WaPo Reporter Arrested In Ferguson Slams Joe Scarborough For Criticizing Reporters Covering The Protests

Last night, amid all the other things that were going on in Ferguson, Washington Post reporter Wesley Lowery was arrested in a McDonald’s for heinous crimes including recording police with his cell phone (legal in all 50 states) and dropping his backpack while exiting a fast food restaurant (also legal, last time I checked). His full account of the situation is a must read, but if you want to get a feel for it, this is a good place to start.

“My hands are behind my back,” I said. “I’m not resisting. I’m not resisting.” At which point one officer said: “You’re resisting. Stop resisting.”

That was when I was most afraid — more afraid than of the tear gas and rubber bullets.

As they took me into custody, the officers slammed me into a soda machine, at one point setting off the Coke dispenser. They put plastic cuffs on me, then they led me out the door.

This morning, after presumably reading that and watching footage from the stand-off and running it through the rickety Rube Goldberg machine that takes thoughts from his brain to his mouth, MSNBC talking head Joe Scarborough went on television and said this (video here):

I’ve been in places where police officers have said, “You know what, this is cordoned off, you guys need to move along.” And you know what I do? I go, “Yes, sir,” or “Yes, ma’am.” I don’t sit there and have the debate and film the police officer, unless I want to get on TV and have people talk about me the next day.

So there’s your background on the video at the top of the screen, in which Lowery opens with “I would invite Joe Scarborough to come down to Ferguson and get out of 30 Rock where he’s sitting sipping his Starbucks, smugly” before describing some of the more troubling things he’s seen while reporting this week. Here’s the kicker:

Let me be clear about this: I have little patience for talking heads. This is too important. This is a community, a community in the United States of America, where are things on fire. This community is on edge. There’s so much happening here, and instead of putting more reporters on the ground we have people like Joe Scarborough running their mouth and have no idea what they’re talking about.

Boom.

Source: TPM

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