“Morning Joe” co-hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough agreed Friday that it was “weak” for Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) to recount stories about her male colleagues inappropriately discussing her weight without identifying them by name.
Gillibrand raised the issue in a soon-to-be-released interview with People magazine while promoting her new book “Off The Sidelines.” She recalled how various male lawmakers called her “porky” or “chubby” in reference to her self-described struggle with weight after giving birth to her second child.
Brzezinski cited her own experience as a young page on Capitol Hill to argue that Gillibrand, as well as the women in media who supported her account, should’ve named the men who said inappropriate things to them.
“I felt like when I was telling the story of my experiences as a page like 1400 years ago and being pinched by [late senator] Strom Thurmond, I was like, ‘Oh, I named a name,'” Brzezinski said. “I noticed other reporters were talking about present-day Washington and saying they agree with Kirsten, that they have been spoken to this way as well. No one is naming names. And I think that’s actually, that’s weak.”
“I think it’s weak too,” Scarborough chimed in.
“She needs to name names for the sake of the women who are reprinted by these men who were sexually harassing her,” he added.
The hosts said Gillibrand was slated to appear on “Morning Joe” next week, so we’ll see how see reacts in person to that characterization.
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What a bunch of crap. This is just “he said/she said” journalism/punditry carried to its logical conclusion. There is no point in Gillibrand naming names unless she has evidence and unless there are witnesses or she has recordings, there is no evidence. In which case, naming names just results in a “he said/she said” disputation. Apparently, this is the only way TV pundits can function.
I was about to say exactly the same thing. “Naming names” here is about the need to fill cable news airtime.
The Senator’s decision to no name names is testament to her integrity no wonder the hosts of Morning Joke were offended - integrity being an alien concept to them!
OK, Joe. If that’s your standard, then why don’t you take the lead. Every time you talk about something you were supposedly told by one of your many, many sources you claim to have on The Hill, you have to name your source. Otherwise, shut up.
What a bunch of asses, do they think she memorized each degrading moment and wrote it down in her diary? Sometimes the clueless forget that they aren’t walking on water. It sounds like these may have been often enough that, while embarrassed and angered, she did what a lot of women do, suppressed it and went on with her life.
Hey guys we don’t remember all the a**** that we encounter in a day, and Gillibrand being in the kind of profession she is in, knows that to go around pointing fingers and naming names, won’t help one iota with her career. The right wing pundits are just waiting for her to open her mouth to start the slandering comments about hurting some “upstanding citizen’s” life. Or like the Politico employee who “didn’t believe” it will proclaim that she is lying. Look what they do murdered black people.
Once she names names, they will accuse her of asking for the extra attention, or they will get to that even now.
As far as Brzezinski is concerned she is just one of the “guys” when she talks like this, her job is to keep the spotlight on herself and clueless Joe. Hopefully she won’t be offended that I don’t see her as anything more than a pretty face to counter Joe.