These excerpts from a longer piece get to the heart of the matter: Scarborough's role as a self-appointed protector of public morality and red-hot critic of people who say "Fuck" on television.
Joe Scarborough: Hoisted by his own sanctimonious petard
By Glenn Greenwald
. . .
I personally couldn't care any less about that. But Joe Scarborough, in the past, not only claimed to care about such things, but has been one of the most zealous crusaders against such awful filth on television.
Scarborough led the lynch mob over the 2004 Janet Jackson halftime show on CBS -- demanding that the FCC impose massive fines against CBS and MTV, among others -- and has railed against "rock stars" and entertainers who use, as he used to call it (before this morning), "the F word." Indeed, Scarborough even expressed outrage over the fact that the Government would even consider refraining from imposing substantial fines on ABC when Bono, on a live awards show, used the "F word"....
Scarborough collected hordes of outraged emails from his angry viewers over Janet Jackson and flew them to Washington DC to deliver them to Trent Lott and other right-wing officials, demanding government punishment against CBS, Viacom, MTV, and even the NFL...
Scarborough then even boasted to his guest that his upbringing was so fine that he was taught not to use such words:
Robert, I'm glad to hear that you don't use the words and you didn't use them growing up. All I'll say is, my mom put soap in my mouth more than once or twice.
Apparently, she didn't do it enough. On October 10, 2006, Scarborough hosted a whole segment mocking and attacking Barbra Streisand for using the same word during a concert when speaking about President Bush....
www.salon.com