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Negotiator Sherman Won't Say How Much Advance Notice Iran Gets

Much of today's Morning Joe was devoted to a discussion of Rolling Stone's failed journalism on the UVa story. Maybe Mika Brzezinski should look in the mirror: she began her interview of Wendy Sherman, the chief US negotiator on the Iran deal, by offering her "congratulations."  Even Sherman herself had the sense to suggest that congratulations were not yet in order. In contrast, Joe Scarborough…
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Morning Joe Face-Plant: The Nation's Eric Alterman Stumped On Syria

Last week, NewsBusters brought you "Stumped," as April Ryan struggled to cite a single foreign policy success by her super-fave, President Obama. In the best Hollywood tradition, this morning we bring you a sequel--Stumped II: Syria! On today's Morning Joe, lugubrious lefty Eric Alterman of The Nation mag was stumped when Joe Scarborough asked him what the US should do about Syria. After humming…

NY Times Reporter: Religious Freedom Laws 'Coming From a Dark Place'

New York Times reporter Jeremy Peters was asked on MSNBC's Morning Joe on Thursday about the difference between the Indiana religious-freedom law as it was originally written and as it stood now. Peters decided to unveil the bigger issue with the RFRA laws themselves: "these laws look as if they're coming from a dark place. They are designed in many cases to express a disapproval about gay…
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Bibi's Criticism of Iran Deal Has Mika Making Faces

Sometimes you just want to shake the TV and say "enough with the cutesy facial expressions, already: spit it out, Mika!"  Morning Joe mavens will know what I mean: Mika Brzezinski has the annoying habit of letting a series of sighs, raised eyebrows and facial tics substitute for a clear articulation of her position on a given issue. There was a prime example of the phenomenon on today's show,…
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Nicolle Wallace Jabs Ingraham's Jeb Criticism: 'She Hates Everybody'

On today's Morning Joe, liberal Republican Nicolle Wallace sought to slough off a Politico article reporting that Jeb Bush is losing the influential "Laura Ingraham primary." Claimed Wallace, who served as Jeb's press secretary when he was governor of Florida, Ingraham "hates everybody.  She always hates the Republicans more than the Democrats at this point, too." Wallace even suggested that…
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Stumped: April Ryan Can't Cite an Obama Foreign Policy Success

Not even a lifeline could have helped her . . . There was a telling moment on today's Morning Joe when Joe Scarborough challenged April Ryan of American Urban Radio Networks to cite some of President Obama's foreign-policy successes. Ryan was reduced to replying "that's kind of tough. Hmm, that's a tough one . . . I have to really ponder that."    
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NBC Again Skips Report on DEA Sex Parties Funded by Drug Cartels

After not covering on Thursday night a report that detailed how Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents attended sex parties paid for by Colombian drug cartels, NBC continued to show no interest in the multi-year scandal by making no mention of it during Friday’s edition of Today. While ABC’s World News Tonight with David Muir also failed to cover this story on Thursday, ABC’s Good Morning…
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WashPost's Gearan Claims to Know Hillary's Message: 'I'm On Your Side'

This had to be one of the more telling moments about the emptiness of Hillary Clinton's campaign.  When Mika Brzezinski asked Morning Joe panel members today to describe Hillary's message "in ten seconds or less," they burst into laughter.  "Why is that funny?" demanded Mika, surely knowing the answer: that Hillary stands for nothing much more than "it's my turn, dammit!" But that didn't stop…
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Earnest: Yemeni Govt.'s Stability Not Measure of U.S. Policy Success

Employing a variant of the old surgeon's joke — "The operation was a success, but the patient died" — White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest, on friendly ground on MSNBC this morning, essentially told viewers that the administration still considers Yemen a success, even as its government is on the fast track to being forced into indefinite exile. Earnest told the "Morning Joe" show's Mika…

Mika: Netanyahu's a Desperate Race-Baiter, But Dick Durbin Was Not

Joe Scarborough, MSNBC’s solitary leaner toward the center-right, was unavailable for Monday’s broadcast of Morning Joe. Without him to restrain her, Mika Brzezinski proceeded to make a piñata out of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s election comments, repeatedly accusing him of “race-baiting.” This is odd, considering Mika insisted just a few days before that Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin…
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What Makes Mika So Miffed About Bibi?

Morning Joe went on the air in 2007. Think of all the outrage-provoking people and events that have popped up in the ensuing eight years.  Yet in the memory of this Newsbuster—who's been blogging the show since its debut—rarely has Mika Brzezinski seemed more upset than she was today on the subject of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.   Just what is it that drives Brzezinski so batty…
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Thanks, Hillary! Morning Joe's Middle East a Smoking Ruin

Warning: readers are advised to hide the sharp objects before viewing the clip of Morning Joe's review of the Middle East today.  The picture painted is one of the utter failure of US foreign policy, leaving a devastated, deadly region in its woeful wake. We open with President Obama's "mission accomplished" moment from last year in which he called US policy in Yemen "successful." Cut to Jim…
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Donny Deutsch Attacks ‘Scary…Dangerous…Slimy’ Ted Cruz

Appearing on MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Monday, Donny Deutsch viciously attacked Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) following his announcement that he will be running for president, calling the Tea Party favorite “scary” and “dangerous.” 

Mika: Dick Durbin Was 'Not Race Baiting' With 'Back of the Bus' Attack

On Thursday’s Morning Joe, MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski defended Dick Durbin, saying his claim that "Loretta Lynch...is asked to sit in the back of the bus on the Senate calendar" was "not race baiting."   Following a recap of Durbin’s comments, Brzezinski mentioned in passing that black Republican Senator Tim Scott charged Durbin with race baiting, which she mockingly dismissed without so much as a…