Howard Kurtz features Mika Brzezinski in his WaPo Media Notes column this morning. Between a book deal and the syndication of her new radio show with Morning Joe partner Joe Scarborough, Brzezinski has become a hot media property of late.
The column reveals some interesting bits about Brzezinski, including the fact that she was unceremoniously let go at CBS upon the advent of Katie Couric. But it's the discussion of her liberalism or alleged lack thereof that might be of most interest to NewsBusters readers. On the one hand, Kurtz quotes Mika as saying: "I've been in a box as a journalist for 20 years. That is a very safe and lazy place to be. You can hide behind objectivity. It is much harder to put yourself out there."
On the other, Kurtz dredges up Brzezinski's too-familiar dodge when accused of being a liberal [emphasis added]:
While their sparring clearly puts Brzezinski to the left of Scarborough, a onetime GOP lawmaker from Pensacola, Fla., she tries to resist being typecast as a liberal. She demurred when John McCain, during a September appearance, called her a "supporter" of Barack Obama. Brzezinski likes to point out that one of her brothers provided foreign policy advice to the McCain campaign and the other to the Obama team.
As I like to point out whenever Brzezinski seeks to hide behind her brother, that he's a Republican is as irrelevant as the fact my two sisters are Massachusetts liberals.
The column also reveals how Joe Scarborough made the case to MSNBC boss Phil Griffin to make Mika his Morning Joe partner, apparently overcoming considerable skepticism before prevailing.
My two cents: the Scarborough-Brzezinski chemistry works. And the show is heavy on substance: "no cooking, no lingerie, no missing girls," as Kurtz quotes Brzezinski as boasting. Couple that with the show's ability to attract top-level guests and keep them on long enough to get beyond the sound bites, and Morning Joe is, IMHO, must-see TV for political junkies of all stripes.
Now, if Mika would just open tomorrow's show with an Ellen DeGeneresesque hot mic and announce "I'm liberal!"
—Mark Finkelstein is a NewsBusters contributing editor and host of Right Angle. Contact him at mark@gunhill.net.
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It's funny how "guilt by
December 22, 2008 - 10:36 ET by fitzfongIt's funny how "guilt by association" is considered unacceptable when a philosophical connection is made between Rev. Wright and Barack Obama...yet a flimsy association between Bubbles Brzezinski and her brother is sufficient enough for her to escape the liberal label. This must be what that clown Bill Maher means by "New Rules".
Besides Scarborough strikes me as another Bill O'Reilly type: he gets portrayed as a conservative, but he's largely all bark and no bite. When it suits him, Scarborough takes a page from the BOR pseudo-populist handbook and embraces riff-raff shakedown artists like Al Gore. When O'Reilly and Scarborough lack the application to counter arguments from the left, they tend to concede loudly so as to sound "fair" and "morally superior". Instead, they both sound lazy and egocentric.
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Good morning fitz
December 22, 2008 - 10:56 ET by BlondeHere I am (yet again) adding another thought to your comment.
I'm not sold on Joe S. being another BOR type. Rather, I suspect that he is a Republican at heart (most likely a RINO), certainly not a true conservative. But since his training is not liberal J. School, he tries (like another lawyer turned host, Greta Van Sustren) to remain "fair and balanced" when he's on air.
It's kind of interesting, actually, those without the formal journalism training try to actually be objective, while those like Mika, who are clearly not objective, actually believe (and continually aver) that they are!!! Mika is living proof, every time I watch her I have to laugh at her silly statements and idiot defense(s) of same.
I used to laugh
December 22, 2008 - 11:00 ET by MillerTimeWarpyears ago when I saw a bumper sticker on car that read "Kill Your TV". Well, I get it now. I'm sure back then it was about junk tv - too much sex, violence, etc. But I plan on killing my tv on Jan 1. Cannot stand to watch ANY so called news broadcast. Everything is one big popularity contest. Not sure who said it, but the culture today is a People Magazine mentality. I refuse to watch (and pay for) it.
Wow. I just saw that bumper
December 22, 2008 - 11:09 ET by sherylsimsWow. I just saw that bumper sticker yesterday (for the first time) and thought "What a great idea" (in my mind I tortured it a little first though)
Interesting: here in Ithaca
December 22, 2008 - 11:13 ET by Mark FinkelsteinInteresting: here in Ithaca you can't go 1/2 block without seeing one of those. I always find it kind of ironic/hypocriticial. I'm sure almost all the people sporting them see themselves as non-authoritarian liberals, but here they are ordering others how to live their lives.
Ithaca ? BBBBbbrrrrrrrrrrr
December 22, 2008 - 11:28 ET by MillerTimeWarpGlens Falls here ! This Global Warming is makin my netherregion blue with delight
I guess here in San Diego
December 22, 2008 - 12:14 ET by sherylsimsI guess here in San Diego people don't have the time to watch a lot of TV or something... There is a lot to do outdoors all year long here.
Even though I try to watch
December 22, 2008 - 11:59 ET by marpelEven though I try to watch the show every morning, I cannot stand Mika Brezinski. Her butting in, sound effects and dumb expressions annoy the heck outta me.
The reason I watch the show is, I think, some sort of self punishment...none the less, there's no mistaking what side of the fence ol' Mika is on....it's another issue to determine what side of the fence Joe is on. He sort of blows the way his guests blow.
This morning, Andrea Mitchell was making the case to appoint Caroline Kennedy as Senator...talk about in the tank for someone...doesn't matter what Andrea said about Sarah Palin. That doesn't apply to a Kennedy, for God's sake...
Same Way...
December 22, 2008 - 12:12 ET by DanoI feel the same as marpel. It can be painful to watch at times, but I still surf there in the morning. I think Mika's father pays MSNBC for her to work there.
"And the show is heavy on
December 22, 2008 - 12:53 ET by Chris Norman"And the show is heavy on substance: 'no cooking, no lingerie, no missing girls'"
Ouch! Missing girls not of substance? I'm afraid the cable media has trivialized the issue by overplaying a few individual cases.
Mika's definitely a Lib
December 22, 2008 - 16:32 ET by thebronzeBut I think she's hot! I'd marry her...
Wow Mark. this is kind of
December 22, 2008 - 23:47 ET by bigtimerWow Mark. this is kind of weird to see this today...I just saw Joe Scarborough radio show this morning, listened to about an hour of it...Mika was with him side by side of course...what I heard was kind of interesting, I will be checking it out some more as time goes on...I didn't even know they had one or just started with it.
I do have to say, Mika has went along ways from the start of the show on msnbc with just her uhhs, aahs and such....I don't dislike her as much as did from the start...and that's saying a lot for a conservative gal like me towards a leftist like Bubbles. ;-)
"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh