Less than a week after suggesting his own parents "are crazy," Scarborough criticized Obama for purportedly "throw[ing] his grandmother under the bus"
SUMMARY: Responding to Barack Obama's comment, made in his March 18 speech addressing controversial statements by Rev. Jeremiah Wright, that his white grandmother had "uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes," Joe Scarborough said: "I really wonder why anybody, why any man, would throw his grandmother under the bus during a political speech regardless of the point he was trying to make." But last week, Scarborough said that "we all have people that we love dearly who are crazy," adding, "Do not hold me accountable for things that my father has said in the past ... or for e-mails ... that my mother sends me. ... And again, Mom and Dad, I love you. I'm just making a bigger point."
On the March 19 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe, co-host Joe Scarborough criticized Sen. Barack Obama for the following remark Obama made during a March 18 speech on race and politics: "I can no more disown [former Trinity United Church of Christ pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright] than I can my white grandmother -- a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe." Scarborough said of Obama's comments, "I really wonder why anybody, why any man, would throw his grandmother under the bus during a political speech regardless of the point he was trying to make." But on the March 14 edition of Morning Joe -- a nationally broadcast cable news show -- while discussing Obama's relationship with Wright, Scarborough said that "we all have people that we love dearly who are crazy." He added, "Do not hold me accountable for things that my father has said in the past ... or for emails ... that my mother sends me," and concluded, "And again, Mom and Dad, I love you. I'm just making a bigger point."
Prior to airing the portion of Obama's speech that he criticized on the March 19 Morning Joe, Scarborough asserted that "a progressive journalist that we all know," had "emailed me during the middle of the speech saying, 'I cannot believe he just threw his grandmother under the bus to make a political point.' "
During a later segment, after co-host Mika Brzezinski noted that Scarborough "had some concerns" about Obama "invoking his grandmother," Scarborough said, "I just don't know that I'd throw my grandmom under the bus under any circumstances." Brzezinski responded, "You know what? My grandmother had similar fears, and made comments that would not be --." Scarborough interrupted, saying "I would ask you not to throw your grandmother under the bus." Brzezinski replied, "I love my grandmother," adding, "I'm telling you that these are generations that develop over time, and I don't know, I don't really have an issue with it."
From the March 19 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe:
SCARBOROUGH: So let's listen to him. At this point, and this is, I must tell you, there was actually a progressive journalist that we all know, a very important journalist who emailed me during the middle of the speech saying, "I cannot believe he just threw his grandmother under the bus to make a political point." I'm going to show you this clip, and where he says he can't disown Reverend Wright any more than he can disown his grandmother.
OBAMA [video clip]: Not once in my conversations with him have I heard him talk about any ethnic group in derogatory terms, or treat whites with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy and respect. He contains within him the contradictions -- the good and the bad -- of the community that he has served diligently for so many years. I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can disown my white grandmother -- a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who pass her by on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe. These people are part of me. And they are part of America, this country that I love.
SCARBOROUGH: OK, first of all, his grandmother being afraid of African-American men walking near her on the street? That's just what [Rev.] Jesse Jackson said in the past, and got in trouble for saying that. There's his grandmother, the woman that helped raise him, I really wonder why anybody, why any man, would throw his grandmother under the bus during a political speech, regardless of the point he was trying to make. We can all talk about our grandparents, but I think we probably wouldn't.
[...]
BRZEZINSKI: Tim [Russert], what did you think about him invoking his grandmother? Joe had some concerns about that. Sort of engaging -- talking about their diversity, literally, between the races, but also their diverse fears between the races.
SCARBOROUGH: I just don't know that I'd throw my grandmom under the bus under any circumstances.
BRZEZINSKI: You know what? My grandmother had similar fears and made comments that would not be --
SCARBOROUGH: I would ask you not to throw your grandmother under the bus.
BRZEZINSKI: I love my grandmother.
SCARBOROUGH: OK.
BRZEZINSKI: I'm telling you that these are generations that develop over time, and I don't know, I didn't have an issue with it.
From the March 14 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe:
BRZEZINSKI: And I think it's OK for Barack Obama to have a relationship with somebody in the religious community or in the foreign policy community and not completely agree with them.
[crosstalk]
SCARBOROUGH: Right.
TUCKER CARLSON (MSNBC senior campaign correspondent): That's fair.
SCARBOROUGH: I do, too.
BRZEZINSKI: So I think the question will be exactly how they proceed from here.
SCARBOROUGH: But see, Tucker, that's a problem.
BRZEZINSKI: It will be fascinating to me.
SCARBOROUGH: That's a problem, Tucker, though, isn't it? That, we all, we all have people that we love dearly who are crazy.
CARLSON: Yes. I do.
SCARBOROUGH: And who have said crazy-- please do --
BRZEZINSKI: Yup. That is for sure.
SCARBOROUGH: Do not hold me accountable for things that my father has said in the past --
CARLSON: Of course.
BRZEZINSKI: My co-host.
SCARBOROUGH: -- or for emails --
CARLSON: I agree completely.
SCARBOROUGH: -- that my mother sends me. However, I would not put my mother or father on the head of a steering committee regarding --
CARLSON: No, but how about this?
SCARBOROUGH: And again, Mom and Dad, I love you. I'm just making a bigger point.
BRZEZINSKI: OK. Don't bring your mother into this.
CARLSON: No, but here's the thing -- here's the thing, Joe --
SCARBOROUGH: I love them so much.
and that makes a difference how exactly?
On a side note, the term "under the bus" is now a non-sequitur.
when joe made his remarks about obama, he limited them to a political speech. i guess it makes no difference, but that's what he said. i was really saying what i said with tongue planted in cheek.
why do you say under the bus is a non sequitur?
that may make it trite, and i agree on that, but that does not make it a nonsequitur.
once the media gets hold of a phrase they just parrot one another to death.
my bad...it's dead-line day at work, I'm trying to do too much at once...
I agree, not a non-sequitur. And yes, very trite.
And yes, very trite.
As Frasier Crane put it, "I meant 'trite' in the best possible way. Trite and True." :-)
It's a phony comparison. Not only is it true that Joe was not making a political speech, but he wasn't accusing his parents of making racist remarks.
Big difference. Obama should not have said that.
i read it somewhere. actually, it said he was a chain smoker. michelle said the kids won't come to their bed because their father stinks. i assumed it was from cigarettes.
when bush chose cheney as his running mate, all the libs picked up the word gravitas. rush did a montage on it.
"i read it somewhere. actually, it said he was a chain smoker."
Well that settles it then.
Hardly. Joe never said his parents made racist remarks. That's what Obama did. He slandered his grandmother in a very specific way. Big, big difference.
What if Hillary had done that in order to make a political point? She'd be getting called all sorts of names.
Mika aint bad looking, but she isn't exactly what I would consider a dream girl. But hey to each his own, everyone has different taste.
When it comes to "making a bigger point," IOKIYAR.
I AM GOING TO CONTACT JOE AND LET HIM KNOW THAT DESPITE THE FACT THAT I CONSIDER MYSELF A LIBERAL, HE IS THE ONLY MSNBC HOST I CAN TOLERATE FOR MORE THAN 5 MINUTES. CHRIS GETS ELECTRIC SHOCKS FROM OBAMA AND KEITH - MY GOD - HE IS SO HOPELESSLY UNDER OBAMA'S SPELL THAT HE LITERALLY GUSHES. THERE IS NO DOUBT - OBAMA SHOULD HAVE WALKED OUT. I WALKED OUT YEARS AGO WHEN DURING A PENTECOSTAL SERVICE, THE PREACHER SAID WOMEN WHO HANDLED THE CHECK BOOK VIOLATED GOD'S LAW FOR MARRIAGE. NOT IN MY BIBLE - GOODBYE! HE SHOULD HAVE GOT UP...ROSA PARKS GOT UP.
Joe is a a*s (to paraphrase Dickens).
I thought it was very effective in bringing home why he wasn't going to throw his pastor under the bus. His grandma reminds me of my (late) grandma on my mother's side. I remeber back when I was a huge Beatles fanatic (back in the '60s -- in fact, I still am pretty much) how she compared their music to "jungle music." At the time I didn't quite get what she was saying (I was pretty darn young then -- I'm 51 now so, do the math) but I knew it was an insult, and given her other later incidents it was clearly meant racially. She also had a penchant for the "N"-word, and I vividly recall once when she was all ticked off about how the "n*****" kids were stealing the peepholes from the apartments where she lived. Like Obama, I cringed at her use of that word. But she was my grandma, and I miss her sometimes. And our games of gin rummy.
Would you publically slander her, the way Obama did?
Car, get a new gig seriously. Can YOU prove slander? NO I didn't think so.
"Would you publically slander her, the way Obama did?"
If it's true it's not slander. To be slander it has to be a lie.
This guy is a total idiot. How is telling the truth "throwing someone under the bus"? Obama's point is that sometimes people who are close to you can say bone headed things but it doesn't mean that you just repudiate the person just because of something they said. My g-pa sometimes says n***** and what he says is wrong and I tell him as much, but I still love him and he's still my g-pa.
OMG! I guess just threw my g-pa under the bus!
Sometimes I wonder if people are just being willfully ignorant or if they really ARE this stupid.
Oh.. now i understand... we aren't suppos to talk about it.. we're suppose to whisper it amongst each other and pretend it's not there... Making two different Americas. They just consider it as getting political points... not that it's in fact reality.
Hey Joe.
Did your parents have any children that lived?
Just checking...
UPDATE:
(NOTE - I'm posting this on multiple MMFA threads because the facts behind the story need to geet out there.)
A story was just posted on CNN's web page that blows this whole Rev. Wright story out of the water. It seems that when you listen to his complete sermon about 9/11, the passages that people like Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity, and Levin are concemning Rev. Wright for were actually a QUOTATION he was referencing. As the story states, "He was actually quoting Edward Peck, former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq and deputy director of President Reagan’s terrorism task force, who was speaking on FOX News."
Rev. Wright quotes a Reagan Administration official who was speaking on Fox News, and the righties condemn him for it...
The full story is on Anderson Cooper's blog - here's the link for those of you who want to learn more:
http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2008/03/21/the-full-story-behind-rev-jeremiah-wrights-911-sermon/#comment-78545
I watched Morning Joe all last week to learn more about Rev Wright video clips, Obama;s speech. and what "we the people" should understand about this potentially dangerous turn of events.
What ever Joe meant during the "under the bus" discussion it was clear he was continuing his trivializing the Obama's message this week which was we have choices ~ we can allow ourselves to be distrated from the important problems we face or we can say "not this time". Tom Brokaw stood out with his simiiar conclusions when he was on the program Friday.
The REAL MSNBC and MORNING JOE FAILURE is that no-one mentioned that Rev Wright's 9/11 comments were taken out of context. When I happend upon the whole sermon, the message was 180 degrees different and very much in line with Christ's teachings.
Did you not bring this clarification up because you would loose your story line? Or did you know know? I don't know which is the better reason ~ they both reflect journalism at it worst.
Shame on you Joe and all the others on MSNBC and the main stream media who never gave us this alternative view. Perhaps you could have avoided adding to the flames of sound bites play over and over again that did nothing to help people understand what was behind the words.
CE
Camden, Maine