Joe Scarborough, MSNBC’s solitary leaner toward the center-right, was unavailable for Monday’s broadcast of Morning Joe. Without him to restrain her, Mika Brzezinski proceeded to make a piñata out of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s election comments, repeatedly accusing him of “race-baiting.”
This is odd, considering Mika insisted just a few days before that Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin was not race-baiting with his “back of the bus” comments about Loretta Lynch.
In her book, Netanyahu’s campaign was so outrageous that the United States should no longer treat him respectfully. “Anyone here...see any value in this point in the president being conciliatory toward Netanyahu at this time?...why be conciliatory?... to what end?”
Sam Stein, the Senior Political Editor of the Huffington Post, relayed the president’s thoughts on Netanyahu’s statements, “what angered him...more...was the prime minister's comments about Arab voters....[W]e obviously have our own issues with race in this country and the president has experienced them probably more than anyone, he took that very seriously.”
Not taking any time to contest the outrageous statement that President Obama suffered more racial injustice than anyone in America, Brzezinski instead repeatedly contended that Netanyahu was guilty of dishonesty and race baiting, “He either changed or lied about his position, number one. And number two, he race baited. Can I just say it? God!”
It was difficult to get a contrary opinion in edgewise, even when Brzezinski asked for one from the openly Democratic Donny Deutsch, “ Do you think he was honest before and after his election about a two-state solution?”
Before he could reply, Brzezinski answered for him, “No.”
Eventually, Deutsch was able to pitch his two cents in, “I think he is who he is and he's been pretty straightforward all along. And I think that the Republicans are really set up in 2016 because a lot of this country does line up with where Bibi is.”
Desperate to milk the issue for all its worth, Brzezinski asked Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, “what is the White House to do when they are reportedly visibly appalled by the behavior of Bibi Netanyahu, especially in the days leading up to his election, race baiting, and lying about whether or not he's going to keep his promises on the Palestinian state?”
Haass responded with the observation that “Both sides have problems.” That sounds like Scarborough.
Dan Senor, a former aide to President Bush, tried to argue that President Obama is “fixated on what Netanyahu said at the 11th hour of a heated, tough election campaign, which [he] knows full well candidates say things inartfully in the heat of campaigns and...he’s not...let[ting] the prime minister clarify what he said.”
Brzezinski remained unconvinced of Netanyahu’s innocence: “There's inartful, and then there's race baiting and telling something that is not true.”
Senor took her to task. “That's a little outrageous, Mika....The parties that Netanyahu was worried about...support unity with Hamas, support an Iranian nuclear arms deal that the Israelis are very worried about. Netanyahu was not marginalizing the voters that were turning out for those parties, he was simply using it as basis to get his vote out.”
With all this in mind, what exactly did Netanyahu say that provoked the charge of “race baiting” to the extent that it apparently made Brzezinski immune to these considerations?
He approved a Facebook post reading, “The right-wing government is in danger. Arab voters are going en masse to the polls. Left-wing NGOs are bringing them on buses.”
Transcript below:
SAM STEIN (Huffington Post): Also, I would say one thing I was struck by when we talked that what angered him almost more than the prime minister's comments about a two-state solution or the lack thereof in his time as leader of Israel was the prime minister's comments about Arab voters.
BRZEZINSKI: Race-baiting!
STEIN: The president took it very -- you know someone who obviously -- we obviously have our own issues with race in this country and the president has experienced them probably more than anyone, he took that very seriously. He thought that that was, you know, insulting, essentially, to a wide swath of Israeli voters. And, you know, that's not necessarily a gossipy thing to speak out about. That's about minority rights in a the one democracy in the Middle East.
...
BRZEZINSKI: He either changed or lied about his position, number one. And number two, he race baited.
RICHARD ENGEL: Yeah
BRZEZINSKI: Can I just say it?
ENGEL: What I’m saying is-
BRZEZINSKI: God!
ENGEL:-that if you want to talk about those real issues, those are real issues.
BRZEZINSKI: Those are real issues, yes.
ENGEL: But the idea of focusing on the personal chemistry between the two men is-
BRZEZINSKI: No, I was saying "poisonous" in a real way actually. I wasn't talking about whether or not they like each other or they're in or out. I was talking about what damage has been done. By the way, in part, by the Republican Party who fed into this and fed the flames, to make sure this damage happens. And now we have a situation where the relationship is uncomfortable.
DONNY DEUTSCH: Mika it wasn’t just the Republican Party. A lot of Democrats like myself lined up with Bibi and agreed with what he had to say and obviously there was a lot of grandstanding and-
BRZEZINSKI: Do you think he was honest before and after his election about a two-state solution?
DEUTSCH: Uh-
BRZEZINSKI: No.
DEUTSCH:I think -- I think he is who he is and he's been pretty straightforward all along. And I think that the Republicans are really set up in 2016 because a lot of this country does line up with where Bibi is....
BRZEZINSKI: Richard, what is the White House to do when they are reportedly visibly appalled by the behavior of Bibi Netanyahu, especially in the days leading up to his election, race baiting, and lying about whether or not he's going to keep his promises on the Palestinian state. There is a problem there, is there not? How do we overcome that?
RICHARD HAASS (President, Council on Foreign Relations): Both sides have problems. I think you know I think Bibi Netanyahu made a mistake in inviting John Boehner so quickly after the election. Again you can't continue to channel this relationship through the Congress if you're Israel. I think the president and his aides have to show some discipline, stop the public criticism of the Israeli Prime Minister. What we need to have is a good old-fashioned private conversation where the two of them learn to work together again. They don't have to like each other. They don't have to go retire together after both of them step down from office. What they've got to do is come up with ground rules for the conduct of their relationship that protects the core national interest of each side....
SENOR: I think he's fixated on what Netanyahu said at the 11th hour of a heated, tough election campaign, which the president knows full well candidates say things inartfully in the heat of campaigns and the idea that after the campaign once the prime minister is clarifying what he's saying, he’s not going let the prime minister clarify what he said, he’s going to hold him to something that he disagreed with at the 11th hour of a campaign.
BRZEZINSKI: So there's inartful, and then there's race baiting and telling something that is not true.
SENOR: Well hold on-
BRZEZINSKI: Those are different things, Dan Senor
SENOR: Hold on Hold on. This was not race baiting. I mean that's a little outrageous, Mika. He, the part-
BRZEZINSKI: How do you describe it?
SENOR: The parties that Netanyahu was worried about supporting a labor government, a national government in Israel support unity with Hamas, support an Iranian nuclear arms deal that the Israelis are very worried about. Netanyahu was not marginalizing the voters that were turning out for those parties, he was simply using it as basis to get his vote out. Again, the way he articulated it was inartful but that's not what's really going on here right? What's really going on here is the president is trying to delegitimize Netanyahu, and the reason he wants to delegitimize Netanyahu is because Netanyahu is the most articulate obstacle to the president's marketing his arms, his nuclear arms deal.
