Posted on 04/25/2013 4:26:19 AM PDT by servo1969
Over the past four months, former Florida Republican Rep. Joe Scarborough has used his “Morning Joe” program on MSNBC as a platform to be an outspoken critic of the National Rifle Association and anyone else standing in the way of what he calls “common sense” gun control legislation.
On more than one occasion over the past month, Scarborough has accused NRA-loyal Republicans of putting the interests of “rapists” ahead of other Americans.
“I can’t believe those Republicans are going to allow the entire Republican Party to be the party that basically put rapists’ rights over parents’ rights to keep their kids safe when they go to school,” Scarborough said on his April 8 program.
And after Republicans blocked an expansion on federal background checks for gun purchases last week, Scarborough declared that they were driving their party toward extinction.
But Scarborough hasn’t always been so passionate about restricting gun rights. In fact, prior to the 2003 start of his cable television career, he was among the most vehement defenders of gun rights.
In National Rifle Association questionnaires obtained exclusively by The Daily Caller — dated August 23, 1994, September 2, 1994, and June 7, 2000 — Scarborough declared his strong opposition to any federal effort to restrict gun rights.
Scarborough submitted two versions of the same questionnaire in 1994 because the first was apparently misplaced. TheDC has obtained both.
“The NRA must elect & support candidates who will view the gun rights issue as a constitutional battle,” Scarborough wrote on a 1994 questionnaire. “The founding fathers did not give us the 2nd Amendment to protect our rights to shoot ducks. Our constitutional right to bear arms is so we may protect our family in the manner we choose. No compromise!”
The year of his first round of questionnaires, 1994, was the same year California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein introduced the Federal Assault Weapons Ban. Then-President Bill Clinton would sign that legislation into law on September 13, 1994, creating a nationwide ban that would last for a decade on manufacturing military-looking firearms.
But just weeks before, Scarborough told the NRA that his personal definition of an “assault weapon” was “anything the government would deny the people from protecting themselves against the government” and “anything the government would fear the people could use to protect their rights.”
August 23, 1994:
September 2, 1994:
And despite his modern day support for background checks, in 2000, then-Rep. Joe Scarborough was, without qualification, a full-throated opponent to expanding federal background checks.
Among the three available multiple-choice answers, Scarborough circled, “I believe that gun sales by private citizens who are not engaged in an ongoing firearm business should not be subject to federal background check requirements, whether the sales take place at a gun show or elsewhere, as is the present practice. If elected, I would oppose further legislation.”
Also in that survey, Scarborough sided with the NRA by opposing federal limits on magazine capacity, licensing requirements from a government agency to “buy and/or own” a firearm, firearm registration and bans on certain types of ammo including “armor-piercing” ammunition.
Joe is a rank opportunist who will take whatever position advances his personal fortunes at any given moment in time.
I guess he had an epiphany after his intern...errr....died.
The new improved ‘got away with it’ mornin’ shmoe paradigm. NOW WITH MIKA!
Joe’s compromised, and stupid to boot.
I was going to say the same thing in a different way.
Joe has sold his principles to the big bucks.
He has his finger in the wind-—he thinks.
Funny what a man will do and say for money.
You can find link after link on this subject as to why a former Scarborough aide was found murdered in one of his offices.
To my knowledge this crime has never been solved and may be the reason Joker Joe is such a horses ass these days.
The other side,Axelrod et all,(You know the same people that blackmailed justice Stevens for buying his kids) is probably blackmailing him—it's what they do.
He was ranting about it again this morning making Mika proud of him.
Joe is no longer a congressman but, rather, a MSNBC anchor. His boss is no longer his constituents in Florida and his boss now is NBC. That’s who he now must be loyal to. Why does anyone here expect anything different?
Take anything he says now with a grain of salt.
Yes.
What he is, is bought and paid for. He likely started doing what it took to get a vote, now he just does as he is told.
Mr. Scarborough, were you lying then or are you lying now?
I assume he'll try to claim his "thinking" has "evolved."
Leftist extremists believe principles are like clothes: they fall out of fashion and need to be tossed in drawers or spare closets and replaced with new, and eventually given or thrown away. All they care about is appearances... until the day arrives when they, too, are tossed in drawers or spare closets because they're no longer fashionable.
this guy has lost anfy cridibility he ever had. Today he is quoting MAIG stastics. Any but the most low of low information viewers knows that any MAIG poll is going to reflect whatever Bloomberg wants it to say. Sacrborough will take the side of whomever signs his paycheck. Why not quote the Gallup poll which shows only 38% of respondents are in favor of stronger background checks. Be a little fair Joe!
I wonder how the question was asked in the MAIG poll?
On the other hand you have the likes of Rubio and Paul, both who claim to be the opposite of Joe, in that they were against it before they were for it.
Comment provided by...an American in Amerika!
Erra what intern?
Yes.... I was just trying to be humorous by channeling Teddy. He was very found of interns ( and booze ) too.
My thoughts exactly.
Scarborough is a company man like those I have worked for all of my life.
Like many middle managers I have worked for before they become management they have one opinion that differs from upper management after they become a middle manager they fall in like with upper management with not so much a sigh or a hiccup.
Joe knows which side of his toast is buttered.
It’s amazing what the mysterious death of a girl in your home Congressional office can do to “change” your attitude.
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