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Morning Joe Blasts Warren's Attacks on Bloomberg’s Stature

February 25, 2020

MSNBC Morning Joe anchors said Tuesday that Sen. Elizabeth Warren's (D., Mass.) attacks on Michael Bloomberg's stature would not be tolerated if Bloomberg was a woman.

"Can you imagine if somebody made a joke about [Warren's] appearance in some way?" MSNBC anchor Mika Brzezinski asked. "I mean people would go crazy and say it's sexist and misogynistic and 'here we are all over again where women get treated differently.' The double standard is piercingly sharp here."

"Let's just take notes—that happened. Because the freakout will only happen if a woman is described in any way about how she looks," Brzezinski added.

MSNBC anchor Joe Scarborough said there was no outcry over Warren's cheap shots on Bloomberg but noted that his mere reporting of Warren's sinking poll numbers drew accusations of sexism from the candidate's supporters.

"I'll tell you the freakout [that has] happened," Scarborough said, mocking supporters of Warren and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D., Minn.). "You can't even say what place Elizabeth Warren has come in without people freaking out and calling you a misogynist pig. I get it all day yesterday: 'You're saying Amy Klobuchar and Warren are supposed to go'—I didn't say that. I said some are asking that question."

Scarborough added that he was not met with accusations of sexism when he questioned whether Tom Steyer should remain in the race. 

"You don't really help your cause saying that women should be treated the same with men if you're not willing to allow women to be treated the same as men when things are going bad," Scarborough said. "When things are going good—for like a year we said how great Elizabeth Warren was."

The anchors admitted they had long lauded Warren's campaign when she was performing well but argued the senator's electoral failures have diminished her campaign. Her poll numbers have steadily declined leading up to the first primaries and caucuses, and political correspondent Steve Kornacki pointed out that her fourth-place finish in New Hampshire's Democratic primary is the worst performance of any Massachusetts candidate ever.

Warren is running in fourth place with eight delegates, according to RealClearPolitics. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) currently leads the Democratic race with 45 delegates.