He is a former republican congressman who left office under mysterious circumstances (more on that in a minute) and now co-hosts a sometimes popular inside the beltway political talk show on cable television.
This is what he said about the Hillary Clinton e-mail scandal earlier today as described by Tommy Christopher over at Mediaite:
'"I know people have raised questions about my e-mail use and I understand why, I get it. So here’s what I want the American people to know. My use of personal e-mail was allowed by the State Department. It clearly wasn’t the best choice. I should have used two e-mails, one personal, one for work, and I take responsibility for that decision.'
Again, think what you will about the “scandal” — take Hillary’s sober tone with a grain of salt, if you’d like — but this was pretty clearly an attempt to make a dent in moving the trustworthiness numbers that have so many people worried.
Or, if you’re Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough, this is clearly an attempt by Clinton to cover up the email “scandal” with the corpses of the two journalists who were murdered on live television yesterday, because… well, just because:
“I hate to tell the truth, but I’m going to tell the truth. I’m going to say it on the air. The timing of this was suspect at best. When they knew that cable news networks would be 24/7 on a horrible news story. come on, you know it was planned to be dropped this way. This is how campaigns think.”Well, he got one thing right, Joe Scarborough really does hate to tell the truth. After that, it’s nonsense because, as Mark Halperin pointed out, Hillary didn’t “drop” even a milligram of new information or admission. I’d like to give Halperin more credit here, but the appropriate response here is “Are you an insane person?” not “I disagree with you about the timing.”
But as Halperin also pointed out, the idea was for Clinton to evince a more serious attitude toward the story in an effort to move beyond the email issue, the entire point of which would be to let people know that she is taking a more serious and sober attitude toward the email issue. Scarborough is essentially accusing the Democratic candidate of trying to use the murders to distract people from the thing she really wants them to know, and/or things she has already said many times. It’s the answer to the question “Could God create a take so hot, it would burn Him?”
Beyond being really stupid, though, this is the kind of sick thinking you’d expect to find in the recesses of Alex Jones‘ comments section, not on the air of a major cable news network. This is the show that’s on every television in Washington, D.C., every morning, and its host just accused Hillary Clinton of political necrophilia. Scarborough should apologize, at the very least." [Source]
He won't because he doesn't have to. Americans, no matter how "educated", do not have the ability to differentiate between logical thought and over the top hyperbole for the sake of ratings or a sound bite lead.
So this too shall pass, and the Clinton legend, thanks to people like Joe Scarborough, will continue to grow. This might not rise to the level of the Vince Foster suicide to the black helicopter crowd, but it certainly adds to the narrative.
The irony of a guy like Joe Scarborough going into these dark places is that he has some alleged skeletons hiding in that closet of his as well.
"That state of affairs came to a screeching halt in July of 2010, when Moulitsas found himself summarily blacklisted from MSNBC. His offense? Mentioning, on Twitter, the strange, sad story of Lori Klausutis, the intern who was found dead in Joe Scarborough’s office when the “Morning Joe” host was still a Republican congressman.
Here’s their exchange:
Markos: Like story of a certain dead intern. RT @JoeNBC: Luckily for the White House, the media has been negligent on this story since Day 1.Markos: But if you want to talk about bullshit “scandals”, @JoeNBC, there’s this one about Joe Sestak and the White House you might’ve heard of.JoeNBC: @markos Unbelievable. You have a long history of spreading lies suggesting I am a murderer. This is the 3rd or 4th time by my count.Markos: @JoeNBC, I’ve never suggested you’re a murderer. I’ve noted media hypocrisy in going after Gary Condit. But he was Dem. You aren’t.JoeNBC: Anyone in media who interviews @markos, know that you’re extending your credibility to someone who regularly suggests that I’m a murderer.Markos: A bit touchy, @JoeNBC? Links for where I accuse you of being a murderer please.
After this happened, MSNBC president Phil Griffin wrote to Moulitsas to say that he was banned from the network. It was one of the more bizarre pieces of cable news weirdness in history. It was also one in a long line of mini-wars Joe Scarborough has waged in an effort to stop getting people to insinuate that he killed his intern." [Source]
I guess those "rumors" and innuendos can go both ways.
*Pic from mediamatters.org
