MSNBC HOST DEFENDS COMMENTS BY LYING, REFUSING TO APOLOGIZE, TAKING CHEAP SHOTS AT BLOGGERS
By now, TPS readers are well aware that Joe Scarborough had an Imus moment on his MSNBC show this week when he wondered out loud whether Fred Thompson’s pretty young wife “worked the pole” as he giggled lecherously over his sexual double entendre.
So we weren’t exactly shocked when, on today’s Morning Joe, Scarborough “spun” seven full minutes of air time trying to explain away his crude remark. In doing so he not only lied, he misquoted himself. But what really shocked us was that he began attacking every blogger and news source that covered the comment.
And he did all of this without even once uttering the word “pole.” At one point, he actually refused to acknowledge the type of “exercise program” to which he was allegedly referring. That would be like Imus trying to describe what he really said without using the words “nappy” or “ho.”
Here’s the video (transcript below):
SCARBOROUGH: Last week — and I’ll just briefly say this — last week we had a person that worked for WFAN where we did the show on Thursday and Friday talking — she is a try athlete, there a dangerous crowd — all muscle in great shape and she was talking about this exercise routine that she did and went on and on about it.
RIDLEY: Pilates?
SCARBOROUGH: Not exactly pilates –
RIDLEY: Yoga?
SCARBOROUGH: She was doing the — I’m not going to tell you exactly what it is but — this exercise routine. It’s very — it’s clean. Housewives — she said I do a certain thing — housewives across America are doing it to stay fit. And Craig Crawford came on and I asked him whether Senator Thompson — because i know Senator Thompson, known him for a long time and I like the guy an awful lot. I got to tell you a Senator Thompson joke in a second. And also my best friend in Florida knows his wife and Senator Thompson. So she is a very attractive and I said “I wonder if she exercises this way.” And so the blogs twisted my words; wretched them from their context. I know this shocks you. I know this shocks you.
RIDLEY: Are you telling me that there are some folks who aren’t real journalists –
SCARBOROUGH: That sit in their basement –
RIDLEY: That sit in their basement and remove a portion of what you say and use it?
SCARBOROUGH: You know, the thing is. What is so interesting about this is other people — one person writes something and they don’t tell the truth about what happened. And then everybody else, instead of looking the transcript, copies what the other person did.
But Joe’s severely mistaken. The transcript from Friday doesn’t in any way support him (we tried to link to it on MSNBC’s site, but it’s not available).
So not only did he lie today, but he refused to apologize; even though, he made it clear that he knows he is wrong by acting entirely ashamed of the comment and refusing to so much as acknowledge the type of “innocent” exercises to which he was referring. And then, on top of that, he assailed every news source that covered his gaffe.
________________
UPDATE: Erick at RedState says Scarborough is “begging reporters not to report his comments.”
UPDATE 2: NewsBusters is reporting that Scarborough e-mailed them complaining about the coverage his comment is receiving.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 6th, 2007 at 11:50 am and is filed under Featured, Multimedia, Primary Season, Scarborough, TPS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
This guy rreally doesnt get it. hE should have just shut his damn mouth. Now he went and pissed off the entire blog world.
I saw it this morning. If he is going to bring it up he should have said he was sorry. No matter how you interpret what he was obviously using double entendre to make a stripper reference.
[...] Palmetto Scoop has the latest on Joe Scarborough: On today’s Morning Joe, Scarborough “spun” seven full minutes of air time trying to explain away his crude remark. In doing so he not only lied, he misquoted himself. But what really shocked us was that he began attacking every blogger and news source that covered the comment. [...]
It was clearly implied to what he was referring. I took a few minutes last week to look into his soul(to quote our illustrious president) and what I saw wasn’t pretty. He probably shouldn’t be left alone with any female under the age of 5. He is a creepy creep, and it shouldn’t take long before he lets the world see what he is.
Are the suits @MSNBC happy now? There’s nothing in Joe’s contract that’s going to protect him.(unlike IMUS, whose contract clearly stated that he was to be edgey).
He and that John Ridley are LIARS! I was watching that show and knew EXACTLY what he meant when he asked if Thompson’s wife worked the pole! Whose the BETTER man? Imus, who apologized DIRECTLY to the people he hurt or Joe whose sitting there NOT APOLOGIZING and lying to the viewers? What REALLY makes me sick is that MSNBC is ACTUALLY protecting this jerk! Last but NOT least, Joe ATTACKS the bloggers for reporting this story! If he is so innocent, then why is he BEGGING his friends NOT to report on this story?
This continues to be an amazing story.
Cross posted at-
http://fredthompson2008-blogger.blogspot.com/
The earlier discussion was with Tracie Burgess, who is a tri-athlete. She stated that she is taking a class that is similar to pole dancing, because it builds the upper body strength, etc., which is helpful in her training as a tri-athlete. They then segwayed into the Fred Thompson story and his “hot” wife. Joe made reference to her working the pole…and there can be no doubt that he was referring to “pole” not “poll”. If MSNBC believes his lies, then there is no hope for them, and IMUS is much better off without those losers!!
[...] Palmetto Scoop wonders: If Scarborough’s so sure that what he said about “working the pole” was [...]
Look, I think it’s all being blown out of proportion - just like the Imus thing was - but Scarborough ought to just be honest .. clearly he’s being dishonest today in his spin about the remark.
He was being salacious - and trying to be funny… but what’s truly funny is when JS tries to pretend he’s a randy, wordly guy (watch his lame celebrity segments sometime), and it rings quite hollow.
Wonder if he knows how many bloggers have a bigger audience than he does?
You guys have too much time on your hands! Glad to see you are working the national people though!
Why hasn’t Fred Thompson flogged this impudent media creature? He besmirched his wife’s honor! I say again dueling pistols at dawn is the only response an honorable Southern gentleman of Ol Fred’s stature should consider. If Dubya had put a bullet between the eyes of the first reporter who suggested Laura exercises in a less than chaste manner his approval ratings would be at least as high as Rudy Guiliani’s. Rumor has it
that Rudy, yankee though he is, once had a man taken out back and soundly thrashed by a number of his aides for oggling his wife’s breasts like Wolfowitz did with at that fundraiser. Now that’s manly stuff! You’ll never catch Bill Clinton standing up for a lady like that.
But I digress. The longer he delays demanding satisfaction from Scarborough with at least a glove across the face the longer Thompson runs the risk of forever being branded as a liberul Hollywood pantywaist unable to protect his woman from the verbal taunts of the media. Is that what we want in a president? After 7 years of the press snickering behind Bush’s back about his wife and daughters I’m ready for a change.
I’m watching morning joe right now and they’ve been ripping on bloggers for the last 25 minutes since they started. Not consequtively, but every 2-3 mins they take a few shots. “That’s why we need those bloggers.”
“Ridley you’re making the mistake of thinking more than 2 people read these things”
You guys need to start live blogging each morning because he sounds like a pissed off 16 year old.
[...] here’s the transcript: SCARBOROUGH: Last week — and I’ll just briefly say this — last week we had a person that [...]
Everyone knows what he said….even Joe knows what he said and how he meant it. I know he’s not a complete idiot…he must know that there are transcripts and video tape…why would he deny something that is undeniable…maybe he is an idiot!!