Scarborough: Media will talk about "[w]hatever the McCain campaign wants us to talk about, because the McCain campaign is assertive"

Summary: After likening cable TV to "a 500-pound guy looking for a 100-pound burro to get on" and then "rides it until it dies," Chris Matthews said to Joe Scarborough, "I want to ask you, what will we talk about two days from now?" Scarborough replied: "Whatever the McCain campaign wants us to talk about, because the McCain campaign is assertive."

On the September 10 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe, during a discussion about the recent media attention to Sen. Barack Obama's comment that "[y]ou can put lipstick on a pig; it's still a pig," co-host Joe Scarborough asked: "Why can't they respond more aggressively, the Obama camp?" Hardball host Chris Matthews responded: "It's very hard to change the subject in this business. You know, we did Chandra Levy for three months. ... [Y]ou know what cable is? You know what it is really, cable television? It's a 500-pound guy looking for a 100-pound burro to get on. And he finds that 100-pound burro and he rides it until it dies. And then it stinks for a couple of weeks, and he's looking around for another 100-pound burro to get on. Another 100-pound burro around here? Now you're riding the lipstick thing today. That's your 100-pound burro." Matthews then said: "I want to ask you, what will we talk about two days from now?" Scarborough replied: "Whatever the McCain campaign wants us to talk about, because the McCain campaign is assertive."

From the the September 10 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe:

SCARBOROUGH: Why can't they respond? Why can't they respond more aggressively, the Obama camp?

MATTHEWS: It's very hard to change the subject in this business. You know, we did Chandra Levy for three months. I mean, it's very hard to say -- you know what, you know what cable is? You know what it is really, cable television? It's a 500-pound guy looking for a 100-pound burro to get on. And he finds that 100-pound burro and he rides it until it dies. And then it stinks for a couple of weeks, and he's looking around for another 100-pound burro to get on. Another 100-pound burro around here? Now you're riding the lipstick thing today. That's your 100-pound burro.

SCARBOROUGH: Well, no, I'm not --

MATTHEWS: Now, it'll die, as we said, it'll jump the shark. Two days ago, no, we're all talking about -- you're waving the tabloids around, come on. Two days from now -- I want to ask you, what will we talk about two days from now?

SCARBOROUGH: Whatever the McCain campaign wants us to talk about, because the McCain campaign is assertive. But here's the deal. I don't buy the argument that we're all chasing this because McCain is so evil and Obama is so pure and won't respond, and that we're a 500-pound guy. The -- I have always said --

MATTHEWS: Two-twenty.

SCARBOROUGH: If I'm attacked --

MATTHEWS: Two-twenty.

SCARBOROUGH: -- if I'm attacked, and somebody says I'm sexist, I will go out next day on the campaign trail, I will rip them from limb to limb.

MATTHEWS: But see --

SCARBOROUGH: Hold on, hold on. Let me finish. I will make them, by sundown, beg that I stop talking about it. That's what great candidates do. That's what Bill Clinton did. That's what Ronald Reagan did.

—L.K.A.