Morning Joe Has Some Brutal Words for Baltimore Mayor

[Surya Gayatri]

After the smoke cleared from the Baltimore riots Tuesday morning, the Morning Joe crew was left unimpressed with Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, whom they said “might not be up to the task” of calming a city angry over the police death of Freddie Gray.

Hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski called out Rawlings-Blake for her statement over the weekend that protesters needed “space to destroy,” which she has since said was taken out of context:

I want to clarify some remarks being taken out of context: I did not instruct police to give space to protesters seeking to create violence

— Mayor Rawlings-Blake (@MayorSRB) April 27, 2015

“She’s accusing the media and another critics of taking the line about giving those who we shall to destroy space to do that out of context,” Brzezinski said. “I don’t know how you can take that out of context. It’s just something she shouldn’t have said.”

But Scarborough said the worse crime was Rawlings-Blake’s veto of a bill from the City Council calling for body cameras on cops, saying a study needed to be done. The lack of cameras is one of the reasons no one has any idea yet how Gray’s spine became “virtually severed” during a ride in a police van.

“This mayor made sure she vetoed that bill, that the City Council told her we have to pass or really bad things are going to happen in Baltimore,” Scarborough said. “City Council was right.”

This is not entirely accurate. Rawlings-Blake openly supported the national call for body cameras, and objected at the time to the City Council’s authority to impose a department-wide mandate on police.

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/morning-joe-has-some-brutal-words-for-baltimore-mayor/

_____________________

Well, now that Morning Blow has weighed in, the way forward is clear. His commentary will surely be the last word.

[spanone]

1. i will never listen to his commentary...

[Surya Gayatri]

3. I don't even get MSNBC, but MJ was hightlighted on mediaite

and Mika's sycophancy was particularly blatant, so I brought it over here.

[global1]

2. I Don't Think A Cop With A Body Camera Would Have Sat In The Back Of That Van With Mr. Gray While...

he was being given a 'rough ride' in order to document it.

Mentioned above by Joe:

"The lack of cameras is one of the reasons no one has any idea yet how Gray’s spine became “virtually severed” during a ride in a police van."

Get my drift - Joe - huh????

[backscatter712]

4. This is why I no longer have cable TV.

Just internet. Cable "news" is such shite.

[FSogol]

5. Scarborough is a grandstanding chump dribbling out RW pap like an infant regurgitating chunks of milk

[appalachiablue]

6. I saw it. Those two focused on the mayor, repeatedly suggesting how she 'created space'

twisted to mean for rioting. Also how she delayed on the issuance of police body cams, so she's a 'villain'. Yet little to nothing about the young man initially killed that I saw. Don't usually watch this RW show, and won't again.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

7. Anyone with half a brain, and even Mika, knew what the Mayor meant.

[Angry Dragon]

8. Killer Joe has the answers

[Capt. Obvious]

9. I knew Morning Joe was the one to heal the city

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026580902

[alp227]

10. The full comments. Fusion debunked this right wing narrative about the mayor.

http://fusion.net/story/126587/the-odd-tactic-of-giving-baltimore-protesters-space-to-destroy-property/

I’ve made it very clear that I work with the police and instructed them to do everything that they could to make sure that the protesters were able to exercise their right to free speech. It’s a very delicate balancing act, because, while we tried to make sure that they were protected from the cars and the other things that were going on, we also (as a result) gave those who wished to destroy space to do that as well. And we worked very hard to keep that balance and to put ourselves in the best position to deescalate, and that’s what you saw.

She didn't ADVOCATE destroying. Another city official clarifies:

What she is saying within this statement was that there was an effort to give the peaceful demonstrators room to conduct their peaceful protests on Saturday. Unfortunately, as a result of providing the peaceful demonstrators with the space to share their message, that also meant that those seeking to incite violence also had the space to operate. The police sought to balance the rights of the peaceful demonstrators against the need to step in against those who were seeking to create violence.