MSNBC's Scarborough: 'Do You Think' Mrs. Fred Thompson 'Works the Pole'?

Conservative blogs are abuzz with a controversial remark MSNBC's Joe Scarborough made on his Friday "Morning Joe" program about Jeri Thompson, the wife of former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.), who is mulling over a White House bid.

[More Scarborough coverage linked below the fold]

Hot Air has the video.

Here's the relevant transcript:

JOE SCARBOROUGH, host, "Morning Joe": Have you seen, um, have you seen Fred Thompson's wife?

CRAIG CRAWFORD, Congressional Quarterly: Oh, yeah!

SCARBOROUGH: You think she works the pole?

CRAWFORD: That's what Hollywood careers will do for you, I guess.

SCARBOROUGH: [Laughs] What do you mean?

CRAWFORD: You get wives like that.

SCARBOROUGH: I mean, look at that guy. God bless him, I love his voice, but I mean, you know, he ain't Robert Redford in 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.'

CRAWFORD: Well, I'd like to see him get back into politics, 'cause I think he's a lousy actor!

Michelle Malkin is critical of the comments, noting that Scarborough replaced Don Imus, who was canned for his "nappy-headed hos" remark about the Rutgers women's basketball team:

Scarborough owes Thompson and his wife an apology.

Be a man, Joe. Would you let someone publicly joke about your wife that way?

On May 11, NewsBusters contributor Noel Sheppard documented Scarborough's kid glove treatment of Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.):

SCARBOROUGH: There's been such a division in this country. I really do think that people are exhausted, and they're looking for a president who can unite the country. . . And a lot of people who probably said some very nasty things about you in the 1990s, are extraordinarily impressed with the type of leadership you provided since you've been in the Senate, how you have been a unifying force.

Last November, NewsBusters senior editor Rich Noyes noticed that Scarborough, a former Republican congressman from Florida, declared of his pre-election coverage, "I have been bashing my party more than the Democratic Party."