MSNBC "Morning Joe" - Transcript

Interview

MR. SCARBOROUGH: Look at this lineup.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: It's nice.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: The all-stars just keep cycling in.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: It's unbelievable.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: It's amazing.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: Yeah.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: Sam Brownback, who can tell you -- (inaudible) -- to deal with me.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: He doesn't need to tell me.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: Yeah. Margaret Carlson and the great Clarence Page.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: Thank you for coming in.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: Thank you all so much for being with us.

MR. PAGE: Good morning.

MS. CARLSON: Good morning.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: You have been in politics now for a very long time. We came in together in 1994. Before that, you were involved in --

SEN. BROWNBACK: That's not that long, Joe. We're not that old.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: -- (candidate ?) politics. You've been in politics over 20 years. You've met world leaders. My gosh, you've done everything. Tell me, what was it like the first time you met Sarah Palin?

MS. BRZEZINSKI: Yes.

SEN. BROWNBACK: I haven't met her yet.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: Oh, yes.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: (Inaudible.) Sam Brownback, thanks for coming.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: All right, thank you. Thank you. Have a great morning.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: I asked Kay Bailey Hutchison the same thing. She's never met her either.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: Well, go with the second question. Come on.

SEN. BROWNBACK: (You've got to ?) make up a story anyway.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: Would you ever pick a chief of staff, or if you were president, pick a --

MS. BRZEZINSKI: Running mate.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: -- vice presidential running mate that you had only met for two hours?

MS. BRZEZINSKI: It's a yes or no question.

SEN. BROWNBACK: Possibly.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: Oh, lord.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: Come on.

SEN. BROWNBACK: Seriously. I mean, Joe, really, look at this situation.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: This is ridiculous.

SEN. BROWNBACK: The base of this party was lethargic at best.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: Hold on one second. Who's your chief of staff?

SEN. BROWNBACK: He's right here -- Glen Chambers.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: Okay, how long --

MR. SCARBOROUGH: How long have you known Glen?

MS. BRZEZINSKI: -- before you chose him?

SEN. BROWNBACK: Well, he's worked with me a long time.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: Yeah, okay. Come on, Sam. It's indefensible.

SEN. BROWNBACK: How has the base of the party been prior to this pick?

MR. SCARBOROUGH: Oh, depressed, depressed. They've been horrible.

SEN. BROWNBACK: How are they now?

MR. SCARBOROUGH: Well, they're excited.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: That's a good answer.

SEN. BROWNBACK: They're pumped. And you've done it within a 60- day time period, and you've done it without upsetting independents and moderates that we've got to get as well.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: That's fair.

SEN. BROWNBACK: I mean, that is a phenomenal pick. I mean, you pick a guy like me that's well-known in the conservative movement, people, maybe the moderates in the middle or the independents are going, "Wait a minute. The guy's too pro-life. He's done this; he's done that." Here's a fresh face that comes in. It's a historic change. It's a female on the ballot on the Republican side. I mean, this could really be the big play that makes this thing move.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: Okay.

SEN. BROWNBACK: And she can identify with people in Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: Working mom.

SEN. BROWNBACK: I mean, here's a -- yeah, here's a lady that goes out and hunts and --

MR. SCARBOROUGH: Margaret Carlson, you know, even before Maureen Dowd wrote a column on Sunday, my wife saw the announcement and said, "This is a 'Lifetime' movie."

MS. CARLSON: Yeah, well, Erin Brockovich meets Annie Oakley.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: Yeah.

MS. CARLSON: It could work out beautifully. It could work out beautifully.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: But it's a big, big risk.

MS. CARLSON: It's a big gamble. And Republicans get upset with people who say it's a gamble, but that's why she was chosen --

MR. SCARBOROUGH: Oh, yeah.

MS. CARLSON: -- to shake things up, to be a risk, to be a surprise.

And then you say, "Well, but you didn't really vet her." And then they say, "Oh, yes, we did." But if you look at the calendar, when Joe Lieberman was pulled offstage as a possibility, the calendar tells you there was three or four days. So how possibly could you know? Now, blind dates work out sometimes.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: Sometimes.

MS. CARLSON: People get married.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: They work out. We've been saying that with FDR and Truman; but very rarely, Clarence Page, very rarely.

MS. CARLSON: Very rarely.

MR. PAGE: Well, Joe, you tell me. I understand Republicans don't think government is that important anyway, so therefore why spend a lot of time deciding who's going to run it?

MR. SCARBOROUGH: That's a great point.

MR. PAGE: Isn't that what it comes down to?

MR. SCARBOROUGH: And you know what?

MR. PAGE: It's more important to get somebody who looks good and sounds good, right?

MR. SCARBOROUGH: If we've got somebody who knows how to use their veto pen, unlike the current president of the United States, when spending bills push spending over -- the deficit over $500 billion, I'll take that if she just knows how to sign her name on a pork-barrel bill.

MR. PAGE: That's certainly George Will's view. That's the view of a lot of folks, that the job of the president ought to be to reduce government, just veto everything and try to --

MR. SCARBOROUGH: But isn't --

MR. PAGE: -- try to bring things to a dead halt, if you can.

MS. CARLSON: One of the things that McCain is finding out is that the reasons given for choosing her haven't all panned out. She was for the Bridge to Nowhere before she was against it. She raised taxes. She increased the budget. There were things that she did -- the earmarks, $20 million worth of earmarks -- that don't fit into the picture. So is she --

SEN. BROWNBACK: Yeah, but take this woman to Missouri, Ohio and Pennsylvania, key states. This is a lady that can connect. She's spunky.

MS. CARLSON: She's a good campaigning choice, Senator Sam.

SEN. BROWNBACK: She's spunky. I think she's going to be able to do that.

MS. CARLSON: She's a great campaigning choice --

MS. BRZEZINSKI: Senator Sam. (Laughs.)

MR. SCARBOROUGH: Do you know that Senator Sam and Margaret did the twist together with Colin Powell?

SEN. BROWNBACK: We could try it this morning.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: Let's not.

SEN. BROWNBACK: We'd better not go there.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: Why not?

MS. CARLSON: But, you know, there's one other thing. When Clarence says they don't care about governing, it's as if, because you're going to have two mavericks, two insurgents, they're home alone. Who's going to run the place? It's as if nobody needs to.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: Foreign policy. Foreign policy, Senator Sam. I mean, she doesn't have any --

SEN. BROWNBACK: John McCain's the best.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: But she's a heartbeat away from the presidency. Isn't the vice president supposed to --

SEN. BROWNBACK: Barack Obama will be the president if he's elected, and she has more foreign policy experience than he does.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: Clarence, haven't the Republicans taken --

MS. BRZEZINSKI: I'm not sure about that, but --

MR. SCARBOROUGH: -- the experience issue off the table by picking Sarah Palin?

MR. PAGE: Yes, they have.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: They can't attack Barack Obama anymore.

MR. PAGE: That's why I say obviously experience doesn't count.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: They're undermining their campaign.

MR. PAGE: You know, it used to be politics was Hollywood for ugly people, right? Now they're looking for beautiful people for politics. I don't know where a political reporter is supposed to go now, as far as I can tell. (Laughter.) But, you know, I mean, really, apparently --

SEN. BROWNBACK: Plastic surgery, I think.

MR. PAGE: -- the fact that Palin is vivacious, has a great voice, great looks -- Sam, you started out at National Public Radio, right?

SEN. BROWNBACK: I did --

MR. PAGE: I mean, you know --

SEN. BROWNBACK: -- years ago.

MR. PAGE: Right. You know about --

SEN. BROWNBACK: I was a broadcaster.

MR. PAGE: There you go. There you go.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: Margaret, you look -- again, you look at Sarah Palin on these magazines. She's probably going to be a hit with People and Us Weekly and McCall's and Cosmo.

MS. CARLSON: Hey, I like her. I like her. I mean, who wouldn't -- I mean, you know, you look at her. She's likable. Her story is really interesting. It's a great "Lifetime" movie. But I like Mika, too, but I don't want Mika to be vice president.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: No, you don't want mommy stumbling into the Oval Office on Ambien deciding what to do.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: I might be good.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: You really think so?

MS. BRZEZINSKI: As campaign manager or something.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: You know what? Work with her for a little bit. (Laughter.) If you were here for more than three hours, you might have a different opinion.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: You chose me. You made this choice.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: Clarence, thank you.

MR. PAGE: Good choice.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: Have you ever danced with Senator Sam? (Laughter.)

SEN. BROWNBACK: No, and it's not going to happen now either.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: Aren't you a Baptist or something? You can't dance.

SEN. BROWNBACK: No, I can dance. I just don't dance very well.

MS. CARLSON: It was in a charity event. He's allowed to dance for charity events.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: Okay, we have to go to a break.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: Good to see you.

SEN. BROWNBACK: Good to see you guys.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: Thank you so much.

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