It might be apocryphal, but the famous quote attributed to Pauline Kael, the late film critic of the New York Times, is along the lines of "how could Nixon have won? Nobody I know voted for him."
Mika Brzezinski had her Pauline Kael moment on today's Morning Joe. Mika declared herself "really surprised" by poll numbers showing there are more Americans dissatisfied with Hillary Clinton's response to Benghazi than there are people who think the congressional investigation into Benghazi is too partisan. Said Mika: "it's sort of like a disconnect I guess that I have with the people I talk to and the rest of the country."
Joe Scarborough said he was not surprised at all by the poll numbers: "it's been an article of faith in the mainstream media since this happened that this is some right-wing, Republican, crazy conspiracy theory." Scarborough said that when it comes to Benghazi "something happened there, something serious happened there," pointing out that before Benghazi, no ambassador had been murdered since 1979.
Give Mika credit for admitting to living in an elite bubble that is disconnected from the rest of the country. The next step is to escape that bubble. How about broadcasting a Morning Joe or two from my neck of the woods in Fort Worth, and inviting some real Amurricans onto the show?
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Tomorrow Hillary Clinton is scheduled to testify before the House select committee on Benghazi. But ahead of that we're looking at new poll numbers concerning Clinton's response to the 2012 terrorist attack and according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, 44% of Americans say they are unsatisfied with Clinton's response to the attack. 27% say they are satisfied. At the same time new poll numbers show that 36% of Americans think the current congressional investigation into the Benghazi attack is unfair and too partisan. 29% believe it's fair and impartial. Another 33% say they don't know enough about the investigation.
So of note in this poll, more people are unsatisfied with Clinton's response to the attack, 44%, than think the investigation is unfair or too partisan, 36%. I'm actually really surprised about that, Joe. It's sort of like a disconnect I guess that I have with the people I talk to and the rest of the country.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: I'm just not surprised at all. It has been an article of faith in the mainstream media since this happened that this is some right-wing, Republican, crazy conspiracy theory. We had Joe Klein on, a man I respect very much yesterday saying oh, ambassadors are killed all the time, diplomats. No, this hasn't happened since 1979.
I don't think this is the first thing on people's mind, but it has been an article of faith with liberals and it's been an article of faith with the mainstream media that if you just say the word Benghazi, everybody's going to roll their eyes. No, that's not the case. Something happened there, something serious happened there.
