this issue, because we have been really tough on Israeli officials that come on this show. We have asked why they've continued to allow illegal settlements in the West Bank over the decade. Why they have continued to fight against a two-state solution for peace. Why they have done what they have done in Gaza. Why they did with Hamas, why Netanyahu was Hamas' ally leading up to October the 7th.
So, it is very complicated. That's lost, though, in a lot of those things. And when you start talking about even West Bank settlements with a lot of these students, their eyes glaze over. They -- because that's not in the TikTok video. Again, I'm not saying this about all the students. But I will tell you, I'm saying it about a hell of a lot of students I have spoken with. When you go, well, you know, in 2000 there was an Oslo Accord where Bill Clinton had gotten together, and they were giving 97% of the West Bank to the Palestinians, and the other 3% they were going to make up with Israeli land. And they had figured out, you know, a capital in East Jerusalem.
And they sit there with their eyes glazed because they have no idea what happened in this peace process, what happened through the years. They just, they see something on TikTok, and they're like, Israel bad, and Hamas good. And they go out and they start shouting at Jews -- some.
WILLIE GEIST: Yeah, and you don't even have to go that deep. You can ask, what does it mean to chant, from the river to the sea, and they don't know. And then when you tell them what it is, and we've seen this from reporters asking some of them --again, not all of them. Some of them have a deep understanding of this -- they don't understand that that means the elimination of the State of Israel and the people who live within that state.
So, I've been having a lot of these same conversations as you, Joe. So if you watch our show, you know how critical we've been of Netanyahu, of the prosecution of the war. That we grieve and mourn for children and women who have been killed in this war, that are starving in this war. It's a terrible, terrible thing. But that does not give kids on college campuses license to chant, from the river to the sea, and to say that Jewish kids should not exist, in some cases, at Columbia, for example.
