Joe Scarborough to Nate Silver: “I’m sorry”

[DonViejo]

Source: Salon


After publicly deriding the poll guru's methodology, the Morning Joe co-host offers a belated apology

BY DAVID DALEY

Joe Scarborough — who called the 2012 election a “dead heat” on Twitter and mocked anyone who would predict how it would turn out — has apologized to the man who correctly called every state for the second presidential race in a row.

In a column on Politico this morning, the “Morning Joe” co-host told Nate Silver he was sorry for doubting the methodology Silver uses on his fivethirtyeight blog.

“I do need to tell Nate I’m sorry for leaning in too hard and lumping him with pollsters whose methodology is as rigorous as the Simpsons’ strip mall physician, Dr. Nick. For those sins (and a multitude of others that I’m sure I don’t even know about), I am sorry,” Scarborough wrote.

He added:

Politics is a messy sport. And just as ball players who drink beer and eat fried chicken in dugouts across America can screw up the smartest sabermatrician’s forecast, Nate Silver’s formula is sure to let his fervent admirers down from time to time. But judging from what I saw of him this morning, Nate is a grounded guy who admits as much in his book. I was too tough on him and there’s a 84.398264% chance I will be less dismissive of his good work in the future.

-snip-



Read more: http://www.salon.com/2012/11/21/joe_scarborough_to_nate_silver_im_sorry/

[CTyankee]

1. Well, he pretty much HAD to apologize after making a monuental ass out of himself on live tv.

Calling Nate a "joke."

OK, Joe. I'll believe your apology if I don't hear you being a loudmouthed jerk from now on...deal?

[DearAbby]

2. I had hope

this was as painful, for Joe, as passing a kidney stone the size of the Hope Diamond...

[PerceptionManagement]

48. No, this was a snotty, arrogant non-apology by a close employer of the murdered Lori Klausutis

Dump Joe. Lets finally have a liberal tv channel

[Grateful for Hope]

3. Good to hear that he was big enough to apologize

[heaven05]

8. what

else could this dog whistling ass do? Like all the rethugs, blindly arrogant and stupidly wrong. Bad combination. But I'm glad they are this way, because they never see the smackdown coming.

[Grateful for Hope]

9. ok

I tend to give credit where (maybe) credit is due.

[BlueCaliDem]

11. He could've done what other Republicans do when they're wrong,

and that is . . . say nothing, move on, and pretend they never said such a thing.

This makes Joe Scarborough bigger than any Republican (aside from Steve Schmidt and maybe Mike Murphy) in the public eye, although I'm still waiting for him to apologize for fighting to give Florida's electoral votes to Duhbya, as part of the Republican legislature, even while the Democrats begged him not to go through with it.

[lakercub]

17. He could have

acted like McCain on Benghazi or every republican everywhere on WMD. He didn't. Good for him. Don't like the guy at all but as far as humility goes this is the best I've seen in years (which isn't saying much).

[Grateful for Hope]

22. True

I guess I tend to give kudos when I see them, despite the party.

As aside, I don't believe him for one minute.

[Posteritatis]

34. The traditional response is to double down instead of apologizing, so it's something. (nt)

[Cosmocat]

63. Except he didn't apologize

It was self indulgent, meandering tripe.

An "apology" is simple.

I was wrong.

End of story.

He never flat apologizes to begin with, and piles about 10 foot of bullshit on top of it.

[NRaleighLiberal]

4. "there’s a 84.398264% chance".... well, there is a 100% chance that Joe S is an asshole

life is too short to waste a second watching or listening to him.

[wwpained]

58. and a 100% chance

that he's the ideologue in he was railing on. Without admitting that, his BS apology falls short.

[hrmjustin]

59. Welcome to DU!

[Randomthought]

5. that was no apology

Nate Silver’s formula is sure to let his fervent admirers down from time to time.

So he is just saying Nate got lucky?

[SleeplessinSoCal]

20. no. it means the GOP will be favored to win on his blog

[IDoMath]

31. No it means Nate will be wrong sooner or later

Nate will tell you the same thing. This is political statistics, not physics.

[Randomthought]

47. numbers don't lie

[Dustlawyer]

6. Only an 84.398264% chance Joe? After Nate's performance it should at least be 99.999999%!

[Arkana]

7. Nice non-apology--and I especially like the little insult at the end.

Nate was right and it's KILLING his critics. He's made a believer out of me, at any rate.

[BlueStreak]

52. "Mistakes were made"

[WeekendWarrior]

10. I know everyone here HATES Scarborough

but at least he seems, for the most part, to be a somewhat SANE Republican.

[Ino]

38. I guess the dead intern in his office sobered him up some. (nt)

[truthisfreedom]

12. "bathing regularly would keep them away” from Silver’ site." Once again, editing is left out of the

process of online publishing.

Silver's site. Sheesh.

[Paladin]

13. Take That Luke-Warm Apology And Shove It, Joe. (nt)

[JDPriestly]

14. It's great to be free and creative and to believe in your principles, but Joe Scarborough

takes all those traits to the extreme. Such an extreme that he is overly impulsive. He speaks before he thinks. He insults. And his insults are too often mean spirited. As if that were not problematic enough, Joe Scarborough is too confident that he is right and a male chauvinist to boot.

He seems to think that he is entitled to be forgiven and loved in spite of the fact that he treats so many of his guests and their ideas with utter contempt.

Needs to take himself down a notch or two in my opinion.

His technique is to insult, hurt and denigrate and then apologize in a phony, remorseful way only to come back and insult, hurt and denigrate again. And then, when he belatedly apologizes, he seems to think that the victim of his insults is supposed to feel guilty.

Joe Scarborough (and Bill O'Reilly and other TV personalities of this type) needs to get his emotions under control because his neurotic way of intimidating his guests and anyone who thinks differently than he does is part of the neurosis that is dividing the country. I would like to see a Joe Scarborough who listens to everyone in a respectful way, pauses to control his tongue before he lashes out in his temperamental way and silences others with his contempt.

I like an interviewer who is there, as I am, to learn what another person has to say, to get new ideas and learn new facts. Joe Scarborough does not appear to be that kind of interviewer.

And the way he treats Mika is disgusting.

[Thumper79]

15. I don't know how anyone could look at his 2008 prediction and fault him in 2012

Nate Silver came within approx 4 EV in 2008 and got every single senate race. I felt very comfortable believing what Nate wrote on his blog. Currently he doesn't think Democrats will retake the House in 2014. I just hope the 2 years indicates he is wrong but regardless, I will believe what he predicts.

[MotherPetrie]

16. What a steaming pile of passive aggressive fake apology shit

As ever Scarborough's classlessness is on full display.

[Major Hogwash]

18. The ugly truth about Joe . . .

He was elected to the U.S. House Of Representatives to represent what was then the most conservative district in the United States according to Karl Rove, the 1st Congressional District of Florida.

They would have elected a 3-legged pig, with a festering scab on his nose, to Congress from that district, as long as the pig had an "R" behind his name on the ballot.

Yet, Joe only has 2 legs.

[humanistcafe]

19. Joe drinks the Kool-Aid too

Joe is a reputed reasonable Republican. I have my doubts. He seems as trapped in the bubble as many of the rest of them. Reality hurts.

[hrmjustin]

46. Welcome to DU!

[LaPera]

21. Fuck Joe Scarborough - he's nothing more than a lying slimy republican piece of shit!

[Phlem]

43. .

-p

[pepperbear]

23. he gets points for "as rigorous a poll as dr. nick."

[Jim Lane]

24. The linked article overstates Silver's accuracy.

He has not "correctly called every state for the second presidential race in a row." In 2008 he got Indiana wrong -- as, to be fair, did just about everyone else. (I still don't know how we won Indiana in 2008. It was solidly red in 2004 and 2012.)

As for the debate in this thread about Scarborough, I side with those giving him at least some credit for acknowledging his error. I would have assigned a probability of 84.398264% that he would simply never mention the subject.

[inamatteroftime]

25. Joe is quite handicapped by his Ego. nt

[julian09]

27. He should do it on "Morning Joe"

That is where he did it.

[RandySF]

26. Can't he invite him on the show and say it?

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

28. I'm sorry I said there was no way that a blind squirrel could find a nut.

I guess, sometimes, even a blind squirrel ...

[madguy]

29. Scar-Man is dumber than a tree

The other day he said, on his show, in front of the entire nation, that this is the first time in history that the anniversary of JFK's assassination landed on Thanksgiving Day! Apparently unaware of how a calendar works, he did not back down as Mika tried to suggest that there must've been other years where this was also the case.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

44. Mika needs to get a freaking backbone, as far as I can tell. She just lets JoScar go on and on while

she sits there staring and posing and rocking like a...well, I can't think of anything that won't be offensive. But she appears to be on drugs or something. I'm not sure exactly what, but something is not right.

I don't know what her political leanings are, but if she's there as the liberal counterpart to Joe, she's a poor choice. But whatever she is, I wish she'd speak up.

Admittedly, JoJo Scarbucks is too annoying for me to have watched more than about 20 hours of the show, ever, so I could be misjudging little miss Mika.

[JKingman]

30. Joe Scarborough: the ONLY idiot on MSNBC!

The only one with his own show 5 days a week.

MSNBC should get rid of him as soon as possible.

He really doesn't deserve his own show. He's an idiot.

[AlinPA]

40. It's hard to believe that MSNBC would keep that garbage program on the air.

[Tom Ripley]

32. Joe, we have known for a long time how sorry you are

[AtheistCrusader]

33. Typical Republican non-apology.

[It-Gets-Better]

35. Too Late

.

[Skittles]

36. F***

I HATE it when a rightwing hack does something right

[ballaratocker]

37. I think Scarborough is starting to see the light.

I think he sees that the right wing clown act's shelf life is coming to an end. Perhaps he thinks that reasonable discourse is the way to go.

[AlinPA]

39. Scarborough is slime and his program is stupid.

[goclark]

62. I check in on the NoNothingJoe Show

from time to time -- "know thy enemy" is my reason.

This KnowItAll didn't seem to know/care that an intern said bye bye in his office and we never got the Facts- just the Facts.

Did he attend the Services?

Edit to add just one link to "What happened to that intern?" :

http://americablog.com/2010/07/more-on-msnbcs-hypocrisy-and-that-scarborough-scandal.html

[MADem]

41. Politics is not a "messy sport" Joey--it's our futures, our lives.

If you trivialize it by equating it to a moronic game involving running and balls, you don't get the real point.

Nate Silver did his homework....Joey might try at least reading the material before he starts flapping his gums!

[joshcryer]

42. To the talking heads it is a sport, though. Perhaps a moment of clarity.

But you are of course correct. It's not a game. They make it a game.

[MADem]

53. Indeed--that's part of why I "limit my exposure!"

You're kinda stuck with 'em during the heat of the campaign season, but in the post-election haze, I can avoid them and I do!

I won't forget that bullshit "horse race" crap they tried to sell us, or the few fools insisting that Money BooBoo would win in a "landslide" with the percentage that Obama, at the end of the day, took.

Of course, when that very same percentage went to Obama, they claimed that he "squeaked by."

Maddening! Totally "racist maddening" in many cases, and "ideologically blind-maddening" in the rest of 'em!

[joshcryer]

54. I'm glad I don't have TV or cable for that matter.

I watch what I want to watch and generally my news comes from here or places like Nate Silver.

I don't even watch downloads of Maddow or Bill Maher because they feed into the narrative, too (if only by responding to it). I might check out The Daily Show occasionally for the lulz, but other than that, fuck it, I am not letting them get into my head.

[MADem]

55. If I didn't pay that frigging cable bill, I'd have "loved ones" who'd be out for blood!

I can't just shut it down--it would be more agita than I'd be prepared to endure!

I have to use self-discipline!

I'm getting better at it...I find that resorting to watching cartoons doesn't hurt!!

I have learned a lot from late night cartoons--I actually understand quite a bit of what the younger generation means by watching those silly things!

[tavalon]

45. For those sins (and a multitude of others that I’m sure I don’t even know about), I am sorry,”

Yo, Scar, we'd be happy to help you remember those multitude of sins. How about if we start with the dead intern?

[rocktivity]

49. And when do we get apologies those who said he was too small and effeminate to be right?

More


rocktivity

[SariesNightly]

50. Why did all the polls say it was a DEAD HEAT?

I don't understand

[hrmjustin]

51. I hope he choked on it.

[Iggy]

56. "Apology" NOT Accepted

Joe is a big phat phoney; a talking bobblehead parasite who, let's face it, makes a helluva nice salary basically doing nothing-- nothing but shooting his big mouth off, with little to nothing factual to back it up.

Exactly what was his proclamation regarding the recent POTUS race being "very close" based on? The larger point here is there were dozens, if not hundreds of bobbleheads in MSM doing exactly what Joe did: falsely HYPE this election as "very close" when in fact it was NEVER close.

99% of the polling work done by old school pollsters was more or less worthless. Most of what was broadcast by Joe and the other bobbleheads was more or less worthless-- that's why years ago I stopped wasting my time watching these shows.

[Hulk]

57. Joe is about as bright as my old pair of boots.

There isn't a lot of IQ nor common sense in this clown's head. Just forgive him and let him think he is "somebody".

Watching his shoe just reminds me of how simple minded a large portion of America really are. Simple solutions are always best to bloviate. Makes no difference how ridiculous. This pathetic host is what is left of the once proud GOP...except there really wasn't anything so "proud" about them either. The best thing they have going is claiming they convinced Dwight D. Eisenhower to run as a republican. I can't think of anything else....can you???

[stlsaxman]

60. So- Li'l Joe Joe turns out to be "Half Of A Man".... well- good for him!

Gives me reason to post my favorite song...

"I was almost your dad
but I turned and I ran-
I ran half of the way home
like half of a man"

[King_Klonopin]

61. Joey has made an occasional mea culpa

But it's obvious he has to strain really hard to apologize,
AND, of course, it's in the typical left-handed repub way.

Not only does he have a daily show on MSNBC, but it's
also TWO HOURS long. Jeeeeesh. I suggest that you
watch Current TV if you can. I can't stand his show.

I've caught Mika (his lapdog) giving him the hairy eyeball
now and then, which is refreshing. I can only stomach
about 10 minutes, though.
I watched her father skewer him on his own show --
it was awesome, as I recall. Joey responded like the true
wounded narcissist, too.

Nate has been correct every time. Joey can't stand the
notion that someone is smarter than he is. So, using
his powers of clairvoyance, he let Nate know that he will
be wrong... in the future...someday....so there!