MSNBC’s Scarborough: Obama has Never Earned a Paycheck

Last updated on August 10th, 2014 at 05:45 pm

MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough upped the anti-Obama rhetoric on his Morning Joe show today, by saying that President Obama has never earned a profit making paycheck in his life, yet he is running Wall St. and the auto industry, but Scarborough and Obama have both made a living practicing law and in politics, so has Scarborough also never earned a paycheck?

Here is the video courtesy of Think Progress:

Scarborough called Obama a radical and went back to the conservative talking points that Obama is a socialist who wants to centralize the economy, “Think about this: We have a president who has never received a paycheck. … This guy — think about it — he’s running Detroit, he’s running Wall Street, he’s gonna run other sectors of our economy. Andrew, he’s never received a check from a profit-making business in his entire life. Not one check. … Think about the radicalism of that!” The problem is that Joe comes from the same professions as Obama. They have made their money in law, politics, and media, (Scarborough through talking, and Obama through his books).

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Scarborough has definitely become more radical since Obama took office, but the key to MSNBC show’s success isn’t just Scarborough’s conservatism. The show works because of the political balance and personal chemistry between him and co-host Mika Brzezinski.

In this case, Scarborough was playing the Obama is radical socialist who hasn’t worked a real day in his life card. Unfortunately for Joe, except for the political ideology, he is in the same boat as Obama. While the hypocrisy of Scarborough’s rant is humorous, the attack behind it will be a GOP talking point for 2010 and 2012.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association