Israel's Operation Protective Edge in Gaza is now in its 24th day, and it's getting harder to read and watch what's happening with reports of the IDF killing Palestinians while Hamas continues to shoot off their mostly ineffective rockets (the body count is now 1,370 Palestinians and 56 Israelis). Yesterday U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that “all available evidence” suggested that Israeli artillery had hit a United Nations school in Gaza full of civilians who thought they were in a safe zone.While most people in the mainstream television media steadfastly refuse to say or do anything that would be deemed controversial, MSNBC's Joe Scarborough apparently didn't get the memo this morning, saying that Israel was engaged in "indiscriminate" killing.
“This is asinine,” the former Florida Republican congressman said on Morning Joe. “This continued killing of women and children in a way that appears to be indiscriminate is asinine.”
Saying his support for Israel is unassailable, the MSNBC host went on to say that "The United States of America — we cannot be associated with this if this continues. This is so bad, not only for the Israeli people, but for us."
The commentary is notable not only because you've rarely heard such criticism against Israel on American TV during this conflict, but also it shows that maybe Scarborough wants to prove to some folks that he has the gravitas to go beyond Morning Joe and go on to host (along with co-host Mika Brzezinski) Meet The Press, which has become the hot rumor in TV morning news lately (apparently David Gregory's ratings have tanked so bad that it's no longer an open secret that NBC is looking to replace him).
Though the pair deny that they're angling to replace Gregory, there have been lots of reports that they have been (as well as Chuck Todd). But a recent piece in Mediaite blasted the notion recently, saying their chumminess with folks like Chris Christie should eliminate that possibility. Notably the network did not rebroadcast the first half hour of Morning Joe later in the broadcast, as is usually the case...
In other news..
Are you ready for it? Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Adrian Wyllie is feeling good about himself these days, and why not? While Charlie Crist and Rick Scott continue to turn off the masses, Wyllie is the human vessel that may get the None of the Above vote in November. But if Wyllie wants to build on his poll numbers he's got to convince people that he's got substance. So to get more exposure, he announced yesterday his 30-city in 30-day tour or August, where he'll be showing up with the masses at craft breweries across the Sunshine State.
With just two days before Congress takes five weeks off to contemplate life and get recharged for....very little work before the November elections, Marco Rubio is as engaged as anyone on Capitol Hill. The Florida Republican is a co-sponsor of legislation that attempts to curb sexual assaults on campuses.
We've been following some of the races for School Board far more intensely than could have been imagined even a few months ago. The District 6 race in particular has a surfeit of candidates in the countywide seat up for election on August 26 (there'll be a runoff if nobody gets over 50 percent). Meet the latest contestant, Lee Sierra.