Scarborough baselessly claimed nations "are testing" Obama "in a way ... they wouldn't have tested Dick Cheney"
SUMMARY: MSNBC's Joe Scarborough asserted that nations "are testing" President Obama "in a way ... that they wouldn't have tested Dick Cheney," citing as examples Iran "g[etting] the uranium they need," "North Korea going ahead with this long-range missile launch," and Pakistan "strik[ing] a deal with the Taliban." But during Cheney's two terms as vice president in the Bush administration, Iran, North Korea, and Pakistan each took actions similar to the ones Scarborough discussed.
On the February 27 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe, host Joe Scarborough asserted that nations "are testing [President] Barack Obama in a way ... that they wouldn't have tested Dick Cheney," citing as examples Iran "g[etting] the uranium they need," "North Korea going ahead with this long-range missile launch," and Pakistan "strik[ing] a deal with the Taliban." Scarborough later said, "You've got the situation where you've got hard-liners like George Bush and Dick Cheney out of the office, that's one reason they test him. Another reason, though, is, we are so distracted by this economic chaos, that were I a tyrant on the other side of the world, I would say ... [t]hey are so occupied with that, let -- now is the time to make hay." However, during Cheney's two terms as vice president in the Bush administration, Iran enriched uranium, North Korea tested missiles and reportedly detonated a nuclear bomb, and Pakistan negotiated a cease-fire with tribal leaders that the Bush administration reportedly pointed to in explaining the resurgence of Al Qaeda in Pakistan.
On Morning Joe, Scarborough said: "[O]ver the past month, since President Obama has become president, you've had Iran rising up and being defiant, continuing to be defiant. Now, we hear they've got the uranium they need. We've got North Korea going ahead with this long-range missile launch. You've got the Pakistanis saying, 'Hey, you know what we're going to do? We're going to strike a deal with the Taliban.' " Scarborough continued: "So [Vice President] Joe Biden was right that there are going to be challenges, and all of these leaders are testing Barack Obama in a way -- don't want to get anybody mad, but it's just the truth -- that they wouldn't have tested Dick Cheney. Like for instance, Pakistan would not have struck a deal with the Taliban, with Dick Cheney, 'cause they know that he would be on a plane and go, 'I'll tell you what. This is how it's going to work. Either you're going to police the Taliban or we're going to police the Taliban.' "
In fact, during the Bush administration, Iran, North Korea, and Pakistan each took actions similar to the ones Scarborough discussed:
- Iran: In April 2006, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced that the country had successfully enriched low-grade uranium. In a November 19, 2008, report, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) provided its findings on uranium enrichment activities in Iran in 2007 and 2008:
2. Since the Director General's previous report, Iran has continued to feed UF6 into the 3000-machine IR-1 unit (Unit A24), and five cascades of Unit A26, at the Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP).1 Installation and testing of the 13 remaining cascades of Unit A26 is continuing. Preparatory installation work at Units A25, A27 and A28 continues. As of 7 November 2008, the total amount of UF6 fed into the cascades since the beginning of operations in February 2007 was 9750 kg, and based on the operator's daily accounting records, Iran had produced approximately 630 kg of low enriched UF6. All nuclear material at FEP, as well as all installed cascades, remain under Agency containment and surveillance.
3. On 29 September 2008, the Agency conducted a physical inventory verification (PIV) at the Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant (PFEP), the results of which are still pending. Between 25 August and 28 October 2008, Iran fed a total of approximately 31 kg of UF6 into the 10-machine IR-2 cascade and the single IR-1, IR-2 and IR-3 centrifuges. All nuclear material at PFEP, as well as the cascade area, remains under Agency containment and surveillance.
- North Korea: In July 2006, the country test-fired its long-range Taepodong-2 missile over the Sea of Japan. In October that same year, the country reportedly tested a nuclear bomb.
- Pakistan: As Media Matters for America has noted, the July 2007 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) found that Al Qaeda has "regenerated" several elements of its infrastructure, including a "safehaven" in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). The New York Times reported in July 2007 that "[i]n identifying the main reasons for Al Qaeda's resurgence [in Pakistan], intelligence officials and White House aides pointed the finger squarely at a hands-off approach toward the tribal areas by Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf," following a cease-fire deal between tribal leaders and the government that the Bush administration "reluctantly endorsed."
From the February 27 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe:
BRZEZINSKI: And North Korea's reclusive leader, Kim Jong Il, is said to be touring the country's northeastern province in anticipation of an expected satellite launch. Experts see it as a pretext for the nation to actually test-fire a new long-range missile, which could theoretically reach the western U.S. -- and a happy good morning to you.
SCARBOROUGH: Have you noticed --
BRZEZINSKI: Wow.
SCARBOROUGH: -- and I'm not drawing any conclusions here, but I'm just putting it out there 'cause I haven't heard anybody else say it yet, but over the past month, since President Obama has become president, you've had Iran rising up and being defiant --
BRZEZINSKI: Well --
SCARBOROUGH: -- continuing to be defiant. Now, we hear they've got the uranium they need. We've got North Korea going ahead with this long-range missile launch. You've got the Pakistanis saying, "Hey, you know what we're going to do? We're going to strike a deal with the Taliban." Now, we've talked about this on the radio.
BRZEZINSKI: So, Joe Biden was right, wasn't he?
SCARBOROUGH: So Joe Biden was right that there are going to be challenges, and all of these leaders are testing Barack Obama in a way -- don't want to get anybody mad, but it's just the truth -- that they wouldn't have tested Dick Cheney. Like for instance, Pakistan would not have struck a deal with the Taliban, with Dick Cheney, 'cause they know that he would be on a plane and go, "I'll tell you what. This is how it's going to work" --
BRZEZINSKI: Yeah. Well --
SCARBOROUGH: "Either you're going to police the Taliban or we're going to police the Taliban." And I'm not saying that's right.
BRZEZINSKI: There's problems with that, too.
SCARBOROUGH: I'm not saying that's wrong.
BRZEZINSKI: Yeah.
SCARBOROUGH: I'm just saying, Pat, it's just like when Jimmy Carter left office. Iran at that point immediately said, "We better let the hostages go home."
BUCHANAN: Yeah, because we don't know what Reagan will do if -- when -- if he takes office.
SCARBOROUGH: I think -- I think they --
BUCHANAN: I think maybe we do know what he's going to --
SCARBOROUGH: -- knew exactly what Reagan was going to do.
BUCHANAN: But I agree with you.
BRZEZINSKI: OK.
BUCHANAN: I think there's a sense in the world that America is in decline and in retreat, and everybody's advancing their own interests at the expense of the United States. I don't doubt that for a second.
BRZEZINSKI: Absolutely.
SCARBOROUGH: And this is not just about --
BRZEZINSKI: What we have to see is how they handle what was a predictable situation that Joe Biden predicted and was mocked for.
SCARBOROUGH: And the thing --
BRZEZINSKI: Mocked.
SCARBOROUGH: No. No. Well, Joe Biden was right.
BRZEZINSKI: Yeah.
SCARBOROUGH: You just don't want your vice presidential candidate --
BRZEZINSKI: Kept saying that on the campaign trail --
SCARBOROUGH: -- saying the election's going to cause international crises. That being said --
BRZEZINSKI: It's a problem.
SCARBOROUGH: -- there's another thing let's be fair about.
BRZEZINSKI: Yeah.
SCARBOROUGH: You've got the situation where you've got hard-liners like George Bush and Dick Cheney out of the office, that's one reason they test him. Another reason, though, is, we are so distracted by this economic chaos --
BRZEZINSKI: Exactly. Very good point.
SCARBOROUGH: -- that were I a tyrant on the other side of the world, I would say --
BRZEZINSKI: That's more --
SCARBOROUGH: -- they are so -- yeah, probably so. They are so occupied with that --
BRZEZINSKI: Yeah.
SCARBOROUGH: -- let -- now is the time to --
BUCHANAN: North Korea, Joe.
SCARBOROUGH: -- make hay.
BUCHANAN: We don't know if Kim Jong Il is non compos mentis, whatever it is now. I mean, we don't know what's happened to him. And it could be the hard-liners in there arguing with each other, firing off rockets to show we're still tough -- we don't know.
BRZEZINSKI: Oh, good lord.
BUCHANAN: But the Iranians are also -- they're not running all their centrifuges.
SCARBOROUGH: Yeah.
BUCHANAN: They've cut -- about a thousand of them have stopped. I think they're looking for some kind of deal.
BRZEZINSKI: Yeah.
BUCHANAN: I think there's a lot going on here.
SCARBOROUGH: Let's hope so.
BUCHANAN: Yeah.
SCARBOROUGH: Let's hope so.
sounds like a setup, doesn't it? Up next, it was Obama's fault they got that stuff!
First of all, Joe, I hate to confuse ya with the facts, but Obama is President. Cheney never was and never will be.
Secondly, I wouldn't point to cheney's record on national security matters as anything to emulate. Clearly, nobody minded "testing" him or shrub on 9/11/01. They'd been in the White House for the better part of 9 months at that point and they clearly had warning.
Scarborough country must have ignorance and stupidity as requirements for citizenship.
Joe Scarborough was tested while he was in office, too.
He resigned and quit.
Well, Cheney was not "officially" the president, but...
I think Joe was pretty well connected and he knows who was really in charge for the last eight years. He let it slip and now Cheney's liable to strangle Joe with his mind.
I think we all smelled that rat a long time ago. I still don't know how otherwise " free americans ' feel compelled to obey these people and believe all that trash that comes out of their mouths. So bought off !!!!!!
And I would like to know what they were bought off with ?
probably to allow joe to return to congress or even the senate
Ha! someone agreeing with me that Dick is a Lord of the Sith.
Sith happens.
he used Sith mind control to pull W.'s strings
Sith sense?
I thought I heard gov Jindahl say that.
freudian slip? and as far as it goes, the bush administration would not let the cia unit assigned to track bin laden do it's job at tora bora. they had to remain under the direction of tribal chiefs, who were just as likely to be sympathetic to bin laden as our side. that's very likely why bin laden got away.
as the leader of the cia unit told 60 minutes about their plans to capture bin laden being vetoed, "whether that was central command all the way up to the president of the united states, i'm not sure". he was also asked when in his previous experience that had happened and he replied "never before".
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/10/02/60minutes/main4494937.shtml
So, Pakistan 'striking a deal" with terrorists is "testing", but terrorists flying planes into our country and killing thousands of Americans isn't?
I think that Joe the former Representative is a little confused. He is still living in 1994.
I guess Cheney had the same effect on that Energy Committee that met. They were all afraid to talk. Joe, don't worry about it. The election changed things in this country..Thank God
Yeah, Mrs GW Bush said today she misses the White House and Air Force 1. I have toi think really hard to remember anything she has done. Cheney must have had a real chilling effect. And she also that " George is a free man again, to ride his bike around the neighhborhood ".
" George is a free man again, to ride his bike around the neighhborhood ".
Remember to wear a helmet, George...losing any more brain cells would be a terrible thing. ;>)
like he has any left after his boozing days
" George is a free man again, to ride his bike around the neighhborhood ".
Send me pics once he is able to ride without the training wheels!
So what's your freakin' point, Joe...that the country should have elected Dick Cheney as President? Had we elected Saddam Hussein President of the US instead of deposing and killing him I'll bet Iran wouldn't have messed with us either, Joe.
Does Scarborough even think anymore before opeining his big yap...?
It's okay...Sarah Palin is keeping an eye on Russia for us in case Putin rears his head.
OKAY? LOL.... and since Sarah IS there, and she CAN see him when he rears his head....who better to keep us safe?
You're Joe the dumber, aren't you?
Wow. You stay classy, shmendrik.
(and way to show off those intellectual skills)
Jeeez, dude...ahhh, you are the one who suggested a homosexual engagement between yourself and another poster. And now you're going to try to insult yet another poster with homosexual innuendo? What is your problem...?
The Hannity forum just called looking for you...they were wondering where you were.
And Obama isn't a fascist like Cheney. So we feel better now. And Bush and Cheney certainly scared the hell out of the Russians, didn't they? Ask the Georgians.
did i miss an invocation of the 25th amendment that dick was suddenly elevated to President? oh wait no, it was the shadow government that he was running
AM I MISSING SOMETHING. DIDENT WE GET BOMBED ON 9/11 WHILE CHENEY AND BUSH WERE PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT?. WASENT IT THE BIGGEST ATTACK ON OUR SOIL IN U.S . HISTORY. IT MUST ALL HAVE BEEN A DREAM. WHO WOULD EVER THINK OF ATTACKING US WITH BUSH AND CHENEY AT THE HELM.I LIKE SCARBOROUGH AND HE SHOULD KNOW BETTER. HE HAS MORE CREDIBILITY THEN THE NEWSREADERS WHO BELIEVE THEY ARE ECONOMIST, MILITARY EXPERTS,DOMESTIC ADVISORS AND THE MORAL COMPASS OF AMERICA.NONE OF THEM ARE FAIR OR BALANCED.YOU HAVE HANNITY ON ONE END AND MATTHEWS ON THE OTHER. MATTHEWS IS A DISGRACE AND HANNITY IS MAKING A FORTUNE BEING NEAR THE TOP OF THE CONSERVATIVE FIGURES IN THIS COUNTRY. THERE LIKE HIGH PRESSURE SALESMAN AT YOUR DOOR.WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN HIGH PRESSURE SALESMAN COME TO YOUR DOOR? JOE CAPRIO/CITYLIFEPRODUCTIONS
I have no idea what set you off but i can argue with you Pearl Harbor was a bigger attack and by a nation that identified itself as the attacker ( meatballs on the wings ). Japanese pilots were not terroriists. 9-11 was a cowardly act by people who quite possibly dressed like you and me ( no uniforms ) with boxcutters as a weapon to get pilots to give up control of the aircraft. Scarborough is an intellectual coward who caved in to the newly elected president and his band of coattails under the mantle of " conservatism '. But after eight years, conservatism is forever linked to draining the treasury and repacing the Constitution. Something George washington would give you a fair trial and then hang you.
I think the British attack on Washington during the War of 1812 was a larger attack on our nation's soil than 9/11 was, too.
"Japanese pilots were not terroriists. 9-11 was a cowardly act by people who quite possibly dressed like you and me ( no uniforms ) with boxcutters as a weapon to get pilots to give up control of the aircraft."
Yes. Pearl Harbor was an act of war. The day after Pearl Harbor we were at war with Japan. 9/11 was a one time exploitation of our security by a small band of fanatics that could never happen again (in the same way) once people realized the intent of the hijackers. It didn't even last all of 9/11 (e.g. the passengers of Flight 93 attacking the hijackers). The day after 9/11, on whom would we declare war? Threats of differing magnitudes. We defeated Japan and Germany in four years. We've been waging war on the cheap in the ME for seven years with no end in sight.
Well, to be realistic, who was running things for the last eight years?
Fear
Fear and loathing...
aparently Dick was
so we finally have the reason W dropped the ball....Dick was in the oval office. guess the shadow government he ran was truly in charge and we finally have someone admitting that fact.
I keep saying how these guys just say anything without facts and will debate the 'what-ifs- scenarios to death as they kill precious minutes into the 3 hour show. I am constantly emailing them with my note to them of stopping their bias non-sense. Joe, Mika and Pat will never discuss ANY positive issue these days regarding the country, especially if it's from President Obama's Administration or Democrats.
And sad to say too, the Cable Chatter on CNN, FoxNews, and MSNBC go on and on about negative news with Republicans/Neo-Conservatives ranting viewpoints about their dislikes with the 'what-ifs' on "ANY"issue, with the poor Democrats/Progressives trying to stay focus to bring reality to it ALL. Aaaaahhhh!!!
Case in point - Republican Governors will say "NO" to unemployment compensation funds (worth millions) from the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (Stimulus Bill) even though the money is "OWED" to these umemployed people because they paid into the fund when they were "WORKING". Not ONE Reporter has asked these Republicans to explain this....Shameful, shameful, shameful.
smarshall, Amen to that. These REPUBLICAN governers that refuse stimuus money to score political points should be thrown out on their rear ends. Indeed it is shameful.
Thanks. It is "shameful" what these Republicans/Neo-Conservatives can get away with as 'acceptable arguments' with "NO" Reporters challenging their non-sense for real clarity.
Any person in America receiving "unemployment compensation" lost their "JOB". Now the way I understood it is, while "WORKING" a person and their employer put money aside kept at a State's Unemployment Compensation Fund' in the event this person looses their JOB. Each State in the Country would then find this person's record of "EMPLOYMENT" at the Company (where the job was lost) and pay them accordingly for a length of time (person's work history) until a future job is found by the unemployed applicant.
However, due to hard times throughout the Country the "LENGTH" of unemployment compensation is "NOT" lasting as intended for the person in alot of States. So, OUR Federal Government is willing to help these States out so that this person can receive "their" money.
Remember, it was supposed to be set aside by the State for this person in case this person lost their JOB. Now why "WOULD" any Governor say thanks but "NO" thanks of helping these people EXTEND their unemployment compensation? Again, just Shameful, Shameful, Shameful.
SMARSHALL, I was laid off from my job for 16 months back in the mid 90s. I sure could have used the extra compensation. What these GOVENORS are doing to their own states unemployed is sinful.
Dr. Brzezinski one noted that Joe Scarborough was "stunningly superficial" and one would think that he (Joe) would have taken a hint and figured out why this man of great intellect would say that about him. But of course, he didn't. So once again, and opens mouth and inserts foot. If he or Mika had stayed up long enough to see then candidate Obama become President-elect Obama, they would have seen how the WORLD embraced his upcoming Presidency and administration. The nations aren't "testing" President Obama, because unlike the Bush/Cheney administration, the nations RESPECT the Obama/Biden administration. And when nations respect you, they are willing to work WITH you and not AGAINST you.
Here, here LisaLV... Joe being "stunningly superficial" was a hoot to watch, and he did "NOT" appreciate being called out like that by Mika's Father - I "did".