Morning Joe

If between now and Election Day unemployment numbers improve, particularly if they dip below the 8% barrier, you know President Obama, with an MSM assist, will be out there pounding his chest about the number of jobs "he created."

But when the unemployment numbers remain weak?  Well, that's not Obama's fault.  Just ask Mike Allen of Politico.  On today's Morning Joe, trying to explain Obama's early campaign stumbles, Allen declared that certain factors, including the bleak job numbers, were "beyond the control" of Obama.  View the video after the jump.

Imagine that in one 2004 Republican primary, an opponent running to George Bush's left got 40% of the vote, and in another primary, more than 4-in-10 Republicans voted for "uncommitted" rather than support the incumbent president.  Now imagine the doom the MSM would have found that to portend for Bush.

But when a candidate running to the right of Barack Obama garners 40% of the vote in the Arkansas Dem primary, and "uncommitted" amasses an astounding 42% in Kentucky . . . crickets.  On Morning Joe today, Politico's Patrick Gavin proclaimed that PBO's embarrassing performance "doesn't matter."  View the video after the jump.

When the New York Times reported that a pro-Mitt Romney super PAC was toying with a proposal to attack President Obama by highlighting his connections to his former pastor, the controversial far-left Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the liberal media went predictably apoplectic, calling the proposed ad campaign “incendiary and racially-tinged,” ignoring of course the incendiary things Wright thundered from the pulpit for years.

That's why Time magazine's Mark Halperin's defense of Romney and his Super PAC on the May 18 Morning Joe program is striking by contrast. [Audio here. Video below the jump.]

Following President Obama’s confirmation that he does indeed support same-sex marriage, Time magazine’s Mark Halperin confirmed the media’s overwhelming support for the president on the issue.  On Thursday’s edition of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Halperin said despite the potential political risks Obama now faces in battleground states, the one advantage President Obama clearly has is media support on this among other issues.

“[T]he media is as divided on this issue as the Obama family. Which is to say not at all. And so he's never going to get negative coverage for this," Halperin argued. Sure, "The Republicans will say this is a flip-flop and it's wrong public policy. But when you have almost the entire media establishment on your side on an issue in a presidential campaign, it's very hard to lose politically," the veteran political journalist observed. Indeed, even some anchors on the generally conservative Fox News Channel have Obama's back on the issue, as we noted yesterday.  [Video follows page break;  MP3 audio here.] 

On today’s edition of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, co-host Mika Brzezinski openly professed her love for Democrat Elizabeth Warren, and showed viewers that she hopes the Democrat defeats Republican incumbent Sen. Scott Brown (Mass.). At one point in the segment, Brzezinski said, “And I'm so sorry for Scott Brown, who I think is adorable. But it's just not going to happen.”

This is not the first time Mika has openly cheered for the liberal Harvard professor to win the Bay State's Senate contest, but it is the first time since an embarrassing scandal came to light involving Warren's specious claim to be of Native American heritage. [Audio here. Video below the jump.]

Classic MSM jujitsu. Chuck Todd has attempted to turn the issue of President Obama's unseemly spiking of the football on the anniversary of the killing of Osama Bin Laden, into an attack on Republicans for reacting to Obama's politicization of the event.

On his MSNBC show The Daily Rundown, Todd began his discussion of the matter this morning by asking the Washington Post's Dan Balz whether he was surprised by how "aggressive" the Romney campaign has been on the matter.  A bit later Todd suggested to Clarence Page that Republicans were "overreacting" to Obama's boasts.  Right.  Romney should run a passive campaign, like, say John McCain did! Good-loser Republicans: yeah, that's the MSM ticket!  Video after the jump.

If you haven't seen the hilariously effective ad by Karl Rove's American Crossroads group that portrays Barack Obama as a celebrity president with a failed economic record, check it out in the video clip.

Mika Brzezinksi was clearly peeved at how well the ad was playing even with her liberal-dominated panel.  After Obama fan Donny Deutsch, and no-conservative-he John Heilemann praised the ad, a Mika at wit's end sought to recruit HuffPo's Sam Stein to help her out.  "Can you debunk some of the things in the ad?", she entreated.  Stumbled Stein: "ah-h-h-h-h, sure, I guess."  After offering a paltry defense that Joe Scarborough demolished, Stein was reduced to saying that Mika had invited him to try to debunk the ad, and that "I'm trying my best!"  View the amusing video after the break.

As NewsBusters reported, MSNBC's Chris Matthews last Thursday actually asked his guests if voters and pundits are going to be reluctant to dump Barack Obama this November because he's the first black president.

Media analyst Bernie Goldberg took issue with this on Fox News's The O'Reilly Factor Monday saying, "It's because he's a liberal, and like many liberals, he's obsessed with race" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Come November, there's no way Mika Brzezinski will be pulling the lever for Mitt Romney.  But the MSNBC co-host had some sincere praise for the Republican standard-bearer this morning.

Expressing frustration with Rudy Giuliani--the latest in a string of Republicans to have offered only a  tepid endorsement of Romney--Brzezinski said that when she meets with Mitt and Ann, she comes away "excited," because they're "good people" and a "good family."  "What's wrong with these people? It's just ridiculous," a palpably peeved Mika said of Giuliani and others who have emitted only muted praise of Mitt.  Video after the jump.

On the April 10 edition of Morning Joe, co-host Mika Brzezinski openly endorsed Democratic candidate for US Senate, Elizabeth Warren. The left-wing Harvard professor "should win," Brzezinski proclaimed counseling Bay State voters that while incumbent Scott Brown was "great," his Democratic opponent was "fantastic." [Audio here, video after the jump]

As NewsBusters reported, President Obama praised Mika Brzezinski Friday after she participated in a White House forum regarding the President's performance on women's issues.

CNN's Howard Kurtz on Sunday's Reliable Sources took issue with this asking his guests, "Should an MSNBC anchor be moderating a White House event and talking about celebrating what the administration has accomplished?" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

The Obama administration has never been shy about showing its appreciation for the deplorably liberal so-called "news" network MSNBC.

Speaking at a White House economic forum Friday, the President expressed additional adoration as he praised Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski for proving "women really are the better half. Joe's not denying it" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

It only took 35 hours for MSNBC analyst Mark Halperin to bravely announce, "I don't agree with Joe" Scarborough. A day after appearing on his show, the Game Change co-author more firmly refuted Scarborough's pessimistic assessment that the entire GOP establishment thinks Mitt Romney will lose the general election.

After Hardball guest host Michael Smerconish played a clip of the negative Scarborough comment, Halperin mocked, "Michael, I've worked in TV for 25 years. When the host of the show says something, you have two choices. You can say, 'That's exactly right, Joe!'"  [See video below. MP3 audio here.]

Al Sharpton and Lawrence O’Donnell are not the only ones on MSNBC cynically exploiting the tragic death of Trayvon Martin. On his Morning Joe program today, Joe Scarborough said that conservatives are “somehow suggesting that he deserved getting shot in the chestwith a 9 millimeter." [Video after the jump. Audio here.]

Early frontrunner for the most preposterous political analogy of the year . . .

On today's Morning Joe, Tina Brown said Rick Santorum was "like Judas Iscariot."  And just what was Santorum's sin that merited comparing him to the man who betrayed Jesus Christ for thirty pieces of silver?  That Santorum, 15 years after the fact, now regrets having supported Arlen Specter when his then-fellow Republican senator from Pennsylvania ran for president.  View the video after the jump.

On Thursday’s edition of Morning Joe, Zeke Emanuel, former health policy advisor for President Obama, completely distorted and misrepresented the controversy surrounding ObamaCare, and found no pushback from the Brew Crew, naturally.

Emanuel started out the segment making the ridiculous claim that no "credible legal scholar" would doubt the constitutionality of the individual mandate in ObamaCare.  [See video below.  MP3 audio here.] 

Let's stipulate up front that it might well have been an innocent mistake. Even so, until explained, it was shocking to say the least.  On today's Morning Joe, as Mika Brzezinski read a David Brooks op-ed about the shooting of civilians in Afghanistan in which he wrote of "monstrous acts that shock the soul and sear the brain," suddenly the screen cut--for an extended period--to three different photos of . . . Republican Paul Ryan.

Even Joe Scarborough couldn't resist joking about the incident revealing the show's liberal bias.  As it turns out, an op-ed by Ryan was up next, and the control room guys might simply have transitioned a bit too quickly--though some readers might not be willing to give Morning Joe the benefit of the doubt.  View the video after the jump.

A rather testy exchange on today's Morning Joe, with co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski going at it with Rick Santorum.  A full five minutes of Santorum's segment were devoted to questioning him on his views on contraception and religious freedom.  

Toward the end, seemingly to Scarborough's surprise, Santorum said that "yeah, sure" he thought Scarborough, like the MSM at large, was attempting to pigeonhole him on the matter.  Video after the jump.

As NewsBusters reported Sunday, despite his failure as the McCain-Palin campaign’s senior adviser, and his subsequent backstabbing of the candidates he represented, HBO’s “Game Change” made him the hero of its Palin-bashing film that premiered Saturday.

The crew on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, with Schmidt as its guest, continued with this pathetic idol worship Monday (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):

Did MSNBC ever vet Al Sharpton? Seriously. Much of the talk about HBO's Game Change docu-drama is focusing on the vetting of Sarah Palin or lack thereof by the McCain campaign. Is there any minimum standard of knowledge required to have one's own show on the Lean Forward network?

Take Sharpton's mind-boggling misstatement on Morning Joe today.  The Reverend Al asserted that in Alabama, "it's against the law to organize unions."  Did any of the MJ crew, including Joe Scarborough, Gene Robinson and Steve Rattner, call Al out on his misrepresentation?  Of course not.  View the video after the jump.

Mark Halperin says Mitt Romney's campaign has the worst relationship with the media of any major candidate he's covered.  But, according to the man from Time, it has nothing to do with the fact that Romney is the front-runner to take on the MSM's Chosen One.  No, Halperin assures us, "it's not a partisan thing."  The fault lies entirely with the Romney campaign itself, which reportedly has kept the press at arm's length.

Halperin's comments came in the context of a Morning Joe segment today in which Mike Allen discussed a Politico item on a media "charm offensive" that the Romney campaign is conducting.  View the video after the jump.

Beginning an interview with MSNBC Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough on Thursday's NBC Today, co-host Ann Curry wondered: "If you were head of the Republican Party trying to defeat Barack Obama in November-" Scarborough promptly interrupted her: "I'd quit." That defeatist attitude set the tone for the rest of the Obama-campaign-approved segment.

Giving a supposedly "serious" response to Curry's question, Scarborough declared: "I would be asking others to get into the race." Curry teed up Scarborough to make dire predictions of GOP chances in 2012: "But how much longer can this party go without a nominee and still beat Barack Obama?"

Chris Matthews doesn't just hate American conservatives.

On MSNBC's Morning Joe Wednesday, the Hardball host said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should "stay out of our elections" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Tom Brokaw is the man that our Brent Bozell recently described as having "used NBC and [his] anchor chair as a platform to promote Democratic agendas and delight in Republican setbacks for more than 20 years."  But every once in awhile, perhaps out of Greatest Generation nostalgia, Brokaw has something kind to say about a Republican.

As was the case on Morning Joe today, when, after reciting a list of the 41st president's accomplishments, Brokaw called George H.W. Bush "the most underrated modern president of our time."  Video after the jump.

On Wednesday’s Morning Joe, Meet The Press moderator David Gregory furthered the liberal media spin that the retirement of liberal-leaning Republican Senator Olympia Snowe is a real blow to the Republican Party. 

Gregory sought fit to blame the Republican Party for her decision to retire saying, “it leaves her as a Northeastern moderate Republican out in the cold and not really welcome in this Republican Party that is starting to build off of that momentum from 2010.”  [See video below.  MP3 audio here.]

Speaking on Tuesday’s edition of Morning Joe, John Heilemann introduced a new level of attack on Republican Presidential candidate Rick Santorum by snarking that the conservative former senator has Tourette's syndrome.  

In response to host Joe Scarborough assessing the Santorum candidacy as an amateur operation, Heilemann fired back with the following absurd and disgusting comment, “The thing we saw in the debate which is his tendency to be Bob Dole-like and senatorial. Locked in legislative tivies [sic] on one side and then on these cultural issues to have these kind of Tourette's-like outbursts of sincerity that are just very indiscipline [sic].”  [Video below.  MP3 audio here.] 

Willful ignorance combined with anti-Christian bigotry: not a pretty sight. Bill Keller, former New York Times executive editor turned Times columnist, put both on display on today's Morning Joe.

Joe Scarborough played a clip of Santorum criticizing President Obama and Hillary Clinton for at times speaking of "freedom of worship" rather than "freedom of religion." Santorum made his point crystal clear: merely having the freedom to pray is not enough.  People must have the right to practice their religion outside the confines of the sanctuary. But Scarborough and Keller claimed not to understand what Santorum was saying.  Keller then added his ugly coda: "sometimes Santorum sounds like he's creeping up on a Christian version of Sharia law." Video after the jump.