NewsBusters Notwithstanding, Mika Says 'Misleading' Bush Speech Made Her 'Mad'

Damn the NewsBusters, full speed ahead!

Look for Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid to be pinning a DNC medal for heroism on Mika Brzezinski. The MSNBC newsreader opened today's "Morning Joe" with an intrepid assault on President Bush, undaunted by the rhetorical fire she knew it would draw from NewsBusters.

View video here.

JOE SCARBOROUGH: Not a lot of fans, though, in the Democratic party, about what the president said last night.

MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Well, I think first of all, I was hoping he would answer the fundamental question, and I just feel like, in order to have credibility when you're running a war you sort of need to have a handle on when it's going to end.

And a bit later . . .

BRZEZINSKI: Well, you know, I'm sorry, what really made me mad, and you know, whatever, NewsBusters, but this drawdown thing, and everybody's saying it, I'm not the only one, it's not a drawdown. And the numbers now are that by next summer we'll have 12,000 more troops there than before the surge began. So it's not a drawdown, and it seems to me that one could characterize it as a misleading statement or possibly even worse.

SCARBOROUGH: "Some say." Do that Kate Couric thing!

BRZEZINSKI [playing along]: Some say it could be misleading. Actually, I say it's misleading.

SCARBOROUGH: People can take offense at what you said, but what you said is just the truth.

BRZEZINSKI: Yeah, and it's misleading Americans.

SCARBOROUGH: I voted for the president twice and supported this war --

BRZEZINSKI: [unintelligble] this entire war from beginning to end was based on misleading statements.

SCARBOROUGH: Now you're taking a leap.

BRZEZINSKI: No I'm not! How am I taking a leap?

It's taken some time, but Mika has gradually come out from behind any pretense of objectivity and is now openly letting her anti-Bush flag fly. We'll be looking for her to wear that DNC medal with pride on an upcoming "Morning Joe" episode.

Note: The photo captures Mika's "whatever, NewsBusters" moment.