Mika Goes to Bat for Barack on Rev. Wright

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On today's Morning Joe, Obama fan Mika Brzezinski did her best to defuse the spot of bother Barack is in over the extremist statements made by his personal spiritual advisor, the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright, Jr.

Over the course of the three-hour show, Mika variously and repeatedly:

• mentioned that Obama has already distanced himself from Wright.
• pointed out that the Clinton campaign has its own race-related problems, as with Bill in S.C. and the recent Ferraro flap.
• insinuated that the Clinton campaign might be behind the recent emergence of the Wright tapes.

And then there was my favorite. Mika speculated that the sermon in which Wright used the n-word to make an invidious comparison between Hillary and Obama might have been six years old. That's right. Brzezinski imagined that Wright might have taken to his pulpit to excoriate Hillary back in 2001 or 2002, at a time when Barack was a mere Illinois state senator and the presidency not even a gleam in his eye.

View video here.

I've put together an edited tape of Mika's various utterances. As extensive as it is, it doesn't come close to including all of Mika's various interjections on Obama's behalf during the show's 180 minutes.

Here's the transcript of that one highlight:

WILLIE GEIST: These are sermons he's given over the years that have bubbled to the surface and frankly some scary stuff that no doubt Barack Obama is going to have to answer for and answer for his relationship with this man. We'll give you a sampling. In this first one, you might want to run the kids out of the room. Here it is.

JEREMIAH WRIGHT: It just came to me within the past few weeks, y'all, why so many folk are hating on Barack obama. He doesn't fit the model. He ain't white. He ain't rich. And he ain't privileged. Hillary fits the mold. Barack knows what it means to be a black man living in a country and a culture that is controlled by rich white people. Hillary can never know that. Hillary ain't never been called a [bleeped out n-word].

JOE SCARBOROUGH: Again, we need to put perspective on these things. The Obama campaign says he's no longer pastor of the church, that this happened way back. Well, no.

MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Is this six years old, this video?

Joe and Willie gently set Mika straight.

SCARBOROUGH; No, that one wasn't. That happened right before the Iowa caucuses.

GEIST: A couple of months ago.

SCARBOROUGH: That was in December 2007 right before Iowa.

Oh well. It's the spirit that counts. And no one can deny that Mika's heart is firmly in the Obama camp.