Conservative MSNBC host Joe Scarborough on Wednesday defended Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus' decision to pull debates off of NBC and CNN if the networks went forward with movies about Hillary Clinton, saying that MSNBC was "exactly the same" as Fox News.
Speaking to Fox News host Sean Hannity on Monday, Priebus had explained that he had threatened to blackball CNN and MSNBC in an attempt to "control the referees."
"I think it’s just about time that our party stands up and protects the party and our candidates from networks that are not in the business of promoting our party," Priebus said. "They’re not in the business of promoting our candidates. They’re not in the business of doing anything but promoting the Democratic party, and I’m not gonna sit around and watch this happen anymore.”
Morning Joe host Mika Brzezinski told Scarborough on Wednesday that she understood Priebus' argument, "except that the Republicans have their own network that has a president that goes and asks people to run for the party."
"And until Reince Priebus is demanding that Fox do some really great pieces on Democrats and documentaries, I’m not sure it is completely a perfect argument," Brzezinski said.
"What about MSNBC?" Scarborough replied.
"What about it? Look at our show," Brzezinski pointed out.
"I don't see the CNN problem," Scarborough opined. "If there's a problem it's actually -- uh oh -- it's actually more with NBC, as far as if they do this splashy biopic, and it's a beautiful biography of Hillary Clinton. That's a bigger problem."
"Every time you bring up Fox, you've got to bring up MSNBC," he added.
“Not really. Because I don’t see MSNBC going after Democratic presidential candidates and trying to hire them or trying to push them into forefront," Brzezinski insisted. "And everything you read is that [Fox News President] Roger Ailes gets behind Republican candidates, he hires them, he puts them on the air. It is a mouthpiece for the Republican Party."
"I'm sorry, I can't just be quiet here. What do you think MSNBC is at night?" Scarborough remarked. "It is exactly the same!"
"It's not the same at all," Brzezinski observed.
"Of course you don't think so because you're a Democrat!" Scarborough exclaimed. "Whereas, I am fair-minded and down-the-middle and in so much trouble right now I really need to be calling my agent."
Watch this video from MSNBC's Morning Joe, broadcast Aug. 7, 2013.
