Morning Joe

If the liberal media were allowed to select the Republican presidential nominee, there's little doubt who he'd be: come on up, Jon Huntsman!

On today's Morning Joe, Mark Halperin claimed Huntsman "has as good a chance as any of the other candidates to test Mitt Romney" in New Hampshire.  Mika Brzezinski took the Huntsman-love a large step farther, flatly proclaiming that Huntsman "has all the goods."  Vexed by Huntsman's nearly-invisible primary polling numbers, Mika admitted: "I don't get your party."  Video after the jump.

The unrelenting attacks on Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain continued unabated Friday on MSNBC's Morning Joe.

When Mika Brzezinski addressed the ongoing scandal and Cain's frontrunner status, Joe Scarborough repeatedly said, "Blech," "Yuck" and "Jeez" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Question:  What does an MSMer call congressional support for tax increases?

Answer: A "bright spot."

Earlier today in another item this NewsBuster wrote: "In the liberal media mindset, mature, sensible citizens will vote for higher taxes, and by extension, for Democrats.  If they don't, they must have taken temporary leave of their senses.  The notion that people, in full control of their rational faculties, might be opposed to higher taxes and more goverment, simply doesn't compute in the MSM medulla." Literally within minutes of that item appearing, we had a perfect illustration of the MSM mindset it described. [Video after the jump]

For at least the umpteenth day in a row, so-called conservative Joe Scarborough ridiculed Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain.

On Wednesday's Morning Joe, the host said, "Sarah Palin could absolutely take down Herman Cain in a foreign policy Jeopardy contest right now" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

"We need to re-evaluate what is required in our lives, so that we have a sense of satisfaction.  What really counts?  One friend of mine has reduced it to this: you should get up in the morning and ask 'what do I need,' not just 'what do I want?'" -- Tom Brokaw, Morning Joe 11-1-11.

"Of course, one of the reasons I bought it was to be able to get away from the frantic life I lead and to have some privacy." -- Tom Brokaw, explaining his purchase of an interest in a 4,000-acre mountain retreat in Montana.

Tom Brokaw: a Michael Moore kind of millionaire?  We haven't seen him getting down with the Occupy kids like the documentary-maker recently did.  But there was Brokaw--who has amassed a reported $70 million and owns a 4000-acre "mountain retreat" in Montana--on Morning Joe today preaching the virtues of the simple life . . . for others. Video after the jump.

For the second day in a row, the lone so-called conservative anchor on MSNBC supported Politico's hit piece on Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain.

After saying Cain "made a fool of himself" with his inconsistent response to the allegations Monday, Scarborough said that if there were another viable conservative candidate in the race, "Rush Limbaugh would be making fun of Herman Cain today" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

"This is the biggest single Twitter controversy of the campaign.  48,000 mentions!"

That was Mike Allen doing his best "look--a squirrel!" dodge on today's Morning Joe.  Pressed by Joe Scarborough as to whether Politico had any more details beyond its story's vague allegation that Herman Cain had made gestures "that were not overtly sexual but that made women uncomfortable," Allen's telling first instinct was to point to the story's popularity on a social networking site. Video after the jump.

Herman Cain has been taking heat for his response to questions about Politico's story on alleged sexual harassment.  But today on Morning Joe, it was Politico's own Jonathan Martin, lead author of the story, who was being evasive about the details of the allegations against Cain.

Incredibly, when Willie Geist asked him to describe specifically what Politico is accusing Cain of having done, Martin hemmed, hawed then ultimately said "we're just not going to get into the details of exactly what happened with these women," beyond the sketchy generalities in the Politico story.  Video after the jump.

If not an unmitigated frozen-flying-pig-in-Hades moment, then certainly something noteworthy for its rarity, coming from the lips of David Gregory . . .

On today's Morning Joe, the Meet The Press moderator, in one surprising swoop, managed to praise a statement from Mitch McConnell while simultaneously seeming to acknowledge that President Obama's economic program has failed. Video after the jump.

Today, some members of the Morning Joe panel piously preached the importance of not jumping to conclusions regarding the clash between "Occupy" demonstrators and police in Oakland, California that left one man seriously injured.

But that didn't prevent Mike Barnicle from describing the event as a "police riot" or Joe Scarborough from speaking of police "brutality." H/t NB reader Ray R. Interestingly, Mika Brzezinski was the voice of reason, declining to condemn the police, saying she'd "hold back" and "wait"--presumably to get all the facts.  Video after the jump.

The next time Joe Scarborough mocks the intellectual capacity of a Republican presidential candidate, he should recall the truly atrocious arithmetic skills he demonstrated on national television October 26, 2011.

Discussing an anti-poverty program with guest Christie Hefner, the co-host of Morning Joe actually said half of one sixth is one third (video follows with partial transcript and commentary):

A notable moment on Morning Joe today, as Joe Scarborough called out Mika Brzezinski on her double standard when it comes to criticizing politicians for their over-the-top remarks.

Setting Scarborough off was Brzezinski's defense of Joe Biden's allegation that crime, including rape, would increase if Republicans don't vote for President Obama's latest tax-raising stimulus plan.  Joe claimed Mika would surely condemn a Republican, such as Michelle Bachmann, employing similar fear-mongering tactics.  Video after the jump.

MSNBC's Joe Scarborough continued his almost relentless attacks on Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain Monday this time also throwing an unnecessary barb at former Alaska governor Sarah Palin.

When the "Morning Joe" discussion turned to what the Cain campaign is doing in Iowa to prepare for the upcoming caucuses, the supposedly conservative co-host said to Time magazine's Mark Halperin, "You may want to tell him next time you see him to read Foreign Affairs and the New York Times" (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):

While media outlets such as CBS News celebrate Vice President Joe Biden's claim that rape and murder will increase if the President's jobs bill isn't passed, they've all ignored a crucial point.

According to a report released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation last month, despite the recession with its associated state and city budget cuts, violent crime in America has declined four years in a row:

Sometimes, a show's guest list is enough to illuminate its liberal bias. Take today's Morning Joe. Joe Scarborough has previously spoken of the show's prevailing 10:1 ratio of liberal to conservative guests.   But Morning Joe took matters that silly millimeter longer today, with a lineup utterly devoid of any Republican or conservative guests, to wit:

While their colleagues at MSNBC spend hours of airtime mercilessly bashing Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain, the folks on Morning Joe took a different position Wednesday.

Much to the surprise of this author, Joe Scarborough and Willie Geist claimed that if Cain were a Democrat, the media would be "swooning over" him just like they did Barack Obama (video follows with transcript and commentary):

According to MSNBC's Joe Scarborough, Herman Cain and Michele Bachmann"don't even understand basic policy, basic economics, basic foreign policy." The Morning Joe anchor on Tuesday expounded on a Politico op-ed in which he denounced a number of the GOP presidential candidates as "clownish characters."

When MSNBC executives deny their network is dominated solely by liberals, they often reference Scarborough. However, the former Republican Congressman has been aggressively negative towards the GOP field. On Tuesday's show, he mournfully wondered, "What's wrong with a political party that Michele Bachmann takes the lead and Herman Cain takes the lead?" [MP3 audio here. See video below.]

While media gush and fawn over the Occupy Wall Street protests wondering how President Obama can take advantage of the sentiments being expressed, they're conveniently ignoring a crucial detail.

As MSNBC's Joe Scarborough said on Tuesday's Morning Joe, "He got more money from Wall Street than any candidate in the history of U.S. politics" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

MSNBC's Joe Scarborough marvelously mocked the Occupy Wall Street movement Monday by joking about how the destruction of private property during this weekend's riots in Rome will actually create jobs.

"That will help with the construction industry in Italy," kidded Scarborough as pictures of the riots played on the screen. "You have to rebuild Rome because people burned it down" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

There was a rather surprising moment on MSNBC's Morning Joe Friday.

When mega-rich guest Donny Deutsch said there's "more hate involved" in the Tea Party than the Occupy Wall Street movement, he was immediately jumped on by hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski for the absurdity (video follows with transcript and commentary):

As NewsBusters has been reporting, the media's obsession with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's weight has become totally absurd.

On Friday's "Morning Joe," during a discussion about obesity prompted by a pathetic column by the Washington Post's Eugene Robinson entitled "Christie's Hefty Burden," MSNBC's Al Sharpton joked, "So what I think we should do is put Governor Christie in jail for 90 days" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

For the second day in a row, MSNBC's Martin Bashir made a statement involving New Jersey governor Chris Christie that should offend Americans on both sides of the aisle.

Discussing Republican presidential candidates with conservative author Pat Buchanan Thursday, Bashir asked, "Why do you think Mr. Christie is the great white hope?" (video follows with transcript and commentary):