"It goes back to hypocrisy. We Republicans, during impeachment, were so outraged that Democrats would bitch and moan behind the scenes and talk about what a disgrace Bill Clinton was, but then when they went on the House floor and the Senate floor, would fiercely defend him ... We would all scratch our heads and say, 'How could they do that? How could they go out and circle the wagons and say something they didn't believe?"

Democrats defended Clinton because Republicans were waging a partisan war in order to thwart the will of the American electorate. Maybe that's too subtle a point for him to understand.

JFP

The current poisonous political climate does not serve the American people. We desperately need people from all sides of the political spectrum to advocate for their own position without rancor, disingenuousness and hypocrisy.

Given where we are, it will also not serve the country to engage in a great "he hit me first" conversation. Mr. Scarborough is willing to articulate the hypocrisy of his own party members when that party is now running the country. I hope he is met with great openness by ideological friend and foe alike. We need more frank discussion and less partisan bickering.

He puzzles over why some Dems were bashing the Big Dog behind the scenes but rallied around him in the public square. We were not thrilled with Clinton and what he did, and some said so in public, and, yes, behind the scenes too - but we also knew his "crime" didn't affect affairs of state (until the rightwing screeching heads, in the press, and the body politic, made it so.) But the giddy Bush believers defend his continuing nonsense, even though they know in their hearts it is disastrous for this country. Just read any random four posts on National Review's childish blog, The Corner, and see their desperate scrambling to defend Bush and the GOP; what sad, unserious empty little suits they are. And the funny thing is, they KNOW it, but, of course, can never ever admit it. Even if it means snarling halfheartedly at their daddy, William F. Buckley. You know, sort of like the time a drunk W. came home surly and shitfaced and demanded to go "mano o mano" against his father, GHWB. Such classy people this crowd is, huh?

Joe Scarborough is a rarity on TV these days;

a true conservative who is true to his principles and doesn't stoop to the kind of shameless demagoguery that many of his contemporaries traffic in. I don't always agree with him but that is not important. What he brings to the table is a levelheadedness and the willingness to put country over party. If we are to do the same; that is, agree that the future of our country is more important than the election of a democratic congress, then it's people like Mr. Scarborough we need listen to and encourage to continue speaking their minds. Air America might be nice but mostly it's preaching to the converted. When people like Joe or Andrew Sullivan reevaluate their postion and say as much unapolegetically it changes the national discourse to something beyond hyperbole and talking points. For that I am thankful.

This left-leaning African-American single-mom Northern-progressive watches you every night. I love the enigma in you, and came to greatly appreciate you (and your wife and her six girlfriends) during Katrina - for God's sake, Man, you got off your ass and from behind your desk and did something for the people in the Gulf Coast who were truly suffering!

Mr. Scarborough is absolutely correct in a political world that has bastardardized the meaning of the world "absolute" - you're "either for us or a'gin' us", "absolutely no room to point out the flaws and failings of the people in charge (Republican Loyalists), or "heaven forbid we actually stand up the Administration [and to Queen Hillary] when its wrong and come up with creative, workable solutions, rebuild the Party from the ground up locally, work to make the red states bluer, including the South, and risk what? Losing elections?" (um, that would be the Democrats).

If you listen to the talking heads on TV and radio, one would believe that our country is split down the middle, politically polarized to the point of paralysis. This Just Ain't So in the populace. The vast majority of us are moderates-leaning either left or right-where we stand being determined by where we sit at the nation's dinner table determined by class and economics, the two determinations that become less fluid and mobile more and more every day.

I'm lucky to reside in a state that on in statewide elections i can actually consider-and vote for-a Republican candidate. This will not last if the media and the Grand Boobahs of the Special Interest groups continue to shove their Agendas-whole down the throats of those interested in becoming elected officials and journalists - no deviation for the platform allowed.

Oh, we won't go back to Jim Crow, Wire Hangers, and Sweatshops as the Democrats threaten will happen, nor will we go forward with humans marrying dogs, women getting government-sponsored abortions in the dressing rooms of T.J. Maxx or Queen Hillary and her all-girl cabinet calling for mass castration and concentration camp banishment of all men.

We just won't go forward anymore.

We have lost ground and will continue to do so long as we fight amongst ourselves, as we continually buy into the "if you vote for me and follow us and don't question or call or criticize or take issue, "for-or-a'gin".

Stay where you are Joe. Keep doin' what ya' do best. Good guys always come out on top. Besides, FOX has enough parakeets. Continue to speak your mind. Call 'em all on their bullshit, left and right alike!

Thank you Salon for a compelling interview and a good read about Joe Scarborough. I have to admit that he surprised me when reading his responses to the questions given to him. Although I am a proud lefty and my opinions probably differ very much compared to Mr. Scarborough's opinions, I have to admit I like that he remained proud to his political beliefs and, at the same time, realizes the changes of today's political spectrum compared to a few years ago. It is refreshing to see someone acknowledge the rules of "absolutes" in this administration and within the Republican party. I am tired of people, in both parties and everywhere esle, being called "traitors" because they question the president and his adminstration. This is supposed to be a democracy not a monarchy. George W. Bush is not a king. The Republican Party is not the royal court of the United States. Clearly, at the present time, the country is paying in the negative (in both international relations,the economy, the iraq war, the Isreali/Hezbollah conflict, and the immigration issue to name a few) because the questions we ask now were not asked those few years ago.

Good work Mr. Scarborough. You have turned a Scarborough Country hater into a compelled viewer who wonders what you will say next. Congrats.