Harvard Institute of Politics

Description

This forum featured MSNBC's "Morning Joe's" Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski. The event was moderated by IOP Fellow and former governor of Ohio, Ted Strickland, who also served in Congress with Joe. The dynamic duo engaged in "straight talk" providing a balanced, civil discussion on the current state of affairs in American politics. Joe, with his conservative roots serving as a former Congressman in Florida, and Mika, with her more liberal background being the daughter of former National Security Advisor Zbigneiw Brzezinski, maintained a balanced and lively dialogue that their cable news show provides to its viewers each morning. Topics ranged from the level of scrutiny by the media on the private lives of political figures, to the role of women in politics, to predictions of the upcoming general election, to the future of third-party tickets, and much more. A main focal point for the event evolved around the unique setting their morning cable show provides that's missing from the overall discourse in American politics---civility. The duo iterated pride in their show on several occasions wishing only for more opportunities for all ideologies and leaders to have such a platform regularly providing for more opportunities of progress in the political arena.