Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough launched into an epic tirade castigating liberal favorite Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., for taking what he sees as uncontroversial stances, like calling for more money for health research and infrastructure, while not standing up to the special interests within the Democrat party – the unions – that block real reform on education and Amtrak.
Co-host Mika Brzezinski, a Warren fan, was barely able to get a word in edgewise as Scarborough skewered Warren.
“I’m sure as hell for funding more of NIH [National Institutes of Health]; we’ve talked about funding infrastructure. But is she going to support changes? Is she going to support real reform?” Scarborough asked rhetorically.
“We hear time and time again on this show, liberals coming on [and] saying do this, do that,” Scarborough said. “… There was only an earthquake in Nepal because we didn’t spend enough money in Washington, D.C. Everything goes back to that. We found out with the Amtrak train, it wasn’t about not spending too much money; it was because the union didn’t want do a cheap fix for the union’s sake.”
He continued a long string of rhetorical questions for Warren, should she join the show again: “Is Elizabeth Warren going to be all for reforming stupid workforce practices that make us unproductive and make us waste so much money? Is she going to be for reforming the union stranglehold on Amtrak reform? Is she going to be for more than just saying ‘taxpayers of Massachusetts, I know if you make $300,000 or $400,000 you pay 60 percent of your salary to taxes, fees and regulations, but I think that you’re greedy and you should pay 75 percent of your salaries to taxes, fees and regulations.’ ”
“[A]re you willing to make the reforms that maybe your special interests in public education won’t like? Are you willing to make the reforms that your unions that run Amtrak won’t like?” said Scarborough angrily, as Brzezinski attempted to defend Warren.
“Do you know what the answer is every time?” Scarborough asked.
“The answer is always no,” he said, answering his own question. “The answer is always no.”
“Let her come and stand up to unions, and stand up to why people died on the Amtrak train because the unions didn’t want to do a cheap fix. … Or why we spent more money per student in America on public education than anywhere else, but we don’t get the results because of the stranglehold of special interests that think public education is more about jobs than teaching kids,” he said.
“[T]here are special interests that Elizabeth Warren needs to stand up to,” Scarborough said. “… Let her stand up to the people that stop reform.”
