On "Morning Joe" Monday morning, host Joe Scarborough can't seem to shake his "fascination" with comparing allegations against former president Bill Clinton with those that led to the arrest of comedian Bill Cosby last wekk.
"I wonder how the public looks at Bill Cosby and says, ‘this beloved man, who changed American culture as much as any entertainment figure in our lifetime, is going to have to be accountable for the way he treated women behind closed doors.' How does a public that has come to that conclusion say, ‘the Bill Clinton’s stuff OK’?" He asked Harold Ford in one segment.
Ford shot back, "raising your voice at me doesn't make this right -- comparing Clinton to Bill Cosby is wrong."
"I'm fascinated to hear why comparing Bill Clinton to Bill Cosby is 'wrong,'" he replied.
Ford replied that their cases "are completely different," including the fact that the number of women accusing Cosby approaches fifty, and the "facts are very, very different." He added that "if Bill Clinton's political career wasn't undone by these [allegations], why should Hillary Clinton's?"
Scarborough insisted that Hillary's inaction -- the extent to which she failed to protect other women from her husband -- could become an issue on the campaign. "This is all about Hillary Clinton's treatment of women who may have been sexually abused," he said.
In other segments, Scarborough asked GOP hopefuls Jeb Bush and John Kasich whether it's "fair game" to attack Hillary Clinton through her husband. Kasich replied, "I don't want to spend my time bashing Bill Clinton. Now, Bill comes out and starts talking about how great he is, then we could talk about his record."
He asked Bush what would happen "if Hillary Clinton starts talking about how Republicans have a war against women?" Bush replied that in that case, he would "go after the likely Democratic candidate for not being trustworthy. Focus on the president and the future. Is what [Bill Clinton] doing what he did, was it appropriate?"
But, he noted, "Bill Clinton's not running for president -- Hillary Clinton is."
Watch the relevant segments below via MSNBC.
Shares