MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough blasted Barack Obama’s decision to run for president in 2008 on Thursday’s Morning Joe, claiming Obama was “only in [office] for about two minutes before he decided he was bored with the Senate and wanted to be president.” Co-host Mika Brzezinski pushed back throughout the segment, suggesting that then-Sen. Obama was above “that fish bowl of idiots that nobody likes” – presumably veteran senators on Capitol Hill – when he announced his candidacy.
Scarborough was unrelenting in his criticism, though, contending that Obama’s tenure in the Oval Office is like “me running the chemistry lab, you know, at Princeton.” Unsurprisingly, the liberal panelists on Scarborough’s program came to the president’s defense and sought to demean three potential 2016 contenders for the GOP in the process.
Thomas Roberts
The Anthony Weiner scandal has gotten so ridiculous that even MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts can’t control himself. Appearing on MSNBC on July 30, Roberts responded to a clip of Weiner’s sexting partner appearing with Howard Stern that “this chick is bats**t.
The woman who’s real name is Sydney Leathers -- yes, that's her real name, stop laughing -- called out Anthony Weiner, who claimed since his original sexting scandal, has changed. Leathers’ response, “bulls***. I’m proof that you have not changed.” [See video below. Audio here.]
For years, MSNBC has made it clear where it stands on the issue of abortion in America: on the side of promoting abortion rights advocates against any restriction or regulation on the taking of unborn life. Unsurprisingly, one of MSNBC’s most fervent abortion activists is Thomas Roberts, who apart from using his daily MSNBC show to promote gay marriage, has taken it upon himself to rail against any abortion safety laws as limiting “choice.”
But on his July 30 program, Roberts took things a step further with Orwellian language designed to avoid the A-word. Clinics were instead "choice providers," according to Roberts. [See video after jump. MP3 audio here.]
MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts can’t seem to take off his liberal partisan hat when pretending to be a journalist on the “Lean Forward” network. Whether it be abortion or gay rights, Roberts would rather serve as a political activist for left-wing causes than actually be a fair and objective journalist.
Take for example the July 15 Morning Joe where Roberts filled-in as guest host to discuss the George Zimmerman murder trial. Roberts, like the rest of MSNBC, served as the PR team for the Martin family, responded to comments by panelist Mike Barnicle that his sons “have hit the American trifecta of privilege.” [See video after jump.]
In the wake of the jury’s "not guilty" verdict in the George Zimmerman second-degree murder trial, numerous voices in the liberal media have been railing against supposed racism in our justice system and American society in general. But for MSNBC anchor Thomas Roberts, the verdict is not merely a message about race relations in America; it is a commentary on the status of all Americans who are different.
Filling in as host on Sunday’s Weekends with Alex Witt, Roberts, an openly gay white anchor, was moderating a discussion of the Zimmerman case when he decided to jump in with commentary of his own. Addressing colleague Melissa Harris-Perry, who hosts a weekend program on the network and who happens to be black, Roberts declared, “I'll say it, honestly, there's a lot of white shame today.”
On his 11 a.m. ET hour MSNBC show on Monday, host Thomas Roberts condemned America's current social contract as being "so wrong," launching into an angry rant about the supposed persecution of certain groups in the country and making demands of his liberal network to move even farther left: "I want to challenge this network. We had to have an 'I am other' agenda..." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]
Roberts recited imagined lines of attack against such groups: "Being an other, whether it's LGBT, because you're then suspected of being a pedophile and a rabid disease carrier. And if you are a woman, well, you certainly don't have a right to your own body and your own reproductive health because if you do, then you're just a slut who wants to sleep around and use abortion as birth control. And then if you're Hispanic, well you're just a taker, you're not a maker, and you want to come here and have anchor babies and you just want to lay off the land."
When it comes to the subject of abortion, the folks at MSNBC fail to show any sense of objectivity or desire to offer viewers different points of view, standing clearly on the side of abortion rights absolutists. Take for example a July 15 discussion in which liberal MSNBCer Thomas Roberts brought on two pro-choice activists to lambast Republicans in Texas and North Carolina for passing new safety regulations for abortion clinics.
Roberts began his slanted segment by lamenting that, “2013 that shaping up to be the worst years for reproductive freedom since abortion was first legalized in this country.” Roberts then groaned that abortion clinics might close under the new laws:
The claim that raising the bar for clinics will increase women's health and safety. However the reality is all but five abortion clinics in Texas shown on the map created by Stand With Texas Women would be shut down. [See video after jump. MP3 audio here.]
Once again, Thomas Roberts seems to confuse his job as a news reporter with a Democratic political strategist. Appearing as a fill-in host on Morning Joe on July 3, Thomas Roberts continued the MSNBC “victory lap” for Texas state senator Wendy Davis by criticizing men for passing laws designed at creating safer health standards for abortion clinics.
At issue was a piece by Kathleen Parker who in the Washington Post commented that Ms. Davis shouldn’t be sainted for her filibuster and how “little less glee from the bleachers would seem more appropriate to the moment.” Roberts, who regularly uses liberal talking points during his 11:00 a.m. MSNBC show, brought his same talking points to Morning Joe, arguing that, “men should not care about the sanctity of sperm over a women's right to choose so much.” [See video after jump. MP3 audio here.]
In September 2012, MSNBC host Joe Scarborough took a shot at frequent Morning Joe panelist and guest host Mike Barnicle, griping that the liberal made his morning show a “Marxist variety hour.” That observation was justified again Tuesday, as guest host Barnicle’s all-liberal panel bashed House Republicans for the second day in a row – this time on immigration reform.
MSNBC host Thomas Roberts made perhaps the most outrageous claim, asserting that the 2012 election was the Republican Party’s “last real viable chance” at the presidency. Of course, Roberts – who reports the daily news for the Lean Forward network’s 11 a.m. hour – is supposed to be an objective reporter, but that hasn’t stopped him from making offensive remarks about Republicans in the past. [Video after the jump.]
When certain liberal politicians appear on MSNBC, Thomas Roberts tends to act less like a so-called journalist and more like a Democrat fan boy. Take for instance a June 28th interview with frequent MSNBC guest Nina Turner, Democratic state senator from Ohio, brought on to discuss a myriad of liberal pet issues.
Following a typical MSNBC interview in which Roberts and Turner tag-teamed to slam the GOP over abortion and voting rights, Roberts literally leaned forward to ask Ms. Turner some “big news, an announcement that you want to make right now?” [See video after jump. MP3 audio here.]
The folks at MSNBC were ecstatic this morning following the Supreme Court’s invalidation of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), but that joy exploded to Chris Matthews levels of tingledom during the 11:00 a.m. hour when President Obama decided to call the couple who took the Prop 8 case to court while they were being interviewed by network anchor and outspoken same-sex marriage advocate Thomas Roberts. [See video after jump. MP3 audio here.]
On Tuesday, successive MSNBC hosts used the failing health of former South African president Nelson Mandela to promote President Obama's upcoming trip to Africa. Daily Rundown host Chuck Todd lead the way when he announced: "We have some developing news that we just have to share. Nelson Mandela's daughter, Zindzi Mandela, tells NBC that she was with Nelson Mandela, that she told him of President Obama's upcoming visit to South Africa. And in Zindzi's words, she told him, quote, 'Obama is coming, and he opened his eyes and gave me a smile.'" [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]