2016 Oct 30^th

From time to time I have referenced something I retrieved from “Morning Joe,” an MSNBC three-hour-long morning program. The host, Joe Scarborough, a former member of Congress, is a devoted foe of Donald Trump and a devoted supporter of all other right wing causes. On his morning program Scarborough is an overbearing, loud-mouthed bully who does not hesitate to shout down anyone who expresses an opinion with which he disagrees.

The “guests” on the program, usually people of some import, such as Willie Geist, Eugene Robinson from the Washington Post and former congressman Harold Ford, now a University of Michigan professor, usually have something to say that is worthwhile listening to--provided they can say it without being interrupted by Scarborough. He believes that because it is his program he can interrupt anyone he pleases and no one dares interrupt him.

The program begins at six in the morning and the principles are surely there earlier than that. Even if you arrive by chauffeured limo, that schedule requires a serious paycheck, a paycheck   large enough to compensate for the humiliation of being cut off in mid-sentence by Joe boy.

An interesting sidelight in this playbill is Mika Brzezinski. Mika is a ferocious feminist who has written several books focused on women being paid what they are worth. Mika is also a staunch liberal. Mika is the second banana in the Morning Joe show. Mika’s job is to read the news of the day if she can sandwich that task in between Scarborough’s constant interruptions. We have the curious phenomena of this very actively feminist woman tolerating the interruptions of this bullying alpha male simply because she is paid enough. She also has opinions of her own. She is furious with the Republican big wigs who will vote for Trump in spite of claiming that he is unfit to be president.

Scarborough has been elected to Congress four times. He mentions his time in Congress at least once in every program.  Here are some of Scarborough’s more notable contributions and attempted contributions to our country’s laws. There are others but these give you a picture of the man’s thinking.

Scarborough sponsored a bill to force the U.S. to withdraw from the United Nations after a four-year transition and voted to make the Corporation for Public Broadcasting self-sufficient by eliminating federal funding. He also voted for the "Medicare Preservation act of 1995, which cut the projected growth of Medicare by $270 billion over ten years, and against the "Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996," which raised the minimum wage to $5.15.

There really isn’t anything else to say about Joe Scarborough.