By now you’ve probably seen the clip of former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski on MSNBC’s Morning Joe today. In measured tones, he weighed in on the Gaza crisis with host Joe Scarborough. In return for his troubles, he was subjected to the traditional “Hamas shoots rockets at Israel, which has the right to defend itself by any means necessary” line.
At one point Brzezinski said:
“You know, you have such a stunningly superficial knowledge of what went on that it’s almost embarrassing to listen to you.”
It wasn’t just that Brzezinski slagged off (as the British say) Scarborough, who’s actually a benign example of a TV conservative, as opposed to the malign likes of O’Reilly, Hannity, and Beck. It’s that he shot down the conventional wisdom on Israel.
In fact, it was my favorite moment in the public affairs arena since President-elect Obama told Hillary Clinton, “You’re likeable enough.”
The moment was made that much more gratifying because Brzezinski’s daughter, Mika, is Scarborough’s co-host. She tried to make light of the moment, but by the end of the segment her head was in her hands out of chagrin. (It was probably her worst moment since June when, during a pet adoption segment, a dog vomited on her.)
You can be sure Daddy Z. would hear about it later.
Categories: Media/Entertainment
Progressive Culture | Scholars & Rogues 
I hadn’t seen it, Russ, thanks for bringing it to my attention. ZBriz apparently didn’t get the meme memo. Now if only our PE would begin sounding like that.
I work out in the morning and since I don’t want to watch infomercials or 22 minutes of local “news”( half of which is always weather) I like to watch Morning Joe because they have some pretty good guests once in a while. When Brzezinski said that I almost dropped my weights on my face. It was one of the greatest smackdown of a pundit since John Stewart made a fool out of Tucker Carlson.
If you watched after the commercial break when he was gone Joe talked to another guest who agreed with Joe’s point of view, so obviously Joe didn’t learn his lesson.
More talking heads need to be educated on-air this way. When they’re allowed to bray like jackasses as a matter of course they get to thinking that if it comes out of their mouths, it must be gospel.
Now, now. Even though there has been a lot of on-air angst about recent events in Gaza, you should remember that all the Israelis want is a little Lebensraum.
Oh, Russ. This is priceless. Zbigniew has reaffirmed my belief in the power of saying what you’re really thinking, especially in public, especially when everyone else is just playing along.
My theory: The presence of his daughter lulled him into thinking he could say what he usually says at the dinner table.
Could be. But I keep watching and thinking,”He just hit the mental bullshit wall and couldn’t take it anymore…”