I’m not the biggest fan of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program and don’t watch it live regularly. But I know that a lot of people pay attention to what’s talked about on the show, particularly the DC politico/pundit class, and I’ll sometimes watch clips on the show on YouTube. Anyway, Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski had a righteous rant on this morning’s show that I felt was worth spotlighting and sharing — it part because it was a great rant and in part because it addresses an issue that I think is something of an elephant in the room for the presidential campaign — namely, is America ready to elect a woman to be president?
A clearly pissed off Brzezinski pushed back hard against people who may ask that question.
"I think a lot of women across America were proud to be women when they watched Kamala Harris on the debate stage; it was her moment, she took it, she nailed it. It's just funny to me to hear that it's even an issue for some people. I know it may be: 'Oh, Kamala Harris is a woman of color, she's a woman. Are Americans ready?' I immediately think, are they ready? What, are they ready for a psychopath? Are they ready for someone who wants to use the government to commit retribution against all of his opponents for no reason at all? Who wants to destroy our democracy? That's not an exaggeration. That's not rhetoric. That's what he said. That's what he has been doing."
…
"Are we ready for that? That's the question. I don't want to hear, 'Are we ready for a woman?' That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard! That's what's gotten us here!"
…
"Are we ready for a woman? That's not the question, I think, that should be asked."
"It's like, are we ready to have...someone who seems to have psychotic tendencies running our government, who has plans to do things that are very counter to our democracy, and has already hurt women terribly, monstrously; already, happening now in this country?"
Brzezinski then got into a conversation with Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson, who agreed with everything that she said but also acknowledged that, sadly, it may still be an issue for some people in our country. “I do think that there’s some sort of deep-seated sexism, misogyny...that has not been purged from the American psyche.” (“Oh, it’s deep-seated,” Brzezinski responded.) After citing how immensely more qualified and capable Harris is to be president compared to Trump, Robinson concluded, “I hope that we’re ready to cross that threshold. I hope that this nation is not still hung up on electing a woman as president.
Brzezinski concluded with another powerful statement:
“I feel like there was an opportunity with 70 million or so watching that perhaps seeing how Kamala Harris handled Donald Trump in the debate, maybe even for some Republicans, maybe her answers might not have been as fulsome on the economy or you may not like her policies or even the plans that she has. But you can’t deny what you saw on the stage was a woman who was completely prepared to speak truth to power, and to take on Donald Trump in ways that nobody has been able to — not a TV moderator, not a candidate, not nobody. She did what nobody (could) do, as a woman. I hope that helps some of the misogynists out there move the meter a little bit on decisions about whether or not women are capable of leading.”
Right on. I have to admit that I sometimes get quite frustrated when I hear a political pundit, or a so-called “undecided” voter, continue to express questions or concerns about Harris, or continue to raise the bar for Harris, based on nothing rational. “I need to know more about her,” they say, or “I need to know more about her positions.” And I think to myself, what more can she possibly do? Then I sit back and realize, Oh, there’s probably nothing she can really do for some of these folks. I’ve learned from experience that when you’re in a situation like that where people’s responses to an excellent person don’t make sense, it’s probably due to some deep-seated discriminatory views. Here’s hoping that enough people in this country can get over that.
You can watch the full clip here:
