More Kos-MSNBC Drama: Phil Griffin Bans Markos From Guest Appearances

Change font size:  A |  A

When you're too crazy for MSNBC…

Markos Moulitsas, founder of the far-left blog Daily Kos, announced today that he has been "blacklisted" by MSNBC for taunting "Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough. "I just don't know how one could reasonably expect to be welcomed onto our network while publicly antagonizing one of our hosts at the same time," MSNBC president Phil Griffin told Moulitsas.

Griffin's ostracism marks the second instance in recent days that a prominent MSNBC personality has spurned Kos or his blog. A couple weeks ago, Keith Olbermann announced he would no longer be writing for the site. He returned a few days later.

Still, there seem to be some reservations even at liberal MSNBC about the often crude, pugilistic style employed by so many of the Kossacks. What set off the most recent tiff? A tweet exchange, recounted below the fold.

JoeNBC: The Sestak story is as unbelievable a cover story as Nixon throwing little Checkers under the bus. A farce on it's face. Luckily for the White House, the media has been negligent on this story since Day 1. The press will let this laughable story slide.

markos: Like story of a certain dead intern. RT @JoeNBC: Luckily for the White House, the media has been negligent on this story since Day 1.

Markos: But if you want to talk about bullshit "scandals", @JoeNBC, there's this one about Joe Sestak and the White House you might've heard of.

JoeNBC: @markos Unbelievable. You have a long history of spreading lies suggesting I am a murderer. This is the 3rd or 4th time by my count.

Markos: @JoeNBC, I've never suggested you're a murderer. I've noted media hypocrisy in going after Gary Condit. But he was Dem. You aren't.

JoeNBC: Anyone in media who interviews @markos, know that you're extending your credibility to someone who regularly suggests that I'm a murderer.

Markos: A bit touchy, @JoeNBC? Links for where I accuse you of being a murderer please.

Moulitsas didn't get any links, but he did get this message from Griffin:

Markos,

Blog if you must, but here is my on the record statement to you which I ask that you print in full:

Yes, after I became aware of the ugly cheap shot  you  took at Joe on Twitter, I asked the teams to take a break from booking you on our shows for a while. I found the comments to be in poor taste, and utterly uncalled for in a civil discourse.

I'm hoping this will be only temporary and that the situation can be resolved in a mature fashion, but until then I just don't know how one could reasonably expect to be welcomed onto our network while publicly antagonizing one of our hosts at the same time.

The DailyKos community has been among the most supportive of MSNBC, and we continue to appreciate that support.

Markos thinks that Griffin responded the way he did in defense of the cable network's "token conservative." "I've criticized Chris Matthews before, sometimes harshly," he whined, "and it never led to me being banned."

Moulitsas fails to grasp -- as one Kos reader put it -- that he

didn't go after Matthews like that...

I mean don't get me wrong, that tweet was some piping hot ether and I admire it from a trolling perspective, but c'mon.

You were clearly taking a swing at Joe's jaw with the "dead intern" line. You connected, his skull reeled like Balboa in Round 10, he winced in pain. You weren't trying to make some larger point about media bias. You were looking to bust somebody upside they head.

And that is the Kossack way. Just not the MSNBC way, apparently.