Joe Scarborough slammed Texas Gov. Greg Abbott over his use of a bizarre football analogy when asked if he would call for an investigation into possible failures surrounding the readiness for and response to the deadly floods that swept through his state last weekend.
During a news conference Tuesday afternoon, Abbott was asked if the state would conduct an investigation into “who is to blame” for the tragedy, which has already claimed the lives of at least 120 people. The Texas Republican rebuffed the suggestion, telling reporters that was “the word choice of losers” before launching into an analogy comparing the possible shortcomings in the response to football.
“Let me explain one thing about Texas. … Every square inch of our state cares about football,” Abbott said. “Every football team makes mistakes. The losing teams are the ones that try to point out who’s to blame. The championship teams are the ones that say, ‘Don’t worry about it, man, we got this.’”
That analogy didn’t sit right with Scarborough, who questioned the governor’s comparison on Wednesday morning’s show. The MSNBC host referenced two University of Alabama football coaching legends, Bear Bryant and Nick Saban, and said that if either coach were faced with a failing team, they would offer a much different response.
According to Scarborough, Bryant and Saban wouldn’t shy away from criticizing their teams for any mistakes. Instead, they would “take you back into the locker room and you’ll hear about it nonstop: about what you did wrong, why you did it wrong, how you cost the team the game, and how you never do it again.”
Abbott “should not have brought up football because I’m pretty sure in Texas football, it’s a lot like Alabama football,” Scarborough continued. “If you screw up, there is immediate accountability.” Scarborough accused the governor of “trying to hide behind Texas football” in the aftermath of the floods. “He’s trying to hide behind this tragedy to suggest we shouldn’t be talking about accountability. He’s got it exactly wrong — and the football metaphor underlines that.” You can watch Scarborough’s full reaction to Abbott’s comments in the clip at the top.
Allison Detzel is an editor/producer for MS NOW.
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