On Wednesday’s episode of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Joe Scarborough joined the rising chorus of pundits angry with what they see as the mainstream media’s double standard in dealing with criticism of conservatives versus liberals.
The case for the long-alleged double standard, he said, lies in a reluctance — from the White House down to his guest, Newsweek Editor-in-Chief Tina Brown — to condemn Teamsters President James Hoffa’s comments to “take them son of bitches out.”
“OK, so let’s look at the context,” Scarborough began. “Sarah Palin’s people put up little targets. These are targeted districts on a PAC website that nobody sees. Nobody. Right? So, that’s that context — kind of isolated.”
“Hoffa,” he continued, “delivers a speech before the president of the United States comes up and delivers a speech of the same spite. That context is actually far more serious than the context of a website somewhere out in the ether-net that nobody sees. I think the context is more troubling in this case.”
“This is the same White House,” Scarborough added, “that attacked Rush Limbaugh from that stand for what he said, Glenn Beck from that stand for what he said, Fox News for what they said, Jim Cramer and ‘Mad Money’ for what they said. They have constantly used that bully pulpit to go after people on the other side when they say irresponsible things.”
“When right-wingers say irresponsible things, left-wingers obsess on it,” Scarborough concluded. “When left wingers say irresponsible things, they say we have so much more important things to talk about.”