Looks like Joe Scarborough aims to single-handedly winnow the Republican presidential field. A few weeks ago, the Morning Joe host dismissed Michele Bachmann as "a joke." Today—not for the first time, as NB's Scott Whitlock documented—Scarborough proclaimed that there is "no way" Rick Perry could beat Barack Obama.
Scarborough, imagining an anti-Perry ad, surmised that Perry's statements on Social Security, the selection of US Senators and secession would come back to haunt him. View video after the jump.
Watch Joe jump all over Perry, along the way dismissing Pat Buchanan's parallels between the Texas governor and Ronald Reagan, who before running for President had also uttered statements some found controversial.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: You put that in a 30-second commercial, that Rick Perry does not believe that the United States Senate should not be voted on democratically, you put there that he calls Social Security, he says, a Ponzi scheme that causes, quote, violence to American values. You know, I'm kind of thinking, he might lose the middle. There's some people out there [who say] Joe Scarborough's not a real Republican. Which I guess, you can only define yourself as a real Republican in 2011 by supporting candidates that can not win. If that is your definition of a real Republican, I'm not a real Republican. Because, guess what? I like winning.
A bit later, Scarborough rejected Pat Buchanan's analogy to Ronald Reagan, who had made statements some found controversial prior to running for president.
SCARBOROUGH: Unfortunately for Rick Perry, he didn't write his book 10 years ago. He wrote it last year. This is the same Rick Perry who talked about seceding from the Union a couple of years ago. This is the same guy that said Social Security caused violence to American values, basic American values. This is the same guy a year ago saying the United States Senate should not be voted upon by the people. I'm sorry, but --
PAT BUCHANAN: And right now, the country knows a lot of these things, Joe, and he's running fairly close to the President of the United States.
STEVE RATTNER: Come on, Pat. They don't know any of these things.
SCARBOROUGH: You know I love you, Pat. You are way out there on this. There is no way Rick Perry can win a general election. No way. Press the record button, Texas: there is no way Rick Perry can win a general election. No way.
Joe did leave himself a light-hearted little out: "unless you bring us back the day after he wins a general election."
