On Tuesday’s Morning Joe, host Joe Scarborough hammered liberal New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio for “allowing a homeless epidemic to start spreading across New York again.”
The MSNBC host argued that the de Blasio policy of allowing homeless to sleep on the streets was ridiculous just because “some left-winger thinks that this is more humane. No, let them just sleep on grates. No, let them sleep in Central Park where they can get beaten up. I mean, this is misguided liberalism at its worse.”
Scarborough’s comments came in response to an earlier discussion on de Blasio’s efforts to crack down on topless individuals walking around Times Square which the MSNBC host argued should be the least of the mayor’s concerns:
Hey, let’s talk about some things that de Blasio should be worried about more than two or three women who paint themselves and walk around if Times Square? Have we noticed what's happening to the city? Have we noticed that we have people now coming up, the squeegee’s are coming out, I swear to God the squeegees will be coming out in the next month or two. The homeless are all over the city—
Scarborough dismissed de Blasio’s claim that the increased number of homeless on the streets of New York was a result of cuts to the homeless budget:
This isn't driven by people being in worse shape today than they were in 2009, or New York's economy is being in worse shape. This is because Bill de Blasio, is what, trying to be more humane? Does somebody believe that exposing people outside and being outside in a dangerous situation is more humane?
The MSNBC host continued to hammer de Blasio for choosing to run New York like a social experiment and wondered how long the city’s liberal residents will put up with its decline:
I wonder how long New York City is going to put up with Bill de Blasio. We can elect liberals that actually give-a-damn about the quality of life here, aren't busy trying to turn this city into a social experiment.
While Brzezinski accused him of spewing harsh rhetoric in the direction of de Blasio, Scarborough pushed back and claimed that her statement was just “politically correct” before he told the mayor to go “run his social experiments somewhere else”:
When Bill de Blasio's administration is telling police officers that, and see nobody has the guts to say anything. So we're saying something about it. And you’re telling me don't spew, you know what you’re just like those people that say don't talk about Hillary's e-mail, it's not politically correct. You are being that way.
There are a lot of New Yorkers, a lot of liberal New Yorkers that are sick and tired of this happening with Bill de Blasio and he can run his social experiments somewhere else. He can go to Philly if he wants to run them, you don't do it in New York City.
See relevant transcript below.
MSNBC’s Morning Joe
August 25, 2015
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Hey, let’s talk about some things that de Blasio should be worried about more than two or three women who paint themselves and walk around if Times Square? Have we noticed what's happening to the city? Have we noticed that we have people now coming up, the squeegee’s are coming out, I swear to God the squeegees will be coming out in the next month or two. The homeless are all over the city—
MIKE BARNICLE: Increasingly so.
SCARBOROUGH: Increasingly so. All through Central Park, they’re all on the upper West Side, any by the way if anybody is watching and saying, oh Joe is such a mean person? No, I don't live here most of the time anymore, but this is what it looked like in the ‘80s and the '70s, we're moving back to that direction. And if anybody thinks it is more humane for somebody to sleep outside exposed than to sleep in the shelters that we have all around the city, then they don't understand the case.
I have no idea why Bill de Blasio, and I don't know if the police commissioner has anything to do with this, but why they are allowing a homeless epidemic to start spreading across New York again? I've had a lot of friends saying they're going to move out if this continues.
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SCARBOROUGH: And by the way, I'm not offended by it. No, no, no, let's not be politically correct here.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: I’m not being politically correct.
SCARBOROUGH: Let's talk about what's best for the people who are exposed sleeping on grates because some left-winger thinks that this is more humane. No, let them just sleep on grates. No, let them sleep in Central Park where they can get beaten up. I mean, this is misguided liberalism at its worse. And I wonder how long New York City is going to put up with Bill de Blasio. We can elect liberals that actually give-a-damn about the quality of life here, aren't busy trying to turn this city into a social experiment. I love this city. I love New York City. I absolutely love it. I have been here for the better part of ten, 11, 12 years.
What happened to New York City from 1993 to 2012 is nothing short of a miracle. It's one of the greatest governmental miracles that's ever happened in the past 200 years. It's unbelievable. Anybody that lived in New York City in 1989 knows exactly what I'm talking about. This isn't about politics. It's about how this city and the residents of this Amazing city turned themselves around and how people now look to New York City with love and admiration, especially after 2001. New Yorker Mark Halperin?
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SCARBOROUGH: And I think that's the biggest danger, Mike, you don't want people who are mentally ill, forget about for the children that walk past them, or the elderly that walk past them, you don't want the mentally ill out on the street for the sake of the mentally ill.
BRZEZINSKI: I don't think that's what the billion dollars is for, to put them out on the street.
SCARBOROUGH: No, the billion dollars is to actually take care of them and treat them. But when you have Bill De Blasio making sure that beat cops are told just leave them alone, we can't do anything, let them lie there in front of the school. When Bill de Blasio's administration is telling police officers that, and see nobody has the guts to say anything. So we're saying something about it. And you’re telling me don't spew, you know what you’re just like those people that say don't talk about Hillary's e-mail, it's not politically correct. You are being that way.
BRZEZINSKI: I am not. I am saying he should come in.
SCARBOROUGH: There are a lot of New Yorkers, a lot of liberal New Yorkers that are sick and tired of this happening with Bill de Blasio and he can run his social experiments somewhere else. He can go to Philly if he wants to run them, you don't do it in New York City.
