February 19, 2019

Jomika talked about Bernie Sanders' announcement that he was running for president.

"I will say the one thing I haven't seen from my Democratic candidates this year is the ability to cut through the noise. Donald Trump is up here, and Bernie figures out a way to cut through the noise, not with his decibel level, which is very high. Any speech coach would tell him to bring it down. But his words cut through, and his message cuts through, I would suggest in a way that no Democrat in the field cuts through at this moment. But this is a far different field than 2016. Break it down for us," Joe said to Steve Kornacki.

"It is interesting. You look at where does Sanders start out in the pack. Basically second place in any poll you are taking," Kornacki said.

"Joe Biden would be up there. Sanders, somewhere in the high teens, and then the rest of the field. Kamala Harris looks like third place. If you compare Sanders to those, he's not as strong as somebody like Hillary Clinton. Reagan, Dole in '96. But he's not as weak as some of the ones we have. For example, one of the most infamous would be Rick Santorum. I put where I'd stack Sanders up historically, if you look at the poll numbers, who is he compared to on these second chance campaigns, reminds me a little bit of John McCain on the Republican side heading into 2008.

"McCain had been the second place finisher to Bush in 2000, and there was that question with McCain since he had sort of been the maverick, would the Republican establishment really buy into him? There was issues with immigration and him. And there is sort of a similar question with Bernie Sanders here. There is a lot of resentment from Hillary Clinton folks, and party loyalists, who resent the fact he's operated outside the Democratic party, and there is a question, does that impose a ceiling on him."

"You know what's so fascinating. There is a lot to not like about politics. One of the things I like about politics is you never know what's going to happen," Joe Scarborough said.

"And it is just like I wrote about Kamala a couple of weeks ago in the Washington Post, that you didn't know whether she had it or not, whether she could fill the big stage because so many people, we could name a lot of candidates that are supposed to be good presidential candidates but they get up there and were just small. Kamala fills the stage. I ought to say, seeing Bernie talking again right there, I was thinking, you know, past his time, past his prime --2016, that's when the guy should have done it.

"I mean, that's -- hey, like I'm saying, very surprised by how effective that statement was and how, again, in 2020 just like 2016, Bernie Sanders cuts through the noise."

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