Scarborough: GOP has offended their base with Galilee swim story

>> with us now, the chief white house correspondent for politico, mike allen . he's here with this morning's playbook. i'm reading the screaming headline, mike.

>> lots going on.

>> i'm on the edge of my seat. the obama campaign royaled by conflict. i got your flash, i'm sitting there and, of course, we're watching my family we're all sitting around and we're --

>> flash.

>> eating corn chips , and we're watching the wonderful world of disney and flash, comes the sea of galilee creaming headline.

>> naked.

>> from the bulletin, the bulletin. like walter cronkite , you know. guess he wouldn't break into the wonderful world of disney . breaking into the waltons on a saturday night. but you -- the sea of galilee thing, this is not good for the republican brand, is it?

>> it's not. people calling it the gop gone wild and it's time when people don't trust congress, people don't like congress, and here we have 20 lawmakers and aides showing terrible judgment in one of the most sensitive parts of the country. the leaders who were on the trip, the number two house republican eric cantor and number three house republican kevin mccarthy stepped away from this dinner, but underscoring the problem with it are the lame excuses that some of the members gave to our reporters john breshhan and jake sherman who called everyone who was on the trip that they possibly could. some said, this will probably make the sea of galilee gazette, some said they went in because of the religious significance.

>> amen.

>> of the waters. this goes with the --

>> after they had communion by drinking a lot of wine.

>> right. little bigger cups than we have at redeemer arlington. some said they were hot and tired.

>> yeah.

>> some of the more honest and said we'd been drinking.

>> you know, this is -- and mark halperin , this is, you know, a lot of people hear this story and go oh, gosh, liberal media and democrats will jump up and down on this. mark halperin , this is so bad, for the republican party -- they talk about the republican brand yet it's been really hurt over the past five, ten years. the conservative brand still pretty darn good. 40% of americans tell gallup they're conservative, twice as much as say they're liberal and still conservatives out there who don't believe republicans think -- believe what they're saying. here you have a group of republicans , these freshmen, supposedly the most conservative, going to a sacred, religious site for evangelicals, this is the holy land , and basical basically -- i won't even say the word, messing all over this holy site, and that reverberates from church to church, from pew to pew, family to family, preacher to preacher, and they -- you know what, because i know, these are people who voted for me and people i still talk to a lot. five, ten years, they're like these republicans i guess i'll vote for them, but they don't believe in anything. doesn't that compound this problem.

>> you're making the case it's a bad idea? i'm i'm making the case this is more of an internal crisis than -- forget the news coverage.

>> yeah.

>> the republican -- and eric cantor knows this. you have to talk to republicans in synagogues and republicans in pen coastal churches, this is an internal problem. this isn't a media problem. this is a base problem. they have offended their base. for.

>> for 48 hours the press will drive this. there's lots -- you see video of the site and see everybody took pictures. then two interesting questions about what happens next. one, is there criticism from the right? are they denounced by pasters and religious figures on the right as having done something improper.

>> let me tell you what, that's irrelevant. it's irrelevant whether national preachers come out because i know what preachers in the pew will say, what sunday school teachers will say, trust me i know. they don't need to hear from pat robertson to know this is a party that doesn't respect their values. that's what eric cantor has to get ahead of and needs to scald these people politically.

>> the other issue, you're right in terms of the base, national political issues most stories die after 48 hours unless the opposition makes a big deal . the president, for instance, could come out and denounce this. we'll name what will nancy pelosi say about it? all that could drive this into the fall.

>> all right. mike, politico's new ebook?

>> by the way i have to say quickly, a lot of times people say this is small, i can tell you the second republicans knew they had lost 2006 , was the mark foley scandal and that's when republicans on the hill all quietly said to each other, it's up. every -- and that was something that, again, should not shape a national race. but it was just one more sign of a party out of touch and at that point everybody threw up their hands and said --

>> forget it.

>> not our year.

>> politico, the ebook, mike, is " obama 's last stand" shows there's frustration to say the least inside the campaign.

>> yeah. mika, it does. goes to the very top, glen tlush out with obama 's last stand edited by jon meacham with an introduction by the great evan thomas . pulls back the curtain on what's going on in obama land. one of his discoveries is that the president himself was extremely upset when vice president biden spilled the beans about gay marriage on the "meet the press" taping. the president agonized about this, his team worried about how it will play in north carolina a state they need, got last time, having the convention. he had a chilly meeting in the oval office where vice president biden said he was really, really really sorry, but also he felt the president's aides have shoved him under the bus, there's also a great moment of obama competitiveness, in coral gables , runs into a republican friend working for senator marco rubio , of florida, when he asks if marco rubio may run this time the president says, tell your boy to watch it, he may get his -- kicked.

>> wow. p.

>> okay.

>> there's a quote.

>> mike allen , it doesn't seem right coming out of his mouth, does it?

>> the president?

>> talk about that --

>> get some soap here.

>> that russian group.

>> thank you so much for being with us.

>> have a great week. stay tuned . and stay on politico because they actually, the russian band thrown in jail, they are going to be reviewing every one of their albums later today. coming up next.

>> bill karins with sports.

>> he's already insulted me and now doing sports. he is facebooking.

>> all right. stop that. we shall return on " morning joe " stick around we'll be right back with bill karins and