Morning Joe 8/14/2012 -- Cold selfishness

On Morning Joe today, Scarborough attempted to place himself on a pedestal as an example of a Republican who can articulate the ideology of "small" government, while lambasting Romney for failing to define the difference between himself and Ryan on Medicare. It was a confused tirade. I think Scarborough was saying that Romney should have taken the media bait in Florida and thrown Ryan and his budget plan to reform parts of Medicare under the bus. Mika showed frustration with Romney's lack of ability to articulate the ideology she despises. The funny thing was that when Mika asked Joe to show off his rhetorical skills, he didn't defend the limited government position as well as Romney has defended it lately. Both Mika and Joe and the entire Morning Joe crew claimed Romney can't articulate the vision, yet Romney is saying in his speeches exactly what the Morning Joe crew says that he should say. It's strange. Later, when Chris Matthews was refuting all that Scarborough was saying, Scarborough appeared to be unable to respond. The problem is that Scarborough doesn't believe in limited government, and so he can't explain the philosophy behind the concept -- he can only spout cliches. Romney's challenge is to go beyond the cliches, and this might be where Ryan is helpful. Ryan is an intellectual -- Romney is a business person with a desire to serve in political office -- Scarborough is a loud, obnoxious wannabe, who would act pragmatically in a government position and do whatever political power dictates he do. Romney has to supplement his business acumen with a philosophical foundation, but so far he's showing more understanding than Scarborough and the Centrist hecklers.

What makes it stranger is that Scarborough has supported a statist approach for as long as I've watched his show. Even this morning Joe called for government incentives to create economic growth. This is not "small" government. Government incentives created the housing boom and bust. As I've said before, anyone who uses "small" government to describe what should be called limited government, is either purposefully avoiding the clearer word - limited - or they don't understand the concept. Scarborough, I believe, doesn't like that someone outside the political realm is the candidate for the GOP. Many DC Centrist types don't like Romney. But, the DC Centrist types are a big part of the problem. I don't know if Romney will pull through and actually become a real opposition candidate, but it makes no sense to criticize the man when he's done nothing wrong. So far, Romney sounds a lot better than Obama or the Centrists.

Eugene Washington came on later and talked about his column in which he describes Romney and Ryan as cold and selfish rich guys who say I've go mine, against Obama who craves community and compassion toward the needy. That was the comedy section of Morning Joe.