Seasoned troll and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) took his beef with Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski to the Senate floor on Wednesday, bashing the MSNBC hosts for their interview with the billionaire Koch brothers earlier this week.
Reid called the “Morning Joe” interview with conservative mega-donors Charles and David Koch an example of the media catering to “modern-day robber barons,” and read aloud his favorite excerpts from the segment.
“Wow. Those were some really tough questions asked by the host of ‘Morning Joe.’ That’s sufficient journalism,” Reid said on the Senate floor, after reading excepts of the hosts asking the brothers if they play rugby together and whether their “graciousness” came from their mother.
He continued: “Those questions are so easy, they may even qualify them to moderate the next Republican presidential debate.”
Reid also said “most of the time there weren’t even questions. There were just compliments” during Scarborough and Brzezinski’s sit-down with the Kochs in the brothers’ hometown of Wichita, Kansas.
“It seems that some journalists are determined not to get on the wrong side of the Koch brothers and their billions,” he said. “When the media rolls over for these modern-day robber barons as it’s doing now, our country’s in trouble.”
Scarborough and Brzezinski shied away from pressing the billionaire brothers on substantive policy issues, including the nearly $1 billion they expect to contribute to 2016 races, during the interview.
Scarborough fired back on Wednesday in a statement to Politico, saying that Reid is “blinded” by hate.
“It is easy to understand why Harry Reid is enraged by the kind of thoughtful discussions we have with our Democratic and Republican guests on Morning Joe,” Scarborough said in the statement. “In fact, [Charles Koch] saved his harshest criticisms for Republicans he once supported.”
Scarborough’s “blinded” remark was particularly pointed given Reid’s significant eye injury earlier this year. The Nevada senator temporarily lost vision in his right eye after a nasty accident with an exercise band, leading to months of recovery and a lawsuit against the manufacturer.
Scarborough, an ex-congressman, also tweeted Reid is “still bitter” that his “dumb strategy” to focus on the Kochs has cost Democrats.
Guess you’re still bitter because your dumb strategy to focus so much on the Kochs cost Democrats the majority #Duh https://t.co/OJhlzYUnk9
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) November 4, 2015
Hey Harry, sorry I can’t pull off that Joseph McCarthy routine as good as you hatefully calling people un-American. https://t.co/OJhlzYUnk9
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) November 4, 2015
In January this year, Brzezinski, the so-called “liberal” foil to conservative Scarborough, announced on the show she had seen the light on the Koch brothers after attending a Koch-backed retreat in Palm Springs.
“I thought the different programs they have had, the conversations they had, addressed really interesting questions,” Brzezinski said about the event.
The interview was billed as a historic get for the left-leaning MSNBC, and for the network’s tentpole morning news talk show.
