It's one thing if government schools are merely indoctrinating America's children with woke propaganda, distorting their understanding of American history, and undermining their love of country. But when that starts to hurt Democrats at the polls, well then, Joe Scarborough is going to step up and sound the alarm!
On Wednesday's Morning Joe, Scarborough used the San Francisco recall election in which three far-left members of the school board lose in a landslide were an example of how, sadly, woke politics are really hurting "Democratic candidates."
As we've chronicled for over a decade, as here and here, snobby-elitist Scarborough — with a home in exclusive Jupiter, Florida — has mocked his conservative-blogger critics as a bunch of Cheeto-munching losers living in their mother's basement.
But this morning, Scarborough seemed to be saying that some of his liberal critics are also subterranean mommy-dwelling denizens.
Scarborough said that parents' opposition to woke politics being taught in schools has gone mainstream, and has "pissed off" not just conservatives in Virginia, but liberals in places like San Francisco, too. Scarborough:
This is a clear warning...I've been saying this for a couple years. People get really angry, some people in their mom's basement on Twitter get really angry, tweeting out, “How dare you talk about woke poli” — it — it — really — it pisses off liberals. It pisses off liberals as much as it does conservatives. Woke politics is actually really hurting Democratic candidates.
So Joe sounds the alarm! Democrats: lay off the woke politics in schools! It's hurting us at the polls!
Also of note was Mika vaguely describing one of the grievances against the recalled board members as being their attempt to alter "admissions requirements for one of the city's most prestigious high schools," which was Lowell High School.
In fact, the "change" in question was to totally abolish merit-based admissions, substituting a lottery system. That angered many Asian-American parents, whose children, under the merit system, have comprised a majority of the school's students.
Brzezinski reiterated this in the 7:30 a.m. Eastern half-hour as lead-in to a lengthy panel segment about what the election (and bad polling for Democrats like California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom) mean for the country.
There, Scarborough tag-teamed with Mike Barnicle and Donny Deutsch to again paint himself as in tune with those outside his bubble of fellow "elites," harkening back to a lesson he learned when running for office (click "expand"):
DONNY DEUTSCH: You gotta — the Democrats have got to step away from the super wokeness. I mean, San Francisco really tells what’s going on. You’ve got three school board members that were voted out by 70 percent because they're focusing on things like changing the name of schools. Abraham Lincoln on a school. George Washington on a school. This is not what voters care about. When it comes to school, they care about: Are kids safe? Are they getting the right education?
SCARBOROUGH: Are the schools open?
DEUTSCH: Are the schools open?
BRZEZINSKI: Yeah.
DEUTSCH: The thing — and this is a fact, this is not up for discussion and this is not even a moral discussion. This is a factual political discussion, that if you give the Republicans the ability to point to Democrats as this super woke culture focused on the wrong things that don't matter to voters, that don't matter to them putting food on the table, don't matter to their kids going to school, that don't matter the higher wages, you're going to lose. And it’s that simple. You need to step away from super wokeness.
(....)
BARNICLE: [M]ore of the more important issues in this country was unveiled for the umpteenth time yesterday in San Francisco with the — with the supervisors being voted out. And the issue is this, if you have a child who was 12 years old two years ago when the pandemic began, you can look at that child now in high school and think that that child has missed so much of life. Socialization, education, promise of perhaps college, gone, erased, taken from him or her because there's been no school for all practical purposes for two years for millions of American families. And they wake up each day and have each day for the past couple of years, wondering, school today? No school today? Virtual school today? Masks today? No masks today? Work today? No work today? Stay home today? What are we going to do?
BRZEZINSKI: Tests?
BARNICLE: So, the anxiety level in this country is like a pressure cooker, a pressure cooker.
(....)
SCARBOROUGH: I figured out pretty quickly they were voting for their best interest, for their kids' best interest, for their parents' best interest, for their schools' best interest. It was all stuff — let's just face it, it's the wealthy. It's the elites. It's the people in the ivory towers. It's those of us around the table. We can go, well, you know, I'm really concerned just generally about where the Republican — I mean, we have the luxury of being philosophical when we go into vote. The majority of Americans, they're trying to get by. They want their kids who are having emotional problems be able to go back to school. They want their small businesses, they want people to come into the stores again. We elites, Republican elites, Democratic elites, independent elites, have the luxury of sort of looking at it from 30,000 feet. Most Americans don't. So you're right, they vote for their family's best interest, and they should.
Joe Scarborough fretting that the teaching of woke politics in government schools is "really hurting Democratic candidates," was sponsored in part by Dove, Sandals, and CarShield.
Here's the transcript.
MSNBC's Morning Joe
February 16, 2022
6:04 a.m. Eastern[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Three San Francisco School Board Members Ousted in Landslide Recall Election]
BRZEINSKI: We're going now to turn to a developing story out of San Francisco, where voters last night ousted three members of its board of education in a landslide recall election.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: This is a huge story.
BRZEINSKI: Yeah.
SCARBOROUGH: Politically —
BRZEZINSKI: The recall —
SCARBOROUGH: — nationwide, this is a huge story.
BRZEINSKI: — the recall of each member was supported by more than 70 percent of voters. Critics accuse them of putting progressive politics over priorities like the pandemic. For example, the board was criticized for crying to rename schools when many parents —
SCARBOROUGH: Including schools named after Abraham Lincoln and Diane Feinstein.
BRZEINSKI: — and this is when many parents wanted to focus on the reopening of schools. Some of the schools targeted were named after Abraham Lincoln, as Joe said, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and even long-time U.S. Senator Diane Feinstein. The election also galvanized Asian-American parents after the board changed admissions requirements for one of the city's most prestigious high schools. San Francisco Mayor London Breed, who supported the recall, will now have to appoint replacements.
SCARBOROUGH: And, of course, Elise Jordan, the headline here is this is happening in San Francisco in one of the most Progressive cities in America. And you have parents — and this is a clear warning. We saw it from Virginia. We can now say, you know, from Norfolk to San Francisco, you have parents in the Virginia election enraged that schools were shut down for too long, there was too much distance learning. They were talking about critical race theory, which, of course, we heard is not taught in Virginia schools. Still, you're hearing the same thing about a rebellion — and I've been saying this for a couple years. People get really angry, some people in their mom's basement on Twitter get really angry, tweeting out, “How dare you talk about woke poli” — it — it — really — it pisses off liberals. It pisses off liberals as much as it does conservatives. Woke politics is actually really hurting democratic candidates. You take that and you take what, again, Asian-Americans and the feelings that, you know, they're actually being preyed upon, not just physically in violence but also politically. And it was a toxic mix and a very liberal city three out three progressive board members and it wasn't even close.
ELISE JORDAN: I mean, Joe, how happy would you be if you had won an election by 70 percent? That was pretty universal, the outcry from San Francisco parents and, like you said, it's just reverberating around the nation, the anger over misplaced priorities in our schools. Parents want their children back in a classroom and want them to not — [SIGNAL DROPS]
BRZEZINSKI: We're going to have more with Reverend Al on this a little bit later.
(....)
7:44 a.m. Eastern
MIKE BARNICLE: I'll take it down and boil it down to this. You can make a strong case, I think, that too many Democrats just don't speak in terms of the average American comprehending what they're saying.
BRZEZINSKI: Right.
BARNICLE: They don't use language that is understandable to the average American.
SCARBOROUGH: You’re talking democratic politicians?
BARNICLE: Huh?
SCARBOROUGH: Democratic politicians, you're saying?
BARNICLE: Yes, yes. Okay and what I mean by that is more of the more important issues in this country was unveiled for the umpteenth time yesterday in San Francisco with the — with the supervisors being voted out. And the issue is this, if you have a child who was 12 years old two years ago when the pandemic began, you can look at that child now in high school and think that that child has missed so much of life. Socialization, education, promise of perhaps college, gone, erased, taken from him or her because there's been no school for all practical purposes for two years for millions of American families. And they wake up each day and have each day for the past couple of years, wondering, school today? No school today? Virtual school today? Masks today? No masks today? Work today? No work today? Stay home today? What are we going to do?
BRZEZINSKI: Tests?
BARNICLE: So, the anxiety level in this country is like a pressure cooker, a pressure cooker.
EDDIE GLAUDE: That's right.
SCARBOROUGH: Yep.
GLAUDE: That's right.
BARNICLE: So, when they hear these, for lack of a better phrase, and I hate the phrase, woke Democrats talking about something that does not apply to them or their household —
BRZEZINSKI: Right.
BARNICLE: — where are they going to go? They’re going to go to two places. One is truly dangerous, they go online. That's where they live, online. That's where the ocean of hate and resentment and anxiety further fuels them and then the other place that they could go, unfortunately for the Democrats, the Republican Party.
BRZEZINSKI: Well, that's — that’s —
SCARBOROUGH: They're doing it.
BRZEZINSKI:— a little of what we were talking about at dinner last night and sort of, like, the Democrats, if there are three issues that I think people are looking for answers on, it's COVID and hat has been the Biden answer on that? And it's economy and it’s crime.
SCARBOROUGH: Yeah.
BRZEZINSKI: And how do they speak for themselves on those three issues so that they stand out.
SCARBOROUGH: Let's remember the three Cs here, Donnie. COVID, crime, cost of living.
BRZEZINSKI: Okay.
SCARBOROUGH: Those are the three issues. Democrats: COVID, crime, cost of living. Write it down on your blackboard. Write it down on your hand. COVID, crime, cost of living. Those are the three issues, Donnie, that people are going to be talking about. And when they step into the voting booth, that's what's going to drive the voters who are going to determine whether Republicans control the House and Senate or Democrats control the House and Senate.
(....)
7:47 a.m. Eastern
SCARBOROUGH: I figured out pretty quickly they were voting for their best interest, for their kids' best interest, for their parents' best interest, for their schools' best interest. It was all stuff — let's just face it, it's the wealthy. It's the elites. It's the people in the ivory towers. It's those of us around the table. We can go, well, you know, I'm really concerned just generally about where the Republican — I mean, we have the luxury of being philosophical when we go into vote. The majority of Americans, they're trying to get by. They want their kids who are having emotional problems be able to go back to school. They want their small businesses, they want people to come into the stores again. We elites, Republican elites, Democratic elites, independent elites, have the luxury of sort of looking at it from 30,000 feet. Most Americans don't. So you're right, they vote for their family's best interest, and they should.
