During a lengthy rant on his show Wednesday, “Morning Joe” co-host Joe Scarborough criticized Republican lawmakers who say they’d rather shut down the government than sign on to a budget bill that funds Obamacare.
Republican Sens. Marco Rubio, Mike Lee and Ted Cruz have urged the rest of the GOP caucus to vote against a continuing resolution to fund the government unless Obamacare is defunded. Critics say this approach would be politically disastrous for Republicans and could imperil future attempts at repealing Obamacare completely.
Scarborough opened up his screed by dismissing the proponents of the defunding strategy as “really stupid people out on the Internet.”
“I said it the other day and I know there are a lot of really stupid people out on the Internet,” Scarborough said. “And they got to do something, right? They are either wandering the streets and are going to get hit by cars, or in their mama’s basement. So I’d rather than be in mama’s basement writing really stupid things about me in pajamas … but there are theses other really stupid people. You don’t want them in the street…They are going to be hit by cars. But I said yesterday — and if their mama would let them use the cell phone…they could call these congressmen themselves that 95, 96, 97, 98, 99 and even 100 percent ACU ratings that are telling me this showboating, this shutdown showboating on the Senate side is causing real problems with the most conservative members of the House of Representatives, who know Harry Reid is not going to let anything like that pass. Barack Obama is not going to sign it.”
Scarborough then cited Oklahoma Republican Sen. Tom Coburn, Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer and Commentary magazine’s Peter Wehner, who have all knocked the defunding tactic as irresponsible and politically stupid.
“I will say it again for my slow friends, whether you are wandering the streets early this morning as the sun begins to rise in your hometown wherever you are, this is about a couple of people posing and increasing contributions, getting attention and expanding their mailing lists,” Scarborough said. “That is all it’s about because it is not about shutting down Obamacare. The House has voted to shut down Obamacare 40 times. What they’re talking about doing is ‘let’s shut down the government.’ Read Charles Krauthammer. Read Pete Wehner. Talk to Tom Coburn. And seriously, if you still think these people are moderates or RINOs, then you are really the wacko. Tom Coburn is not the RINO. Read Charles Krauthammer. Charles Krauthammer is not the RINO, you are because you are not a real Republican. You’re crazy.”
“Tom Coburn is not the RINO,” he continued. “Tom Coburn is not the member of the surrender caucus. You are. You are not a member of our party. You are too stupid to be a member of our party — too stupid…How much more blood do you want to take from the conservative movement, from the Republican Party? How much more damage do you want to cause? Now Charles Krauthammer is not conservative enough for you? Tom Coburn, not conservative enough for you? Scott Walker, not conservative enough for you? How long does this madness continue? When do you realize that your stupidity is getting in the way of conservatives winning national elections? Do you want to keep losing? You’ve lost a popular vote five out of six times in presidential races.”
“Do you want to lose the next five or six?” he continued. “Do you really want Hillary Clinton to be president for the next eight years? Do you really want her to pick four, five, six, seven, eight Supreme Court justices along with Barack Obama over the next, what, 11 years? Roll Tide. Are you really that stupid? Are you really that dumb? Are you really in that much need of being angry and resentful, that you just stop caring about winning elections? Well if so, you’re not a Republican. You’re not a conservative. You’re a nihilist. And you’ve got no place in our party. Take your stupid act somewhere else, because I, for one, am damn tired of losing, and having stupid people like you defining my party. And it’s stopping.”
