Scarborough Country: Where Anti-Choice Extremism Is Swept Under the Rug
MSNBC's Joe Scarborough has provided scant coverage of the murder of Dr. George Tiller. Is the omission part of a broader sexist pattern?
This story first appeared on the Women's Media Center website.
The folks over at Fox News have taken to demonizing their MSNBC counterparts, accusing them of being radical tools of the far-left. But MSNBC's morning program is dominated by one of their own ideological brethren, Joe Scarborough. While the Scarborough of "Morning Joe" has painted a moderate sheen over his (admittedly affable at times) personality, his previous attachment to the more extreme wing of the anti-choice movement combined with a pattern of sexist behavior on television should be the cause of concern for women viewers.
Several times at the beginning of the week of the murder of Dr. George Tiller, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow went into some detail about the long and storied history of the violent anti-choice fringe, beginning with the murder of Dr. David Gunn in Pensacola. What she did not mention was that her colleague Scarborough was initially the pro-bono lawyer for Gunn's accused and later convicted killer, Michael Griffin. Scarborough, who at the time was about to run for Congress, where he served just under four terms, left the case after three months, leaving only after a final meeting with Griffin and Bob Kerrigan, who became the acting defense attorney on the case.
Village Voice investigative reporter Wayne Barrett wrote a blog post this week reminding readers of this connection, which he teased out in a 2008 cover story focusing on Scarborough's image makeover. According to Barrett's story, Scarborough brushes the episode aside as a "favor" because his then father-in-law and Griffin's father were friends. Griffin, however, has a different story. Says Barrett:
Griffin handwrote the Voice two long letters last year after we contacted him in prison, describing in depth his relationship with Scarborough. While Scarborough tried to minimize his ties in an interview, claiming he was merely doing "a favor for a friend" and briefly searching for a lawyer who'd take the case to trial, Griffin detailed Scarborough's efforts to stay on the case and work with the trail attorney. The court record itself shows that Scarborough told the judge he was prepared to try the case, and that he represented Griffin for nearly three months. Scarborough claimed that his then father-in-law was a friend of Griffin's father and that's why he did it, but neither would get on the phone and confirm that (not that it's much of an explanation.) Griffin's father contributed twice to Scarborough's campaign—$200 apiece.
Scarborough's championing of the anti-choice cause appears to have helped vault him into Congress. Barrett reports that the leading donors to Scarborough's campaign were from "pro-life" groups, and even more disturbingly, he voted against clinic worker protection measures when he arrived in the House, even though he had seen the violent result of an attack on a clinic worker.
Scarborough's ties, and even his votes, from a decade ago should not render him guilty by association—particularly since he's said so little one way or another about the matter. But Scarborough should own up to these episodes from his past for the sake of journalistic transparency. The host has effectively softened his touch and, as Barrett reports, has adjusted his hard-line conservative image by doing some good works, like getting his hometown to name a street after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He could do the same on this issue. But instead, bloggers report that he remained relatively silent on the Tiller murder, even as the headlines screamed across the bottom of the screen. Political blogger Taylor Marsh notes:
This in the same week “Morning Joe” relegated Dr. Tiller’s murder to quiet murmurs of “horrifying” and one mention in the “Morning Grind,” plus the crawl as a reminder of the carnage. But did they discuss it? Nah. After all, you wouldn’t want to put people off their Starbucks.
Barrett followed up with another post yesterday saying that Scarborough had yet to address the issue or his connection to it on three consecutive mornings. Whether Scarborough didn’t want to bring up the Tiller murder simply because it made him uncomfortable, or because he did not want his past involvement to come to light, or for another reason entirely, the omission suggests a conscious editorial decision to neglect a front-page story to which his own colleagues were devoting copious screen time. He could have chosen to acknowledge his past as an anti-choice politician with ties to extremists, and then opened up a discussion on the crime.
There is one more piece to the Scarborough puzzle, which may suggest why he's not eagerly talking about the abortion issue: his attitude towards women. Scarborough's demeanor and attitude towards his female colleagues and women in the public eye has perhaps been dwarfed by a litany of complaints about fellow MSNBC pundit and host Chris Matthews. However, there have been plenty of documented moments of Scarborough displaying condescending, bullying, or objectifying attitudes towards women. For example, he asked whether Presidential candidate Fred Thompson's wife "works the pole" a presumed reference towards stripping. He was a proponent of the obnoxious "Hillary cackle" theory. He once got so upset in a sparring match with Maddow that he ripped off his mike in disgust, although he's been able to argue with his male colleagues without such a display. And he once threatened his co-host, Mika Brzezinski, with “backhanding."
As for his influence, Scarborough is the host of three full hours of television—considerably more than Maddow. It should be in his interest, the public interest, and women's interest for him to come clean on his anti-choice connections, past and present, so there can be a vigorous and fair discussion of women's issues, including abortion-related ones, on his program. And hopefully if he ever hosts such a discussion, he will have the decency to stop himself from shouting down or marginalizing his female guests. Is that too much to ask?
Sarah Seltzer is a freelance writer based in New York City. She writes regularly about gender and pop culture for RH Reality Check, and has been published in Bitch, Venus Zine, and Publishers Weekly.
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Are you kidding?
I watch Morning Joe/Joe Scarborough most every morning. I like to get a flavor for what the "other side" is espousing. Joe is the most sexist and biased anchor of what is billed as a news talk show. The show (Joe) only deals with or reports on issues that he feels comfortable with and if you really want to see a frat boy party, just watch the interactions with Mika and Joe and the other "boys." It is disgusting.
Joe will not discuss issues unless the dialogue is in his favor, he constantly interrupts (more that Chris Matthews), and treats women and people of color like second class citizens. I think Joe has a great deal to hide (Tiller, the intern, etc.). Tiller is not the only time that JS has not discussed a top news story and it will not be the last. He is a fake and has no ethics. I do depend on him to let me know what his kind is thinking though :) Pretty soon he will be in an isolation booth such as Rush Limbaugh.
I love your opinion,i am
I love your opinion,i am 100% with you.
Appreciate the credit, but
Appreciate the credit, but my name on that second piece by Wayne was just a glitch.
Tony Ortega
Editor
The Village Voice
Credit where credit is due.
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tagged as:
- result
Tony, change made.
Clara Jeffery
Editor, Mother Jones
Morning Joe
Morning Joe is going down the tube at a fast rate. I used to listen to C-Span every morinig for over a decade. I have not watched them for more that 2 years. Their output is so biased, it is unwatchable. They deny this, but I know several persons in my family who do not watch is any more. Now Joe and Mika are running down Unions, Her comment that they interfere in the propesterity of the co, is beyond stupid. I imagine her family tree is mostly in the intellectual fields or Wall Street. That is no excuse for ignorance of the common folk and how they live. We have been destroyed by the GOP's in the last 30 years. Joe talks over everyone, so no competing position can be heard. P.S. What about the dead woman in Joe's office?
The reason for Joe's silence
The reason for Joe's silence is that this is one story that what remains of the rational Right wishes that this story would go away. If fully explored, it has the potential to show just how unhinged the Wrong, e.g. Faux Noise, HeadRush Limpbaugh, et.al. has become.
Myself I delight in seeing the Wrong being hoisted on its own petard--why are they soft on domestic terrorists? Because they only want to see Muslim terrorists, and not the Wrong's ideological brothers-in-arms sent off to gulags, waterboarded, etc?
Congressman Scarborough's Female Worker Was Found Dead 2001
http://www.americanpolitics.com/20010808Klausutis.html
Special Report
A Death in the Congressman's Office Does Anybody in the Press Care About Lori Klausutis? By Denis Wright and Chris George August 8, 2001 (APJP)
"FORT WALTON BEACH, FL. - Lori Klausutis, a 28-year-old office worker for Rep. Joe Scarborough (R-Fl), was found dead in the congressman's district office. Police said preliminary findings from the medical examiner's office showed no foul play or any outward indication of suicide."
Unbelievably, that was it. The story was simply dropped. A young female employee of one of Florida's Congressmen had died unexpectedly in the Congressman's office. There were no witnesses to her death and the cause of death was not apparent. Klausutis' boss, Joe Scarborough had recently resigned from Congress prematurely and unexpectedly, amid rumors about his marital fidelity and soon after a divorce. He had also abruptly resigned as publisher of the Independent Florida Sun, claiming that resigning from Congress and as publisher was necessary to spend more time with his sons.
Such circumstances make one pause. Sick to death of the clear bias of the corporate owned media, and suspicious of the odd nature of this death, we began to dig for answers. The more information we discovered, the more unlikely, and the more newsworthy the story became.
Here are the facts. Lori Klausutis had a seemingly happy life. A devoted husband who listed on his online homepage "being married to Lori" as one of the honors he enjoyed, a new home in Niceville and a Catholic congregation where she was a cantor and in whose choir she sang, were some of the elements of the Good Life she enjoyed. Her husband, Dr. Timothy Klausutis, did research and development for the munitions group at nearby Eglin Air Force Base, where he presumably made a good livelihood. Although Lori hailed from the Atlanta, Georgia area where she had attended school, there were numerous family members in the area. According to her obituary in the Fort Walton Daily News, Lori had served as President and, later, Treasurer, for the Emerald Coast Young Republicans and as a aide to Congressman Scarborough, she was active during the Florida recounts. A former neighbor, Barbara Cromer, said "Every morning, I would see her run while I walked. We'd wave to each other as we passed. I loved Lori so much. She was wonderful. She was a kind, generous person, so sweet.
Then, on Friday, July 20th, the body of Lori Klausutis, 28, was found slumped next to a desk on the floor of Florida Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough's Fort Walton Beach office where Lori had served as a constituent services coordinator since May, 1999. Her body was found around 8:00 a.m. on Friday morning by a couple arriving for an appointment. She had been dead for some time. A second employee, who would have normally arrived for work at around the same time, was away on vacation. Police cordoned off the area for investigation, later announcing that there was no reason to suspect foul play, nor were there signs of suicide.
Scarborough's office released a statement several hours after the discovery:
"My staff and family are greatly saddened by the loss of Lori Klausutis. I know Lori will be missed by the thousands of citizens who regularly contact my office to seek assistance with a variety of problems. May God grant Lori's family the grace, comfort and hope that will get them through this difficult time."
The Congressman returned to Florida that same day, and his office was quick to point out that it was not unusual for him to fly home for the weekend.
There was a great deal of ambiguity over whether Lori had suffered past medical problems. Scarborough's press secretary, Miguel Serrano, made mention of health problems in Lori's past, but could not be more specific. In response, Fort Walton Beach Police Chief Steve Hogue is quoted as saying "That's part of our investigation, checking into her medical history." Associate Medical Examiner Dr. Michael Berkland said "She had a past medical history that was significant, but it remains to be seen whether that played a role in her death". Soon after a member of the immediate family rejected out of hand that Lori had any significant medical problems. She was, in fact, quite an athlete, having recently run an 8K with a very respectable time and she belonged to the Northwest Florida Track Club.
The results of the mandated autopsy, however, were deemed "inconclusive" by Dr. Berkland, who ordered more specific toxicology tests. These results were expected by the middle of the following week, around the first or second day of August. Dr. Berkland commented at the time "This turns over several puzzle pieces in the case of her death and reveals more of the picture".
Joe Scarborough on MSNBC
I don’t recall if it was Rachael Maddow or Katrina vanden Heuvel who said to Joe Scarborough, “Let me finish my sentence before you dismiss me.“ This week the object of his contempt was Chrystia Freeland of The Economist, who dared to disagree with Joe's assertion that President Obama is presiding over an ideological Whitehouse. She could not get a word in edgewise. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036789/#31082242 I much prefer Morning Joe when Joe is absent, which is frequently (what is that about? and why do they make lame excuses for his absences?). He's about as stable as Susan Boyle but he has less talent and less appeal. His last book has been dismissed as "disappointingly mundane." So I guess he is in a snit and took it out on a very pregnant and highly regarded Rhodes Scholar, namely Ms. Freeland.
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Re:
This turns over several puzzle pieces in the case of her death and reveals more of the picture".
