J
oe Scarborough—finally—had to stop lying to himself and to his viewers.The man who recently had the chutzpah to absurdly claim that this is the “best Biden ever and f-you if you don’t believe it,” has been forced to confront the truth.
After Biden’s disastrous debate performance, a shame-faced Scarborough [see screencap], analogizing the situation to when Barry Goldwater told Nixon during Watergate that it was “over” and he had to resign, suggested the time has come for Democrats to tell Biden he has to drop out.
Scarborough made another devastating analogy, asking—if Biden were the CEO of a Fortune 500 company and turned in a performance like last night’s—whether he would be kept on in his position. Rhetorical question, of course.
The need to pull the plug on Biden is so urgent, suggested Scarborough, that he disagreed with the view of David Plouffe, Obama’s former campaign manager, that Dems should wait a few days before making a final decision. Scarborough said he fears Trump will be the next president “unless things change.”
Translation: Scarborough wants Pelosi, Schumer, Clyburn — and why not Joe himself! — to hustle over to the White House, or wherever Biden is hiding out and licking his wounds, and tell him he needs to go—STAT!
Macho Joe Scarborough’s big [some might say, fragile] ego was also on display. He twice bragged that he would debate anyone on the subject of Biden’s effectiveness in office. And not only would Scarborough “win” that debate, he vowed that he would “destroy” his opponent.
Scarborough claimed he’d prove that Biden’s time in office has been an “unqualified success.” Disgraceful Afghanistan withdrawal, porous southern border, pain at the pump and supermarket, hello?
Perhaps the most telling moment came when Scarborough admitted that he has “had no idea” why the race is so close, but “we saw last night why this race has been close.” In other words, Scarborough has been oblivious to what has been obvious to the great majority of Americans. Last night, Scarborough finally saw the—dim—light that is Joe Biden.
Mika Brzezinski, Biden Bitter-Ender
Whereas Scarborough clearly wants to “get out the hook” for Biden, Mika Brzezinski is not, to mix metaphors, ready to throw in the towel. Despite admitting that Biden had a “terrible” night, Mika said:
“As the night was over, and I was hearing you on the phone and all our phones were exploding, I just had this gut feeling that I’m not ready to give up on Joe Biden. Not even close . . . Watching what happened last night, again, it was terrible. It was terrible. There’s no way to spin it. I still wonder what he’s going to look like in a week. I wonder if he was sick. He came out on the stage, and I thought something was wrong.
“I still believe he is the best choice for this country, even with that performance last night.”
Here’s the transcript.
MSNBC
Morning Joe
6/28/24
6:00 am EDTJOE BIDEN: What I’m going to do is fix the taxes. For example, we have a thousand trillionaires in America, I mean billionaires in America. And what’s happening? We’re in a situation where they, in fact, pay 8.2% in taxes. If they just paid 24%, 25%, either one of those numbers, then they’d raise $500 million — billion dollars, I should say, in a ten-year period.
We’d be able to wipe out his debt. We’d be able to help make sure all those things we need to do, child care, elder care, making sure that we continue to strengthen our health care system, making sure that we’re able to make every single, solitary person eligible for what I’ve been able to do with the, uh, with, with, with the Covid — excuse me, um, with dealing with everything we have to do — uh, uh, look, if — we finally beat Medicare.
. . .
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Well, I think I should start by saying, without any apologies, that I love Joe Biden, and Jill, and I will gladly debate anybody any time any place, any where, over the issue of whether Joe Biden has been the most effective president . . . His presidency has been an unqualified success.
If, however, you believe as do I, and as do so many people who watch this program, and who, um, fear just how dark of a place a second Donald Trump term will take America, then I think it is critical that we ask the same questions about this man I love, respect, and whose, whose public service in saving this country from Donald Trump over the last 3 1/2 years I honor and always will.
I think we have to ask the same questions of him that we have asked of Donald Trump since 2016. And that is, if he were CEO, and he turned in a performance like that, would any corporation in America, any Fortune 500 corporation in America, keep him on as CEO?
If this were Donald Trump, time and time again, we talked about the Goldwater, where is the Barry Goldwater, to walk over and tell Richard Nixon it was over. To tell Donald Trump it was over.
And now the question is, do Democrats need to do the same thing of Joe Biden?
I mean, these are hard questions. But the fact is, friends, failure is just not an option. In 2024, failure is not an option. So who I love, who I respect, who I revere for their work and their duty to service over their lifetime really is not relevant. It’s not relevant for any of us.
It’s not relevant for Democratic leaders. It’s not relevant for anyone. The question is, can — we know Joe Biden can govern. And again, I’ll debate that issue with anyone, and I will win. I will destroy anybody that wants to debate Joe Biden’s record over the past 3 1/2 years. He can run the White House. He can run the country effectively despite the barrage of lies that constantly come at him, like Donald Trump’s lies last night.
But can he run for president in 2024? Donald Trump lied. Over and over and over and over again. And Joe Biden couldn’t respond to any of those lies. In fact, as the New York Times said, he spent much of the night with his mouth agape and his eyes darting back and forth.
He couldn’t fact check anything Donald Trump said. An not only that, he missed one layup after another after another.
. . .
David Plouffe, I have such great respect for David Plouffe. He said we need to wait three or four days, because Donald Trump really turned off swing voters in, in a lot of focus groups once they saw him again. And that makes a lot of sense. But the door was open so many times. This race should not be close. We’ve been asking, why is this race close? We have no idea why this race is close. We saw last night why this race has been close. And why I fear Donald Trump will be the next President of the United States unless things change.
And I will say, Mika, the one thing that I know that you believe, it may have been because he was sick. And I’m open to that fact. Because I’ll just say, as I’ve said on the show, I spent three hours with this man, maybe, back in March. Three hours. Cogent, on top of the issues, on top of every issue around the world. And last night, he simply was not, on the biggest debate stage ever.
And I think what surprised me, and what surprised a lot of people very close to Joe Biden, is the fact that this man always rises to the occasion. And last night was, sadly for him, and I believe for Democrats and his country, and, again, if you believe what’s at stake in this election is what we believe is at stake, and I’ll even use the word, tragically, tragically did not rise to the occasion last night.
BRZEZINSKI: Okay. As you can see, you won’t see us spinning here on Morning Joe at all. [!] But let me tell you what I believe and then we’ll go to Willie. But Biden had a terrible night. He could not land a thought, not even in the closing statement, which is something — that’s the easiest part, to write down a few words, go through — go through the thoughts. And, while I validate the chaos and hysteria Democrats might be feeling, anybody who cares about democracy might be feeling, anybody who cares about women’s rights and our safety and our lives might be feeling, totally understand that.
At the same time, as the night was over, I was hearing you on the phone and all our phones were exploding, I just had this gut feeling that I’m not ready to give up on Joe Biden. Not even close. Joe Biden has lost more in his life than he has won in every way, especially politically. This man has lost and lost, and — and the only time he wins is when it matters. And that is we have proof of that. He has lost in personal ways. He has lost and hit rock bottom in every way possible, and every time, he comes back fighting. So, for me, watching what happened last night, again, it was terrible. It was terrible. There’s no way to spin it. I still wonder what he’s going to look like in a week. I wonder if he was sick. He came out on the stage, and I thought something was wrong. I still believe he is the best choice for this country, even with that performance last night because he was standing next to a man who represents fascism, who doesn’t believe in this country, and would not even agree to the results of this election if they were free and fair to him.