Scarborough Attacks Bozell Again on Townhall -- But Commenters Are Blocked (Updated)

MSNBC host Joe Scarborough has responded to Brent Bozell’s nationally syndicated column that took him to task for claiming Bozell and NewsBusters wrote "false articles" about him.

But here's the kicker: Townhall has blocked users from leaving a comment. It has zero comments listed. (Brent's column on TownHall has 63 replies at this time.) So much for a town hall.

Did Townhall make this decision, or did thin-skinned Scarborough demand it? I e-mailed the editors, but have yet to receive a reply.

UPDATE: Townhall deputy editor Kevin Glass denied any attempt or request to block commenters:

We certainly refrain from disabling comments on anything posted on Townhall and would refuse such a request from anyone.

I am honestly perplexed as to why there are no comments on Scarborough's article. I just went to our analytics numbers and Scarborough's piece has nearly exactly the same number of hits as Bozell's (29,000 to 30,000). I have no idea why there are no comments on Scarborough's piece.

I told him I was unable to post a comment in several attempts. He replied:

We have seen the problem and are looking in to it now with our programming team. Sorry for the late response - we're all busy at CPAC.

Frances Martel at Mediaite has picked up the controversy, but pitched it as a battle over how conservative Scarborough is -- not over his reckless radio-show charges of "false articles" from Bozell.

PS: Martel didn't mention that her boss Dan Abrams was Scarborough's boss as the "general manager" at MSNBC for more than a year.