Joe Scarborough and guest Tavis Smiley got into a heated argument about George W. Bush's post-9/11 leadership on Monday's "Morning Joe."
The co-hosts of "Morning Joe" were praising the heroism of the passengers on Flight 93 when the conversation turned to the strong sense of unity across the country in the days after the attacks.
Smiley said that the country had failed to seize on that sense of bipartisanship ten years ago, saying, "I think we lost major opportunities ten years ago that we will never get back."
Co-host Mika Brzezinski agreed with Smiley, raising doubts about the country's immediate response to 9/11. She said, "Well we cut taxes and and told people 'It's ok, go shopping.' There are some problems with how we confronted this as a nation." She said, "I don't think we're there yet" in response to Scarborough's view that "it's a war we've won."
Scarborough took offense at Brzezinski's reference to tax cuts, calling it an attack on George W. Bush.
"It is ok to say, 'thank you President Obama for starting the mission to kill Osama bin Laden, thank you George W. Bush for keeping us safe domestically for 8 years," he said.
Smiley asked what the American people should be thanking Bush for. He said that George W. Bush's administration "lied" and "misled the American people" about weapons of mass destruction in its case for war.
The allegation set off heated cross-talk at the round table, with Scarborough, Brzezinski and guest Jon Meacham disagreeing with Smiley. When Meacham asked, "Do you believe that George W. Bush intentionally misled the American people in the case for war? Smiley responded, "I never said 'intentionally.'"
Scarborough ordered, "Speak to your truth, Tavis!"
When pressed on the issue, Smiley said he called lying the difference between what Bush's administration said about WMDs and the failure to find WMDs in Iraq.
Watch (h/t Mediaite):
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