Schadenfreude to the max on Morning Joe today. Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski absolutely reveled in Kevin McCarthy’s inability, after three rounds, to win enough votes to become Speaker.
Joe and Mika both gloated over McCarthy being “humiliated.” And Mika Brzezinski went on to glorify their idol: “Meanwhile, the Democrats were bragging about their unity…. Nancy Pelosi would never allow this happen. You just don’t go out there and get humiliated three times in a row.”
Maybe not. But there’s more than one way to look at the situation. Of course it’s not what McCarthy wanted, and it’s undoubtedly frustrating and embarrassing for him.
But on the other hand, you could see the struggle for the speakership as an exercise in actual. . . democracy– that thing the Democrats are supposedly so keen to protect!
Our system of government can be messy. Quarrels can spill out into the open. Not necessarily pretty, but in fact a display of the vibrancy and openness of our republic. MSNBC can’t imagine that conservatives might have a beef with McCarthy that he’s refusing to acknowledge.
Perhaps the liberal media would prefer the North Korean system, where the Dear Leader gets 99.99% of the vote—and that one guy who voted against him is never seen again!
Scarborough ended by gloating:
We hear from a lot of people, Willie, that Kevin McCarthy had a month to lock this stuff up and he didn’t do it. He didn’t know how to close the deal. And so, he was humiliated yesterday.
And I got to say, you have Marjorie Taylor Greene fed up, saying she’s had enough. You had Kevin McCarthy attacking members of his own caucus yesterday. You have the Wall Street Journal editorial page: “The GOP Chaos Caucus. House Republicans say they want to drain the swamp and save America, but they can’t even get through day one without a display of dysfunction.”
It’s just — it’s just chaos.
Morning Joe reveling in Kevin McCarthy being “humiliated” over his inability to get sufficient votes after three rounds to be elected Speaker was sponsored in part by Sandals and Sleep Number.
Here’s the transcript.
MSNBC’s Morning Joe
01/04/23
6:02 am ETJOE SCARBOROUGH: Dogs are cats, and everything’s backwards. It’s upside-down.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Without a Speaker, after McCarthy failed to win —
SCARBOROUGH: [Whistles in amazement.]
MIKA: — enough support in an historic three rounds of voting. It went on and on and on —
SCARBOROUGH: This doesn’t happen since the Ice Age.
MIKA: — and he couldn’t get the votes.
SCARBOROUGH: Since dinosaurs — it’s been a long time since this has happened!
MIKA: Meanwhile, the Democrats were bragging about their unity.
SCARBOROUGH: Because people have — usually, you have these fights behind closed doors. And you walk out and — wow!
MIKA: You know, Nancy Pelosi would never allow this to happen.
SCARBOROUGH: Never.
MIKA: You just don’t go out there and get humiliated three times in a row.
SCARBOROUGH: I mean, what a contrast. Nancy Pelosi never went to the House floor, and people saying, what”s going to happen? You went to the House floor, you knew if Nancy put it on the House floor, it’s going to pass. You just knew it. Because she did all the work before. We hear from a lot of people, Willie, that Kevin McCarthy had a month to lock this stuff up and he didn’t do it. He didn’t know how to close the deal. And so, he was humiliated yesterday.
And I got to say, you have Marjorie Taylor Greene fed up, saying she’s had enough. You had Kevin McCarthy attacking members of his own caucus yesterday. You have the Wall Street Journal editorial page: “The GOP Chaos Caucus. House Republicans say they want to drain the swamp and save America, but they can’t even get through day one without a display of dysfunction.”
It’s just — it’s just chaos.