MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough accused Senate Democrats of “virtue signaling” by attempting to pass abortion legislation immediately blocked by Republicans during Thursday’s “Morning Joe.”
Scarborough began by criticizing Democrats for not pushing a bipartisan abortion bill that had a chance of passing after Senate Republicans, along with Democratic West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, blocked the Women’s Health Protection Act, a bill intending to legalize abortion up to the moment of birth, on Wednesday. The host then said any suggestions to reform and ease issues in the country, including small steps of solving inflation, never satisfy congressional Democrats.
“The story of this Democratic Congress thus far is wildly overshooting the mark and getting nothing from it,” Scarborough said. “The time for virtue signaling is over. They don’t have many legislative days left. You know, they can go to Joe Manchin and say, ‘We need a $1.75 trillion bill.’ … And nobody ever says this because they always like sticking horns up Joe Manchin, who by the way, Democrats should all send him, I don’t know, a box of chocolate, perhaps, for standing in the way of a $6 trillion bill.”
He criticized Democrats for claiming that a repeal of the Electoral Count Act — a 19th century federal law outlining the counting of electoral votes — in an effort to avoid another Jan. 6 riot “doesn’t go far enough” as they continue to push for legislation that is doomed never to pass. (RELATED: ‘Everything Was Bipartisan’: Scarborough Pushes Back Against Blaming Biden For Inflation)
“It’s never enough. And it’s just like the Electoral Count Act. The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times’ editorial pages both said let’s get rid of this Electoral Count Act of 1887 if we want to avoid what happened on Jan. 6, if we want to avoid that next Jan. 6. Democrats, no, it doesn’t go far enough. We [the Democrats] want to put in every other voting rights package ever, and when the Republicans say, ‘Yeah, we’ll sign onto this,’ good is never good enough.”
“Democrats are left with nothing and they’re running out of time,” he said.