Morning Joe

There was a truly delicious moment on MSNBC's Morning Joe Monday as the gang discussed the Republican presidential race from Florida.

When host Joe Scarborough recollected John F. Kennedy buying the West Virginia primary in 1960, Hardball host Chris Matthews, one of JFK's biggest fans, was seen visibly uncomfortable shifting position in his chair (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Howard Dean: "I need to take you on a tour of America's public schools; that's what I need to do." Joe Scarborough: "I've been fighting for education reform for a generation, and every time we've tried to reform schools . . . it was the Democratic party on the House floor and on the Senate floor and in the White House that stood in the way. I do not need lectures from you on education reform."

And that was the polite part of the exchange! But seriously, Joe Scarborough and Howard Dean had a big-time brawl on today's Morning Joe on the subject of education reform.  Dean defended teachers unions and their Dem lackeys, while Scarborough, who has made education reform a theme of his show, denounced the Dem-union cabal that has thwarted real reform every step of the way.  Video after the jump.

MSNBC's Obama-loving contributor Donny Deutsch said Wednesday the American public is never going to "like" Republican presidential candidates Newt Gingrich or Mitt Romney.

Appearing on Morning Joe, Deutsch asked, "When was the last time we elected an angry president, and when was the last time we elected a president people didn't connect with?" (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):"

Rick Santorum to John Heilemann [and by extension to MSM at large] on today's Morning Joe: "it's your responsibility to defend the president, not mine." Ouch! If Newt's deft dicing of John King and Juan Williams paid huge electoral dividends, Santorum might anticipate a much-needed bump after running roughshod over the New York mag reporter.

Heilemann had called on Santorum to explain his failure to correct a woman at a town hall meeting in Florida yesterday who said President Obama was an "avowed Muslim" and legally unqualified to be president. After noting that he has repeatedly been on the record saying that he doesn't believe PBO is a Muslim and recognizes that he is legally qualified to be president, Santorum said that he chose not to chastise an elderly and infirm lady.  Then came Santorum's grand slam, as set forth above.  Heilemann only dug himself deeper when he responded by saying that prez candidate McCain had always defended Obama on the campaign trail. Video after the jump.

After the media's disgraceful intrusion into Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich's former marriage last week, it would be hard to make the case they've been too easy on him.

But that's exactly what MSNBC's Joe Scarborough did on Monday's Morning Joe (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):

Of all the Morning Joe regulars, I find Harold Ford, Jr. the least interesting.  Ever on the lookout for his next opportunity, the fiercely ambitious Ford is firmly of the "my good friend" so-and-so school of politics, constantly hedging his bets and finding a way to praise or agree with virtually everyone.  

So it was an exception this morning when the former Dem congressman from Tennessee actually said something of note, if only for its sheer silliness.  Ford somehow managed to maintain a straight face while claiming the media doesn't strongly favor Barack Obama.  Video after the jump.

The Washington Post’s Bob Woodward on Wednesday said “tax returns are a character issue.”

This occurred during a lengthy Morning Joe discussion about – what else? - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s taxes (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie on Wednesday called Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson an ignoramus for criticizing his weight last year.

Appearing on MSNBC's Morning Joe, the Governor said, "As far as I’m concerned, guys like that shouldn’t have a platform to speak because they’re so ignorant” (video follows with transcript and commentary):

We'll leave it to others to assess the political fallout from Mitt Romney's statement yesterday that he paid about 15% in federal income taxes.  But let's at least get some facts straight.

On Morning Joe today, Joe Scarborough claimed that the revelations about Mitt Romney's taxes might be his Dukakis-in-the-tank moment.  Scarborough repeated the shibboleth Warren Buffett put into circulation that at 15%, the super-rich like Romney pay a lower tax rate than secretaries. But is that so? Running the numbers suggest otherwise.  See video and analysis after the jump.

On Sunday, top Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett used the pulpit of Martin Luther King Jr.'s old church in Atlanta to launch a partisan political attack, calling out Republicans for refusing to support another Obama spending scheme.

Jarrett appeared on today's Morning Joe.  Mika Brzezinski broached the subject of Jarrett's in-church remarks.  But instead of questioning the propriety of using the pulpit for such partisan purposes, Brzezinski simply offered Jarrett an opportunity to repeat her attack on Republicans. But Joe Scarborough then pointed out the huge MSM double standard—observing how the New York Times and Washington Post would have been whining about the "sacred wall" between church and state had a Republican gone into an evangelical church to criticize Dems.  Video after the jump.

PBS host and leftist activist Tavis Smiley called out Republican candidates for their hostility to the poor in America, on Thursday morning on MSNBC. Appearing during the 7 a.m. hour of Morning Joe, he singled out four candidates by name and warned that "we're in a world of trouble" due to their campaign trail rhetoric.

As a PBS host, Smiley benefits from public funding. That has not stopped him in the past for making outrageous liberal remarks, and it didn't stop him on Thursday when he railed against a Congressional "bipartisan consensus that the poor just don't matter." [Video below the break. Click here for audio.]

Joe Scarborough said it about Rick Perry, but it could perhaps have applied to other Republican presidential contenders who are going after Mitt Romney's record at Bain Capital.

On Morning Joe today, discussing Perry's depiction of venture capitalists like Romney as "vultures," Scarborough said that the Texas governor: "sounds like a stoned NYU grad student in Zuccotti Park."  Video after the jump.

Former New Hampshire governor John Sununu on Wednesday scolded the media for falling in love with Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman.

Appearing on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Sununu said, “The fact is you missed the whole story here” (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):

Mitt Romney appeared on all six network and cable morning shows on Wednesday and endured repeated liberal attacks about whether he'll be able to "defend" his business background, and even an assertion that a 16 point New Hampshire win was "not a victory." [UPDATED: See video below. MP3 audio here.]

The Republican presidential candidate showed up on CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News and MSNBC. However, it was CNN's Soledad O'Brien who offered the most transparently partisan attack. Citing DNC Chairman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, O'Brien parroted that this "was not a victory." The "Starting Point" anchor admitted that Wasserman-Schultz's job was to "spin," but continued, "But doesn't she have a point [that]... this is a place [New Hampshire] where you have lived, and that number, while very good, is not 60 percent, or 70 percent?"

As NewsBusters has been reporting, Chris Matthews has clearly joined the Anyone But Romney for Republican presidential nominee crowd.

Appearing on MSNBC's Morning Joe Tuesday, the Hardball host enthusiastically endorsed one of the former Massachusetts governor's New Hampshire primary rivals actually saying on live television, "If I were voting here I’d vote for Huntsman because he’s American" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

As NewsBusters has reported for months, MSNBC's Joe Scarborough has a chip on his shoulder concerning Newt Gingrich that has been regularly apparent on Morning Joe.

On Tuesday's program, co-host Mika Brzezinski started an interview with the former Speaker of the House by saying, "I’m so sorry about Joe being so personal in his opinions. So, from the beginning here, he issues you a formal apology" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

This is what passes for a liberal coming clean.

Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson doesn't regret disparaging how former senator Rick Santorum and his wife handled the death of their infant son in 1996. Robinson just wishes he'd been more clever about it. (video clip after page break).

Now that Mitt Romney appears to be the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, the Obama-loving media are out in full force attacking him.

Such was clearly evident on Monday's Morning Joe when Hardball host Chris Matthews compared the former Massachusetts governor to a whore, said he was "dog-trained," and mocked him for wearing "Mom jeans" (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):

It's hard to imagine the media rooting, even "cheering" for a social conservative like Rick Santorum.  But two certified MSMers claim that Santorum does have the potential to attract such unlikely support.

On today's Morning Joe, Mark Halperin and John Heilemann, co-authors of the best-selling Game Change about the 2008 election, both opined that Santorum, given his appealing blue-collar background—and if he can avoid getting prickly with the press—could indeed find the media rooting for him.  Video after the jump.

Some are sanguine about Mitt Romney's chances of wrapping up the nomination if he wins Iowa and New Hampshire—but Joe Scarborough's  prediction in such case was nothing short of sanguinary.  

On Morning Joe today, Scarborough predicted "there will be blood" among conservatives if they see Romney cruising to the nomination.  Video after the jump.

Is there anything more ridiculous than being accused of saying “despicable and ugly things” by...Al Sharpton? On Thursday’s Morning Joe, MSNBC brought in Sharpton as part of a tag-team interview with presidential candidate Rick Santorum. Isn't Sharpton a little too sharp-elbowed for the so-called civility squad at Morning Joe?

“I could argue with you about some of your ugly statements on the president and all of that, but that would probably help you in the primary if you and I got into an argument this morning,” Sharpton blustered. “Go ahead, Al. Give it to me, Al,” Santorum replied with a jovial smile.

Welcoming Chris Christie onto the set of Morning Joe today, Joe Scarborough warned Mika Brzezinski that the New Jersey governor "has come to straighten you out."

Christie was good to Scarborough's word, bluntly telling Mika, among other things, that "you're diving deeply into the Obama tank."  Video after the jump.

When you think about it, Obama-loving media members have a lot of gall accusing the current Republican presidential candidates of being unqualified for the job.

MSNBC's Joe Scarborough on Friday nicely pointed this out to the Obama-supporting Donny Deutsch after he asked why "a strong, competent human being out of a country of 300 million people" isn't amongst the current crop of GOP candidates (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):

Christopher Hitchens, RIP, would likely have loved the rough-and-tumble of today's Morning Joe.  The first half-hour was a jolting fix for political junkies.  

If the goring of Newt Gingrich was predictable, there was much that was not.  Michelle Bachmann's debate performance was roundly praised.  Lefty Jeff Sachs put himself to Ron Paul's right on the Iranian threat.  Joe Scarborough and Donny Deutsch reported that normally-Dem New York CEOs have deserted Obama en masse.  Video after the jump.

In a softball interview with Sen. Debbie Stabenow on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, host Joe Scarborough on Tuesday asked the Michigan Democrat if it was difficult for her to grill a friend and colleague, the former New Jersey Senator Jon Corzine, on the MF Global scandal. At one point, Scarborough enthused, "Senator Corzine. I like him a lot. We like him."

Co-host Mika Brzezinski started out the interview by asking Stabenow on how they would be taking on the MF Global investigation. The Michigan senator essentially rattled off the hearing's witness list.