Joe Scarborough Stripper Comment Response, MSNBC, Blogs

ON THE ATTACK

Nutty 'Morning Joe' Blames Blogs For Jeri Thompson Flap







Already in hot water over a nasty reference to GOP presidential contender Fred Thompson's wife, MSNBC's Joe Scarborough has dug an even deeper hole for himself by lashing out against the bloggers who reported the story.

And before anybody decides this issue can be put to rest, please see the final paragraphs of this post.

Led by The Palmetto Scoop, sites including this one have been taking Scarborough to task for suggesting that Jeri Thompson might be a stripper, a charge he now denies. Rather than apologize, Don Imus's morning show heir apparent has chosen to ridicule blogospheric opponents.

Hey 'Morning Joe', is it that hard to say you're sorry?

Here at the Radio Equalizer, we've been blasting Joe for years, see this post for background.


Palmetto Scoop has published this partial transcript of today's ill- considered tirade:

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.

Meanwhile, an Extreme Mortman emailer who is apparently a regular MSNBC guest gives this take on the situation:

This shows a complete lack of judgment on the part of Joe Scarborough because morning talk shows are all about spontaneity and repartee. He has now shown that when he makes a mistake, he doesn’t recognize fully the mistake he has made. He won’t apologize. And he won’t level with viewers about exactly what he has said.

He has compounded his problem. He has made it worse. Joe does great at 9 p.m. in a restricted format where there is usually a script. By not correcting this problem right away, he is showing he is not ready for prime morning time talk. Everyone makes a mistake. It’s how you correct it or not correct it, that’s the test. And he has failed it.

In addition, Newsbusters actually received a protest email from Scarborough himself! Click here to see their update.


Important: your Radio Equalizer has seen several bloggers indicate this is the flap's "final chapter". Because he is still the front- runner for MSNBC's morning drive slot, his track record should continue to remain in focus.

In both politics and the media, Joe has made it clear he's one of the bad guys and his hiring should be fought tooth and nail.

In particular, his past association with the GOP is damaging for conservatives which means that our opposition should be that much louder.


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