Joe Scarborough, MSNBC, Bush

JOE KNOWS STUPIDITY

Is This The Price Of Keeping A Low-Rated Show?





For Tucker Carlson, the answer is Dancing With The Stars.

And for fellow cable talker Joe Scarborough, it's grade- skool level Bush- bashing.

Which brings us, Jeopardy- style, to the big question: to keep a low- rated MSNBC program on the air, which pathetic stunts are the most useful?

As former US Representative Joe Scarborough (R-FL) moves further to the left, for whatever reason, he continues to make a bigger fool out of himself than ever before. Given his history, that's not an easy feat (and click here to learn how Joe's former law partner is a key player at Air America Radio).

Now, using his space at the Huffington Post, Joe continues his recent "Is Bush Stupid?" world tour with a piece so sloppy, he can't seem to tell the difference between one's intellect and the ability to effectively communicate:

For the past six years George W. Bush has been the target of ridicule from liberal circles. But now, instead of laughing at Democrats’ ill-directed arrogance, Republicans are quietly joining the left in questioning the President’s intellectual prowess.

The biggest knock on Bush’s brain is his lack of intellectual curiosity. Former administration officials still close to the White House will tell you Mr. Bush detests dissent, embraces a narrow world view and is intellectually incurious.

Worse for this White House is the fact that George W. Bush has daily smackdowns with the English language and the English language usually wins.

His gaffes are funnier than most SNL skits. But more disturbing are his rambling, disjointed press conferences like the one he held earlier this week.

Friends and foes alike agree that George W. Bush is one political figure who gets worse with age. Look back at his performance as Texas governor and you will see a funny, self-assured public figure who inspires confidence. But these days, the mere opening of Mr. Bush’s mouth makes many GOP loyalists shake in their tasseled loafers.

So does it matter in the end whether our president is articulate and intelligent?

You bet your life, it does. I’m not saying we need to elect a dork like Michael Dukakis, who famously spent vacations at the beach reading books on Swedish land use or was so overwhelmed with the details of the old SALT treaties that he would sulk off to bed depressed.

But when America is fighting a global war on terror where the battle is for hearts and minds instead of beachheads and landing strips, we need a leader who can explain to friend and foe alike why America is in Iraq, why we keep sending arms to Israel and why liberal democracy really is preferable to Islamic fascism.

Right now, George W. Bush is not that leader.

At Newsbusters, Tim Graham believes Joe's strategy is to kiss up to the mainstream media in exchange for free publicity. From his piece:

...what one might call the Scarborough Syndrome: being a conservative host inside a liberal network -- not to mention a liberal network that has a history of changing prime-time hosts like socks -- might compel you to being more critical of Bush and conservatives.

In the study of MSNBC segments -- well, just this one -- Baker (author of WaPo story featuring Joe) also ignores that Scarborough, now anointing himself the avatar of intellectual curiosity, has often buried his viewers in tabloid piffle like the unending JonBenet Ramsey case, which isn't exactly honoring the intellect of your viewers.

Graham's point about survival at MSNBC is even more on target when considering Scarborough's weak ratings. From TVNewser, here's a recent look at them.

Before Joe's sorry show is finally cancelled, how much extra time has this cheap, anti- Bush stunt bought him? We'll soon find out.

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