MSNBC's Joe Scarborough tore into
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio Wednesday morning for his complaints about being a senator, but his wrath reached out to include other politicians who have no joy in the jobs they hold or with being in Washington.
"If you don't love Washington, if you don't love the game, if you can't sit down with people who want to knock your head off politically, [if you] can't figure out the game, don't come to Washington," the "Morning Joe" host said on his program. "Stay on the farm. Don't come to the bigs."
Scarborough's comments were spurred by an opinion piece in Florida's
Sun-Sentinel Wednesday which called for Rubio to resign and "not rip us off."
"If you hate your job, senator, follow the honorable lead of House Speaker John Boehner and resign," the op-ed said. "Let us elect someone who wants to be there and earn an honest dollar for an honest day's work...you are ripping us off by choosing to stay in the Senate and take the publicity perks."
"We come from a state with millions and millions of voters, and a lot of people went out on the limb electing a young guy," said Scarborough, himself a former Florida representative. "This is a disaster for him. He says he hates the Senate, he can't handle the Senate, bored with the Senate. You get over 10 million people depending on your representation. If you hate it so much, quit. Go home and let somebody do their job."
Scarborough resigned during his fourth term, and said Wednesday he left office because he had one ill child at home and it was the "toughest decision of my life" to leave Washington.
NBC correspondent Chuck Todd also jumped in about Rubio, saying the senator's comments about being "frustrated" with Washington will come back to hurt him, as people will wonder if he'll give up with dealing with Congress if he's elected president.
"My pet peeve with [President] Barack Obama is, he gave up," Scarborough replied. "He gave up because it was too hard to figure out how to deal with the Republican congress. Bob Dole did the honorable thing. He resigned to run for president in 1996. He didn't whine about it. He quit and started running."
And if Rubio can't handle the Senate for now, he continued, he won't be able to handle it as president, either.
He went on to slam former President George W. Bush and others for their complaints about Washington.
"I hated hearing Bush saying 'I hate Washington. I never read the papers. I like just watching ESPN,'" said Scarborough. "He hates politics, he hates Washington. Barack Obama, we hear the same thing...Here we got Marco Rubio, he doesn't like it. It's too tough. Jeb Bush, if you don't like me, I'm going home."
There is a "love of the game," he continued, and "I say that it is the most serious game for the biggest country in the world but if you don't love it like Reagan loved it, like Bill Clinton loved it, like J.F.K. loved it, like Speakers Tip O'Neill and Nancy Pelosi loved it, like Newt Gingrich loved it, get the hell out."
But they all "whine," said Scarborough," and in the case of former President Bush: "Go home. You know what? You should have been commissioner of Major League Baseball if you're so contemptuous of working in Washington, D.C."
There are some candidates who do love the game, said Scarbrough, especially Donald Trump. Ohio Gov. John Kasich and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie also love the game, he commented.
Todd suggested the complaints are coming because many of the candidates are used to having setbacks in their campaigns.
"Jeb Bush did in 1994," said Todd. "You would think he would have a little bit more comfort level in dealing with a setback. Marco Rubio has never had a setback. Perhaps that's what we're seeing here."