JOE says this....
"Count me as one conservative who is disappointed that President Obama's hometown will not be hosting the 2016 Olympic Games.
Chicago is a beautiful city that would have made a perfect backdrop for the Olympics. The President was right to fly to Copenhagen to try to land the games, not for the sake of his city, but for the good of his country. The fact President Obama failed makes me respect him more for taking the chance, and the fact many right-wing figures opposed the President's mission shows just how narrow-minded partisanship makes us all.
For the better part of 20 years, a bitterness has infected our politics that has weakened our country.
We Republicans spent eight years trying to delegitimize Bill Clinton.
Democrats spent the next eight years doing the same to George W. Bush.
Now that a Democrat is in the Oval Office again, it is the GOP who is trying to delegitimize a sitting president.
When I try to talk to Republicans about the need to break this cycle of viciousness, some cite the chapter and verse of every hateful left wing attack against George W. Bush.
Whenever I attempt to have a conversation with some Democrats about the need for us respect our president-- whether he be an Obama or a Bush-- I am told that Bush deserved whatever he got because he was a lying war criminal who hated the Constitution and loved torturing
people.
Fortunately, there are a growing number of Americans who believe we cannot continue going on this way.
You and I may disagree on how the CIA handled terror suspects. But that does not mean that you are soft on terrorism anymore than it means that I hate the Constitution.
You and I may have a different approach to Afghanistan. But just because you want to stay there another five years doesn't mean you are an imperialist. And if I believe a decade in that forsaken land is more than enough, that doesn't mean I'm soft on al Qaeda or the Taliban.
It just means that we view the world differently.
That creative tension--that intense give and take--has been what has kept America strong since Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton fought like hell in George Washington's White House.
Hamilton wanted a strong centralized government while Jefferson believed that the government that governed least governed best.
Both men were frustrated by the checks and balances that stood in the way of their agendas, but that debate shaped America for years to come.
But something has gone terribly wrong.
Today on Morning Joe, NBC News Legend Tom Brokaw remarked to Pat Buchanan about how the level of partisanship is even more intense today than during the depths of the Watergate crisis. Brokaw was commenting on Congressman Grayson's comments, but he could have easily
been talking about Joe Wilson or death panels or the bizarre claim that the President "hates all white people."
Some of the rhetoric is dangerous. But what we saw from some conservative corners regarding the President's failed Olympics bid was just plain stupid.
I'm happy for Rio and think it is past time that South America got a chance to host the Olympic Games. But put me down as one conservative who is glad my president flew across the ocean to try to bring the 2016 Games to America.
Nice try, President Obama. And thanks for taking time away from your young girls for the sake of your hometown and your country, Michelle. I know that's never an easy thing to do."
Thanks for that Joe!!
Can you imagine what this country would be like without the petty bickering, the hatefulness that goes on between the left and the right?? Wouldn't it be wonderful to live in this country with peace, with mutual respect. I would love to live like that!
I get up every morning to his show Morning Joe on MSNBC. Tomorrow I will look at Joe differently, Yup Joe, you are alright!!
9 comments:
Oh, don't give him too much credit.. lol He will be back to his Obama bashing on Monday morning I am sure...lol
He just had to get off his high horse because someone has called him down about some of the vitriol that is going on. He has denied so much of it, that now it is beginning to hit him in the face enough he has to try to tone it down...lol
I am glad he decided to speak out.. but I think he is doing it because he is planning a run for office again... that's all.
Scarborough is clever; he suckers people in with his appeals to sanity, reason and civility, but in reality he's a totally partisan hack. He will say something conciliatory and nice on occasion to appear fair, but mostly he just spews right wing crap.
i agree with annette, imo; he is getting ready to run. if not for prez. vp, then for senator. the repubs are looking for a fresh face to expand their circus tent. as long as they have the insano fringe element getting all the press. the repubs will go no where. if obama can inflate the economy one more time, he survives. if not, then i believe the repubs are groming a new face from the south, or the mid-west. there is even chatter that they will bring Patreus into this political circus. imho; we need a viable third party.
ZIR; lol, joe is "nice" to his side kick because he knows the true power behind the ZBIG family legacy. joe smells an opening, and knows it is now or never for him. we will be seeing more rethugs posing as centrists. do not be fooled.
damn guys you're bursting my bubble here! :-)
I know Joe is a partisan jerk but I think he's one of the saner republicans out there. I think it was a good thing for him to say this no matter what the reason. maybe it gets people thinking, which is really my reason for posting it. Thanks friends!
Sue, although I also commended Joe Scarborough for that statement at PP, I think we need to note a big difference here. We attacked Bush because he lied us into a war of aggression, trashed the Bill of Rights, committed war crimes, stole elections, vacationed while New Orleans drowned, etc. Those attacks had their basis in Bush's behavior. Although I also criticize Obama on occasion, the attacks against him from the right are based on only lies.
I just found your blog. I like it. Most everything is way over my head. But keep up the good work.
you are exactly right Tom. Lets see down the road a couple years whether Obama deserves to be critisized for atrosities that equal those of Bush. For me, its way too soon.
Hi Karen, thanks for stopping to comment.
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