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Scarborough to McCain: "I'm Sorry"
William B. Plowman / AP Photo
MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough talks to Mark Salter about The Last Best Hope, his timely new book on how to save the conservative movement. In a wide-ranging conversation, the host of Morning Joe offers opinions on gay marriage, the mistakes of the Iraq war, and Barack Obama—and extends an apology to John McCain.
In his new book, The Last Best Hope: Restoring Conservatism and America’s Promise, MSNBC’s sole conservative, morning-show host Joe Scarborough, explains where Republicans went wrong and how they can recover their principles and popularity. We met in New York’s P.J. Clarke’s to discuss the book, the 2008 presidential campaign, and the profile of a successful conservative in the Obama era. Gracious, good humored and garrulous, Scarborough offered opinions on Donald Rumsfeld, gay marriage, the press, John McCain, and whether or not President Obama is really the greatest candidate since Ronald Reagan. Excerpts from our conversation:
Why did you write the book?
Because the conservative movement is at such a low point right now.... Conservatives have moved away from conservatism.... We responded to the radicalism of the 1960s with our own radicalism.... After 9/11, the president had a measured policy, but by 2005 he’s talking about ending tyranny across the globe. And I just sat back and wondered where all the Republicans had gone, who in the 1990s... kept talking about avoiding military adventurism.... I think we need to conserve the taxpayers’ money, conserve our military power and conserve the environment.
“Conservatives have moved away from conservatism,” says Scarborough. “We responded to the radicalism of the 1960s with our own radicalism.”
You argue Obama’s spending will inevitably lead to a new age of conservatism. Republicans have been pretty united in opposing it and trying to rebuild their brand as fiscal conservatives. But our numbers are low and getting lower, and Obama’s remain quite high.
The Last Best Hope: Restoring Conservatism and America's Promise. By Joe Scarborough.
Again, I think most Americans know after eight years Republicans inherited a $155 billion surplus and turned it into a $1 trillion deficit. They doubled the national debt from $5.7 trillion to $11 trillion.... I think that did more to destroy the Republican brand than anything. More than Katrina. More than the war. More than the fact that the president just couldn’t communicate his vision for America.... I think the one thing that unites most Americans with conservatives is restrained spending, smaller government. We make our assumptions based on spending as little of the taxpayers’ dollars as we possibly can. That doesn’t mean you engage in a false economy.... But let’s have a reasoned approach instead of having Barney Frank and Chris Dodd giving money to the banks and then calling the bank CEOs to their committees demanding they give out loans to people who can’t afford to repay the loans and start the same process we started in 1999.
Which was the bigger mistake? Going into Iraq in the first place? Or not sending enough troops?
The biggest mistake was going in there with insufficient force; allowing the looting to take place. Donald Rumsfeld’s light-footprint approach was about as disastrous as any military policy we’ve had.
Do you agree that hanging onto Rumsfeld that long was one of President Bush’s biggest mistakes?
Oh, my God, yes. Senator McCain got that right early on. He got Petraeus right as well.... When I hear conservatives attacking Colin Powell, saying he’s not a true conservative, Powell who... was pleading with the president to send more troops.... I tell you what, if Bush had listened to Colin Powell from the beginning, conservatives who loathe Colin Powell would probably still be in power.
John Talks Joe
Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
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Mark Salter is the former chief of staff to Senator John McCain and senior adviser to the McCain for President campaign.
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Mark Salter is the former chief of staff to Senator John McCain and senior adviser to the McCain for President campaign.
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Mark Salter is the former chief of staff to Senator John McCain and senior adviser to the McCain for President campaign.
"Describe the profile of a successful conservative in the Obama era in substance and style."
"Republicans who bring up Reagan"
Why do Republicans even bother bringing up Reagan?
The people he was allied with, we're at war with.
(Saddam Osama bin Ladin)
Bush economics was basically Reagonomics on steroids which failed miserably.
Why do they think they can win votes by repeating Reagons name over and over?
"[The] press... never wrote one article about the fact that Barack Obama ran the most negative campaign-objectively"
Oh yes it was so negative that they were calling JohnMcCain a terrorist, wait that was the conservative propaganda network Fox news.
"[The] press... never wrote one article about the fact that Barack Obama ran the most negative campaign-objectively"
That means that Obama spent a lot of ad time criticizing McCain's policies rather than talking about his own. Statements like that don't account for Willy Horton or Swift Boat ads.
I think it is more relevant that 60% of Americans thought that McCain's ads were unfair attacks, compared to 39% who thought Obama was unfair to McCain.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/20/poll.crisis/index.html
Chris Buckley says Joe Scarborough is going to save the Republican party. I wonder if he read this.
So according to Joe, the media, who he is a part of, is biased and solely to blame for McCain's defeat. Chris Dodd, Barney Frank, and poor people are to blame for the mortgage crisis. The only thing separating current Republican leaders from Reagan is the proper temperament. Obama is not bipartisan because he's not doing exactly what Republicans tell him to do. But Obama gets credit for keeping Gates and Petraeus. And Obama is nothing without his teleprompter. And the problem with social issues such as abortion and gay marriage is that the Democrats want the Federal government involved.
What a refreshing departure from the usual Republican whining. I'm sure the Republican party will rebound nicely if they only listen to the sage words of Joe Scarborough. /sarcasm.
Joe is constantly saying the media is in the tank for Obama.
Hmmm....you mean like the Morning Joe regulars are in the tank for their host/boss? To the point that no regulars (Mika, Mike, Willie) offer any opinion that is different from Joe's. They have to bring in Eugene Robinson, Jon Meacham or Ms. Freeland from the Financial Times to offer an opposing view. How sad?
I just see Scarborough as bitter man from the big losses in the 2008 election, seemingly jealous of Obama, a political revisionist and a ungracious host that bullies his guests:
To Jon Heilleman (sp): That is the stupidest thing you've ever said and you've said some stupid things.
To Ms. Freeland: You're in the tank for Obama.
To Jon Capehart: Clearly excluded Capehart and talked as if he and Willie were the only "real guys" on the show for a particular segment.
Not sure why the show is so popular. In any case I am no fan and so would never read a page of his book.
win :)
Mr. Salter is doing his best to restore John McCain's reputation, but the campaign is too fresh at this time for him to re-write history. I don't know what metric he or Joe S. are using to judge a negative campaign, but I think most people judge how low a person sinks, not the actual number of commericals that can be considered negative. Suggesting his opponent was a terrorist who wanted to teach kindergartners sex ed, having his wife go on statge with a shameful misleading attack, the list goes on. The other fact that McCain will never be able to run away from is his selection Of Palin, which made his mantra "Country First" a complete joke.
If Joe thinks that defining marriage should be left for each State to do, then does he support repealing the Destruction (err... Defense) of Marriage Act (DOMA)? That Federal action defined marriage at the Federal level and further stated that the Federal government would reject the decision of the States to define marriage. DOMA renders the debate about who should define marriage null because that question has been answered on a Federal level and must be repealed before the discussion can actually proceed. Further, if the Federal government is going to collect taxes, then how should it collect taxes from couples /families that are considered married/families in their States but not in all States? I admit that I haven't read the book -- only this interview -- but I would love to follow-up with Joe and ask him how he believe the IRS should handle the issue of giving tax breaks to married couples when the definition of who is married is a moving target when the States decide. If the Federal government is going to be involved in collected taxes and giving special consideration for those who it determines to be married, then does the Federal government not have a stake in defining marriage or accepting a State's definition of marriage?
McCain's slogan: "Country first, but don't you DARE ask voters to pay taxes to help the country." Or was it "Change We Can Count On By Doing More Of What Didn't Work The Past Eight Years"?
I wouldn't waste my time reading another book of conservative revisionist history. If I feel like reading fiction, I'll pick up one of the classics.
I said alot on the other article.First Joe might be right on target,by saying Colin Powell was right.How dare a pig like Limbaugh,talk about this US icon.That is the Republicans party problem whinning, criticizing,nastiness,condemming,...and Mc Cain could not win, no Republican could.Obama's Political team and machinery,his timing,he as the speaker and charisma he posseses,even if you disagree with him,you like him.!!Republicans,could not undo the force,that was Barrack Obama,he was the right man, at the right time,and in the right place.This country was sick of the Administration their actions, their lack of guidance and leadership and communication with the common persons.This President,might Yet Be The Greatest,or one of the Greatest Pres. in History. or in time
Continuing my irst paragraph,...Or He might not be the greatest. But he brought good will,hope,and change.And republicans,deal with it, and start to find who can stand up to this man. you have no one yet.Sara Palin is a force that creates emotions,but not the presidency,and Joe never.
So where's the discussion of Sarah Palin, Joe the Plumber and the other anti-science ignoramuses driving people away from the Republicans? As long as they continue to act like the party of stupid, they will be losing rational voters.
Exactly. But the Republicans are never going to acknowledge how polarizing their "leaders" are. They will yell and scream about everything for 4 years, trot out Rasmussen polls to support the idea that the country is center-right and the only reason they lose elections is that they keep running moderates like McCain. And then when they get trounced at the polls, they blame the media for it.
The bottom line is that the only thing Republicans have given voters in the past couple of years are many great reasons NOT to vote for them.
I agree. McCain lost not because he was too moderate. He lost because as a Republican in power, he was unable to openly criticize the last 8 years.
I've watched Morning Joe on MSNBC and I don't have a clue as to why he is the host. He is less intelligent than the group he leads. It appears that his co-hosts dumb-down their comments so Joe can understand them. I think it's quite amusing that Joe would attempt to write a book on anything. Judging on what this article states, a High School sophmore could have expressed more competency.
Joe Scarborough would rather the Republicans still be in power with the same Bush policies than Barack Obama and the Democrats. He has a great morning show (Mika is the best) Joe tends to loose me when he starts talking too much.
Barack Obama is a great politician. It's just too early to tell if he is going to be a great President. Dubya was a great politician too - you don't win the presidency twice if you're not. But he will go down as one of the worst Presidents of all time. McCain could have been a great President as well. But he was a lousy politician. His record in the Senate shows him to be very good at legislating and governing. But take him out of Arizona with all his wife's money, and put him in a state like New York or Florida or even Texas and let's see how good a politician he really is.
Joe - you need to give credit where it is due. And by the way, the early knock on Reagan was also that he was an actor and not sharp enough. What happened? He became known as the "Great Communicator". Just as the Dems underestimated Reagan, the GOP consistently underestimates Barack Obama.
I remember Dr.Zbigniew Brzezinski's searing comment to Scarsborough last December as they were discussing the Gaza conflict and Joe got stuck defending the Bush Administration's lack of engagement in the region. Dr. Z. clearly annoyed with his posturing said, "You know, you have such a stunningly superficial knowledge of what went on that it's almost embarrassing to listen to you." Ouch. So true and that covers his opinion on most topics. His role on the show seems to be relegated to deifying Ronald Reagan and promoting the so-called Conservative Agenda. That said you have to wonder why MSNBC insists on promoting this man as the last word on anything. Maybe the cute coffee mug stain on the logo (Morning Joe!) or the tendency to play classic rock music? I can't imagine it's for his depth of knowledge on any topic. I often feel sorry for White House Senior Reporter, Chuck Todd, who always looks as if he's about to roll his eyes whenever Joe starts hacking away at the current Administration on general principle before Todd even opens his mouth. It's a trainwreck but I can't look away.
Republicans like to invoke Reagan for two reasons. 1 - It's easier to say nice things about a dead guy, and 2 - have they really got anyone to hold up with pride from /this/ century?
It seems the most vocal and most active of the Republicans tend to be the most extremely right oriented, and they seem quite pleased to be alienating not only the Democrats, but any less extreme members of their own party as well.
The Bush43 administration left such a shambles in their wake, that no one wants to "continue in that fine tradition." There's no traction in that cess pit.
They could just bide their time and wait for opportune moments to sound like the voice of reason, but the more extreme elements won't sit still that long. Instead they raise clamorous fury and try to trigger the same knee jerk reactions which worked so well for them before.
I don't think it would be surprising if they had some sort of schism between the radical Republicans and the more rational members. If only the rational Republicans can come up with a good name and some branding savvy.
Maybe McCain was right about a few things, but I don't give a damn.
McCain is a 73 year old cancer survivor who is a hipshot decision-maker, and he would have been a disaster as President. How do I know that?
By looking at his first "executive" decision, the appointment of Sarah Palin as his VP candidate. That's enough for me.
Ah, the word "conservative" is like an IED - its connotations explode into a myriad of meanings. It's become a fundamentally fissured monolithic, standing alone, alienated from its etymology, an orphan in search of its roots. It can't survive its avatars, their nature being too arbitrary. It needs to be permanently erased from the political forum. And what new moniker could be scrawled in its place on the tabula rasa? Over to you, Mark and Joe.
Thank you.
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