“Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough doesn’t let much slip by him – well not today, at least.
On his December 14 program, Scarborough pointed out the bias at his network, MSNBC, and even offered a particular example. As Scarborough pointed out, MSNBC hosts and guests are always eager to associate judges with which president appointed them – but only if it involves a Republican and a decision with which they disagree.
“I’m just curious, and it was our staff that did it this time – I’m always curious when there is a controversial issue, and [Jon] Meacham, you know this is true, that mainstream media doesn’t like – they always will say ‘a George W. Bush-appointee,’ ‘a Reagan appointee,’” Scarborough said. “It would be legitimate, and you Jon, you know this it to be true when a Democrat does something unpopular, they never say ‘a Clinton appointee.’ Never, never. Why is that, Jon?”
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Scarborough’s assessment, coming on the heels of the decision by a federal judge in Virginia that declared the health insurance mandate in Obamacare unconstitutional, is indeed accurate. On MSNBC’s December 13 “The Rachel Maddow Show,” Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick took it a step further, suggesting Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli was attempting to “rewrite” the Constitution by going through Bush-appointed judges.
Former longtime Newsweek editor Jon Meacham agreed with Scarborough’s assessment.
“I think that it shows a certain tendency to caricature the right,” Meacham replied.
The lone dissenting voice was “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski, who said she thought it was important, even though there is evidence of a reluctance to associate disgraced Clinton-appointees with the “Clinton-appointee” label.
“I think at this point it just offers a little perspective to what that judge’s point of view might be,” Brzezinski said. “And I would like to know it.”