Joe Scarborough: Paul Krugman Is Fanning “Left Wing Hate”
There was a truly fascinating moment on Morning Joe this morning, in which Joe Scarborough appeared to accuse Paul Krugman of fanning hate speech in a manner equivalent to what’s happening on the other side.
Scarborough was reacting, in a markedly defensive tone, to Krugman’s column this morning claiming that conservative media and establishment Republicans are feeding right wing extremism by trafficking in lies and whacked out conspiracy theories. Check out what Scarborough says around the 1:20 mark:
Scarborough:
“I’m just gonna say it. As somebody that has to sort through a lot of hate mail, a lot of hate email, a lot of viciousness. Paul Krugman’s name is attached to a lot of those emails. They use Paul Krugman as their shield for their left-wing hate. This is because Paul Krugman, like a lot of extremists on the right, they only see their side. They have a closed-minded world view. Paul Krugman uses this tragedy, uses this death to try to knock down his opponents on the right.”
Hmmm. Krugman is the equivalent of Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and other conservative commentators who traffic in the Obama birth certificate nonsense, insinuate that he’s a closet Muslim, and accuse Obama of being a socialist? Intriguing.
As I noted yesterday, Scarborough dismissed the DHS “right wing extremists” report back in April by chortling that DHS chief Janet Napolitano was “nuts.” Instead of saying, “Whoops, guess I blew that one, sorry, I’ll be more careful next time,” Scarborough’s response is to label someone a hate-monger for running the correction that he should be running.
As a side note, Scarborough’s claim today that critics of the DHS “right wing extremists” were mainly upset because it supposedly targeted veterans is a complete revision of history.
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C’on like Morning Joe would totally make things up…that’s Mika’s job isn’t it?
Greg~
As a regular viewer of MJ…imagine how disgusted I was when Joe actually opened the show with Rush’s comments that this wack Neo-Nazi was somehow a leftist, THEN he followed with Krugman…the viewer then had to rely on Willie Geist’s lame attempt to say that both sides were using this guy as political back and forth…what? As I have said, the most disappointing thing about Joe is that he shares one of Bush’s main character flaws…he CAN NOT say that he was wrong to overreact to the orignial DHS report…he railed on it for a few mornings…I watched it myself, and he was railing…also, there was a July 2008 report about right-wing domestic terrorism and returning vets (someone else posted the link to it yesterday on one of your posts) and nobody was up in arms over that one…so “good try Joe, but if you were so concerned about the implications toward returning veterans (ie. McVeigh and Nichols), then why weren’t you outraged last July?” -I am telling you, Joe’s lack of addressing his own personal overreaction to the DHS report, says so very much about his character…it is unfortunate that he is not man enough to admit his own role in the “outrage”.
Watching Morning Joe Doucheborough (h/t Jon Stewart) is just too masochistic for me. Same with insHannity, O’Reilly, Mad Rush, Beck, et al.
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Sincere thanks to youz guyz for enduring that stuff (so I don’t have to) to bring us a few entertaining, over-the-top instances of Wingnuts Gone Wild. We owe ya!
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Greg, I’ve been waiting for you to post on this. I was watching MJ and couldn’t believe it. Willie Geist is showing a Limbaugh clip and reading from Krugman as in, first one side, then the other side, as if this is even-handed. My husband and I started talking about actual left-wing extremists–Weather Underground, SDS, whatever. So I Google “left wing extremists”. First item that comes up is your post from April 15.
http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/political-media/obtained-dhs-memo-warning-of-left-wing-extremists/
You were on the case, and I, meantime, am asking myself why I keep putting Joe on. I think I’m done. Although Peggy Noonan was smart on Palin this morning.
“Now, for the most part, the likes of Fox News and the R.N.C. haven’t directly incited violence, despite Bill O’Reilly’s declarations that “some” called Dr. Tiller “Tiller the Baby Killer,” that he had “blood on his hands,” and that he was a “guy operating a death mill.”
“…for the most part…haven’t directly incited…”? If you’re going to print something like this, how about some specifics as opposed to inuendo. Krugman knows full well and intends that readers will read this as an implication of the opposite. He’s an expert at political speak just as are those who write/speak on the right. You’d best read everything any political columnist writes with a skeptical eye, not for what they mean, but for what they want you to believe is true.
Joe is on the defensive after his recent 90-minute Starbucks’ infomercial. Is he even relevant anymore? Was he ever relevant?
This is nothing more than Joe toeing the new GOP line on left-wing extremism. If you can’t dazzle them with knowledge, baffle them with BS.
Joe Scarborough is a bully, a dishonest debater and a whinger. I stopped watching Morning Joke. Mika is no better. She has no idea what she is doing on the show.
Scarborough should stop denegrating an esteemed economist as an agent for extremism. Has Joe no shame? -Kevo
You know, right after the election I made an effort internally to try to come to terms with the GOP and quit hating on them. I did – but they make it impossible to keep that up. It’s not US – it’s THEM. They hate this country apparently because all they want to do is tear every one of the things that makes us America apart.
Morning Joke has been creeping further and further towards the Rush-style since Obama was elected. He was always a right wing hack, but he’s becoming more visibly angry and defensive about it.
They round out the “panel” with more right-skewed commentary to try to gloss over his transformation, and had to add more because Mika’s pathetically transparent schtick got old real fast. Unfortuantely, Joke-boy just keeps pulling to the right – let’s hope he, some point soon, crosses the line and gets his worthless butt fired.
I wouldn’t say it is quite revisionist history Greg. Listening to Hannity’s Hate radio yesterday, he was focusing on the DHS report and its attention to vets. Some have focused on the details you linked to, but the impression I got from hate radio and some other shows was the main gripe they had was that the administration would rather go after our returning soldiers than focus on terrorists looking to detonate a nuke in our country.
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At least that’s the impression I got of the message they were trying to get across. It was just a continuation of the I’m more patriotic than you and pushing the meme of liberals always blame America and American’s first. That stuff ticks me off.
@Actuator: Great comment!
“He’s an expert at political speak just as are those who write/speak on the right. You’d best read everything any political columnist writes with a skeptical eye, not for what they mean, but for what they want you to believe is true.”
One hopes that you apply that same standard to the things that rightwingers say on radio and in the media.
Or do you just insist on this when it’s someone who is calling the Rightwing out for their continued hatefulness?
Interesting development here—-
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/06/12/far-right-shep-smith/
Looks like the right-wing nuttolia are getting all up in arms about Shepard Smith having the audacity to call out people for their “outrage” over the DHS report and then call attention to some of the “ugly” and “scary, scary” emails that he was receiving about the President…WOW…what happened to “fair and balanced”? Some are calling for him to be fired? Are these some of the same people that called for Napolitano’s resignation over the report? Do they even realize how hypocritical they look when they are attacking Shepard Smith? It seems like – truth be damned with these people, free speech and expression is just fine, as long as we agree with what you are saying…otherwise, forget it, if you don’t tow the line, to hell with you – Good Luck Shep…if they end up forcing you out, will you go for the 10pm slot at MSNBC or the 8pm slot at CNN…I would love to see you at either of those!!!
@mike from Arlington
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It is revisionist history. It’s a lie. It’s a fabrication. It’s not true. It’s deception. It’s…you get the idea.
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The DHS report doesn’t single out “returning soldiers rather than focus on terrorist groups” – at all. First off, it’s not making a comparison about the types of terrorists, so the entire “x is more of a threat than y” arguement is baseless.
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What it does point out is that veterans can sometimes be at risk of falling for this stuff because of their background – military being on factor that can have an effect.
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Have you forgotten that Timothy McVeigh was a veteran, as was the guy who just shot up the Holocaust museum? It doesn’t mean every vet is dangerous – the only people using that line is on the right (to attack the left). It does mean that we should make sure to take care of our veterans, so the likes of Rush and Beck don’t make them feel like the country they’ve fought for is falling apart and the only way to take it back is to shoot someone.
I think people are smart enough to realize von Brunn was not a leftist. I also think Fat Limbaugh’s influence over mainstream America left a long time ago. I think people are seeing right past the right’s rhetoric.
Paul Krigman has that whiff of a fanatic about him and no amount of left wing hate speach by his supporters can hide that fact. If the 89 year old white supremicist is going to be called a conervative, the it is fair to call the muslin fanatic that killed the soldier a “Progressive” as he only did what many of the Daily Kos types secretely wish they could do. In their hear of hearts, I have no doubt the hard left secretely pumped their fists in glee every time the KIA rate went up in Iraq during the Bush Years. Americans in name only.
I have E-ed MSNBC so often about the “Mourning JOKE show” ans it seem to get worse and worse every day. I was watching the JOKE with Andrea Mitchell as the old bUSH was flying and the seemed to thing that being dumb enough to jump out of a aeroplane shows that the first bUSH was not a wimp as Time headlined back when. PLEASE E- MSNBC and ask to remove the mourning JOKE show. wit loVe J Rome
J Rome | June 12th, 2009 at 02:19 pm wit minor correction
I have E-ed MSNBC so often about the “Mourning JOKE show” ans it seem to get worse and worse every day. I was watching the JOKE with Andrea Mitchell as the old bUSH was flying and he seemed to think that being dumb enough to jump out of a aeroplane shows that the first bUSH was not a wimp as Time headlined back when. PLEASE E- MSNBC and ask to remove the mourning JOKE show. wit loVe J Rome
Von Brunn was a frequent poster on the far-rightwing hate site “Free Republic”.
His hateful screed “Obama is Missing” is signed by him, IN HIS FULL NAME, James W. von Brunn, on December 02, 2008
It is still up on that site… check it out before it’s removed.
His Free Republic nick was “wannabegeek”… read his other rightwing hate posts.
I don’t know why the MSM is not covering this.
Google “Obama is Missing”
Here is a compilation of von Brunn’s racist rants on the far rightwing hate site, “Free Republic”.
See for yourself the thoughts of a racist, murdering rightwinger before they “vanish”…
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/by:wannabegeek/index?tab=comments;brevity=full;options=no-change
Mr. Blount above, you’ve provided a comment that professes knowledge of how others think. What a fool! Please stick with comments that reflect how you think – oh, that too is in your above comment. The answer is not very well! -Kevo
I watched a lot of Morning Joe during the election, because it had the best campaign guests on, and it was fun to watch Joe tear his own side to shreds and praise Obama to no end. Now that Obama is actually in power, that’s obviously all changed, and I can’t stand Joe’s pomposity and Mika’s flagrant stupidity. Can someone recommend a different morning show that won’t make me vomit?
Joe is not only correct, and if the MSM had only admitted it, Krug and the Left have been smearing conservs, Bush, Christians, GOPers all, for the last 8 years without any opposition from that same MSM. In fact, they were in the tank for the Dems then and surely are in the same tank for BHO and the socialist pacifists. Never has the MSM dissected the Left, Kos, Moveon, Newsweek, Krug and the massive left wing media screeds such as Keith the Hater O on MSNBC. Never. And when Joan Walsh on Salon blamed conservs, Talk Radio and Rush for the killing at the Holocaust Museum, it was the same old baloney the Left has always used to smear without facts. Good for Joe. Perhaps even some of the liberal lemming voters who were persuaded by the faux Messiah will have buyer’ s remorse over the socialist pacifist agenda the Dems and their allies now have. Oh and when will the Left, Obama and the MSM ever ever speak out against the Black Muslim who just killed an Army recruiter? You know the answer if you are not already brainwashed.
Tena, I think when I said “any political columnist” that made it all conclusive. I find Hannity to be just as offensive in this regard as any one out there. On both extremes they look for sound bite quotes or incidents to sway opinion without regard to context as long as it fits an agenda they support.
Oops, “all inclusive”.
I don’t have a lot of time but let me knock down a few strawmen flying around here.
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Right wing extremists do not equal conservatives to anybody other than conservatives who revel in victimhood. When the DHS report came out about left wing extremists came out you didn’t see regular liberal or progressive folks get up in arms because they had the common d@mn sense to know it wasn’t referring to them. Conservative pundits like Rush Limbaugh and Joke Scarborough know this too but they wanted to use the report as a political football against Pres Obama and Sec Napolitano. You see they don’t give a sh*t about the safety of American citizens, they only care about political gamesmanship.
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2. You know that the main hate mongerers are freaking out over these rash of killings because now they want to link the Holocaust shooter to liberals. I mean it would be funny if it wasn’t so sad. This guy wasn’t posting on DailyKos, he was posting on freerepublic. He wasn’t calling Pres Obama out for not releasing torture memos or not repealing DADT. He was ranting about Pres Obama not having a birth certificate. This is one lie that I don’t think ANYBODY is buying. Sorry try again.
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3. The major difference between any mainstream left wing pundit and a mainstream right wing pundit is that the left wing pundit usually focuses on the truth and their own opinion about it, while the right wing pundit makes up sh*t out of whole cloth then exhorts their followers to strike out before something bad happens. When leftys spoke out about Bush taking us to war on false pretenses we were right. When leftys spoke out about tax cuts ruining the economy we were right. When leftys spoke out about illegal wiretapping we were right. When leftys were talking about torture we were right.
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On the other hand rightys have come up with a Michelle Obama “whitey tape” that never existed. They have talked about birth certificates which are ridiculous. Rightys have yelled Socialism to no end with no justification. Rightys claim terrorists will walk among us which is bullsh*t. Rightys still to this day claim Pres Obama might be a muslim and thus a terrorist.
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But lets keep it real here, the word “conservative” does not appear in the DHS report. And even if it had there are “conservative” Democrats as well. This is about extremist ideology and if you don’t want to be associated with extreme views then perhaps you should find a better brand of pundit to listen to and follow rather than finding yourself aligned with people like Von Bruenner.
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Gotta run
@sg: From a comment by Tom Maguire:
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Here is the DHS description of right wing extremists:
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“(U) Rightwing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration.”
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And here is the corresponding definition from their report on left-wing extremism:
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“(U//FOUO) DHS/Office of Intelligence and Analysis defines leftwing extremists as groups or individuals who embrace radical elements of the anarchist, animal rights, or environmental movements and are often willing to violate the law to achieve their objectives.”
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So left-wing extremists are often willing to violate the law; right wing extremists can simply be anti-abortion or anti-immigration. Does Greg (sg) really not see the difference?”
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There is no reference to what these right wing extremists might do. There is only reference to what they might believe. The left wing defintion, on the other hand, makes clear reference to actions they might take in violation of the law. That’s a pretty damn big difference in the definitions. One report defines one group as willing to break the law and the other report defines a group as, perhaps, holding a certain belief.
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If the purpose of the report is to alert law enforcement about who to watch out for then what were they to do with this info? Obviously, they were to look for persons who fit the definition. If the definition is that they might believe these things – the things that many mainstream conservative groups believe – then who are they to look at as potential right wing ezxtremists? I find that fairly objectionable and worrisome.
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Consider this rewrite: “Left wing extremism … may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as support for gay marriage.”
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No it doesn’t say that all gay marriage supporters are violent left wing extremists, it merely tells us that we should be looking at gay marriage supporters because some of them are left wing extremists. I know a lot of liberal gay marriage supporters who would be furious about that.
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Pshaw!
sbj
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Whether you want to admit or not or just want to continue obfuscating the DHS report is based on actual data where by anti choice extremists have in the past employed terrorism by murdering doctors and bombing clinics. You can try to findd some kind of moral equivalence to being pro gay marriage al you want but until you can scour the internet and find me a case of a person who was pro gay marriage bombing or shooting people who are anti gay marriage, your analogy is patently laughable. All issues and all activists or even extremists are NOT created equal.
Joe talks so much he can’t remember what he has said. I say to Barnicle and Willie, get out while you can. Hang with lice and you get lousy. Joe is a disgrace the way he treats people including Mika who just sits there and lets him walk all over her. Her Dad must be ashamed.
Joe Scarborough is another Newt Gingrich. A guy who helped destroy his own party and the country, who now wants to give advice on how to fix what he screwed up. They both try to appear moderate, when they are actually right-winged kooks masquerading without hoods!
Isn’t Jow Bushblower the same guy who killed his intern and had to exit politics in a speedy way after it happened? He’s kind of like that ugly skinny broad who used to be a skinny ugly guy. I wouldn’t give him the time of day and will always lie to, rip off, or make fun of those who do listen to him. They deserve the worst, but hey, I enjoy doing my part!
Did you notice when people act and talk like Joe they only worship one thing,ha themselves. I only get my news from internet so I don’t have to get sick listening to the likes of people like Joe S. Go home to Florida with your family Joe. And also Mika ,saw clip when you drank your breakfast(Vodka). Really good example huh???????
You know, people, as a Veteran I am sick of being associated with Timothy McVeigh. That was one lone nutjob fifteen years ago! I defended this country honorably for six years in uniform, and the hate for veterans on the Left sickens me. It sickens us all. We’re the front line protecting you from the real extremists in this world!
You want to talk hate speech? How many on the Left called US soldiers in Iraq baby-killers? By the reasoning here, I could accuse Code Pink of inciting Pvt. Long’s shooting death and wounding of another soldier by anti-military hate freak in Little Rock, as you all now accuse Bill O’Reilly for Dr. Tiller’s shooting death.
I might also remind you all the only domestic terrorist on the FBI Most Wanted List is eco-terrorist Daniel Andreas San Diego, who set off two bombs in San Francisco. Shall we also so quickly forget how much of KILL BUSH death cult there was on the Left that included plays, movies, books, art exhibits, merchandising and even Randy Rhodes simulating Bush’s assassination on the air?
I despise extremists. Especially when those who were hate-spewing extremists not one year ago are now asking for the entire conservative movement and First Amendment to be shut down because of lone wack jobs that have always been a problem in this country.
Take a look in your mirrors, why don’t you? May those who did not favor Bush’s assassination, or spew wild conspiracy theories like ‘9/11 inside job’ yourselves for eight years straight cast the first stone.
I am going to take the advice of our President. There is nothing you can learn from these cable shows. As President Obama said , its like watching WWE, the arguments seem staged and everyone is trying to out do the other is saying the most outlandish thing. I find watching these cable new shows a waste of time. I get my news from the internet now so I can bybass the talking heads.
Joe of Morning Joe is Rush-Lite and a second rate neo-con that plays moderate with obvious mediocracy and an average IQ at best. I quit listening to that show years ago.
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