Joe Scarborough Mocks Critics Instead Of Admitting He Was Wrong

I’m not a fortune-teller or some kind of predictor of future events. But politicians, even former ones are easy to gauge. They rarely, if ever admit to being wrong. And when they are criticized, they lash out at their critics instead of actually defending themselves.

On Saturday, I wrote the following, when criticizing Morning Joe co-host, Joe Scarborough for incorrectly claiming a crowd in Ohio was chanting “Ryan!” and that Mitt Romney had to “correct” them to make sure they were chanting his name:

Joe will air the tape again. He will air it and claim that he was right. He will claim all those who disagree are “extreme right wing bloggers” and other kooks who say all the polls are rigged against Romney. He will start talking about people “blogging in their Mom’s basement” as he often does and in the end will triumphantly proclaim he was right.

And I was close. Scarborough was not as triumphant as I said he would be, but he was certainly defiant. Which is another trait that runs amok with politicians.

Courtesy of Ben Howe at RedState, check out the clip below from today’s airing of Morning Joe.

At 2:17, Scarborough says, “Guys, if you want Romney to get elected, put down the Cheetos, get out of your Mom’s basement, and call your friends.”

Scarborough’s ego wins out again. Joe didn’t run the tape they ran last week which contained a caption proclaiming the crowd was chanting Ryan’s name. That little tidbit was important because it set the foundation for the “Oh sweet Jesus” blather and Mika’s feigned “sorrow” over what everybody was supposedly witnessing.

There’s no conspiracy here Joe. The bottom line is this: If there was no caption nor a suggestion that Romney was chastising the crowd for chanting Ryan’s name and not his, there would be nothing to talk about.

Joe says something else in the video he cannot possibly back up, nor does he attempt to. At 1:00, Joe says, “People there heard Romney. Other people heard Ryan.”

Who heard “Ryan!”, Joe? The only reports we have from people who were there, including Romney supporters and reporters from Politico, the Associated Press and Buzzfeed. They all say the crowd was chanting Romney’s name. So who were these “other people who heard Ryan?

This little episode would have been a big nothing burger if Joe simply would have said, “Ok, when I first saw the video, I thought they were chanting Ryan. I was wrong. It was still a kind of awkward moment.” On that I would agree. The crowd was chanting “Romney!” and instead of just soaking it in, Mitt went about the odd task of getting the crowd to cheer something else.

But no. The Hindenburg sized ego would not allow that to happen. Instead, he lashes out at his critics as the “Cheetos brigade” and claims his critics are nothing but a bunch of losers who live in Mom’s basement. It’s interesting however, that Joe loves to quote those awful bloggers when they agree with him, as he did in this clip.

For the record Joe, I have a wife and two teenage kids and a house. I haven’t lived in my Mom’s basement since I was about 13 years old. My Mom by the way, who died of cancer in January 2010, was actually a fan of yours. This despite the fact that she was a liberal. She had a newspaper article (from the St. Petersburg Times – she lived in St. Pete and Tampa) clipping that showed a photo of you strumming on an acoustic guitar near a “desk” that was nothing more than big piece of wood thrown over two stands. She liked that kind of quirkiness in people.

You might do well to consider your words a little more carefully next time when you’re being criticized in conservative circles.