Joe Scarborough has heard enough.
The typically cool-headed Morning Joe commentator went on a tirade Monday against his media colleagues who still parrot the GOP’s favorite lie about Kamala Harris—that no one knows where she stands on any policy.
Scarborough singled out the The New York Times’ Bret Stephens, who recently penned a column that claimed Harris spends too much time sharing her background and too little on answering questions about specific policies.
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Scarborough told his MSNBC viewers that Stephen’s claims, which others like Daniel Henninger of The Wall Street Journal have also shared, are “an absolute lie.” He added that Stephens “obviously hasn’t been watching the campaign.”
“Do you have no shame?” Scarborough later asked of the pair of columnists. “Do you really have no shame?”
Scarborough said he’s sick of the “false equivalency” between Trump, who often shares his broad policy beliefs without offering specifics, and Harris, who’s been speaking at length about her policy plans in recent weeks.
Scarborough’s wife and co-host, Mika Brzezinski, added that this discrepancy in expectations between the candidates doesn’t only come from the “anti, anti-Trump” crowd, but also from those in the mainstream media.
Stephens argued in the Times last week that Harris too often pivots to speaking on her middle-class upbringing and not on policy specifics. He singled out her answers in interviews with CNN and a local Philadelphia news station, claiming they were “lighter than air.”
Scarborough, himself a former GOP lawmaker, said that speaking about one’s personal past is a typical pivot for politicians in any party or race. He added that Harris’ occasional question dodging shouldn’t be criticized at the same level as Trump’s anti-Democratic rhetoric, like when he asserted he’d be a dictator on day one and seek to prosecute Joe Biden.
“Nobody has ever mocked a politician for actually talking about their background and how it influences their policy,” Scarborough said.
Scarborough said he finds it particularly frustrating to see Harris’ policy answers criticized when her responses are much more substantive—and coherent—than those given by Trump when he’s asked.
The Morning Joe host later commented that the U.S. has “officially entered silly season” in this election cycle.
“We’ve officially entered silly season when people I have read and respected all across the ideological spectrum are shaming themselves, trying to flatten this race out and trying to make Donald Trump seem normal next to Kamala Harris.”
