Donny Deutsch was a lonely man on Thursday's "Morning Joe." The only panelist to decry Sarah Palin's inspiring new video designed to galvanize conservative women for the midterm elections, the MSNBC contributor puzzled even his liberal colleagues.
"I actually think it's insulting to a lot of women," thundered Deutsch. "I'm going to tell you why. It's the same reason why every time they do '100 most successful women in business' cover stories."
New York Times writer Andrew Ross Sorkin and Time magazine's Mark Halperin interjected to refute Deutsch, but the determined advertising guru just talked over them: "Listen to me! The American public wants more than 'I protect my cubs.'"
Halperin, who recently referred to Republicans as "childish" and "churlish," argued the video humanizes Palin's image and helps the former Alaska governor connect with everyday Americans.
"With the exception of her book tour, this is I think her best moment since the campaign ended," claimed Halperin.
With all the subtlety of an air horn, Deutsch revealed the source of his visceral antipathy for Palin: "I'm a Democrat, I really hope she's going to do Iowa and she's going to win South Carolina and she's the party's candidate because she's unelectable."
This is far from Deutsch's first foray into the business of insults. As NewsBusters reported in February, Deutsch disparaged Republican Senate candidate Marco Rubio, son of Cuban exiles, as a "coconut" on HLN's "Joy Behar Show." He tweeted an apology the next day. Perhaps Deutsch thinks his well-documented experience in the art of insulting allows him to speak authoritatively on such matters.
The transcript of the relevant portion of the segment can be found below:
MSNBC--Alex Fitzsimmons is a News Analysis intern at the Media Research Center. Click here to follow him on Twitter.
Morning Joe
July 8, 2010
8:27 a.m. EDT
MIKA BRZEZINSKI, co-host: Wow, alright. Pat, did you like it?
PAT BUCHANAN, MSNBC analyst: I want to hear his comment.
DONNY DEUTSCH, MSNBC contributor: I actually think it's insulting to a lot of women. I'm going to tell you why. It's the same reason why every time they do "100 most successful women in business" cover stories.
ANDREW ROSS SORKIN, The New York Times: Oh, no.
DEUTSCH: Listen to me! The American public wants more than "I protect my cubs." And we all know she's an interesting, compelling woman. There are real problems now. There's 10 percent unemployment and what does the fact that "I am woman, hear me roar" have to do with solving that?
BUCHANAN: Do you get out of the Hamptons a lot?
DEUTSCH: Stop with this elitist, leftist thing.
(Crosstalk)
BUCHANAN: She has a sense of humor. She's talking about women and others, "we're all going to get together and we're going to change things in November."
(Crosstalk)
DEUTSCH: She's a fascinating media critic. It's not going to change one person's opinion about what they think of her.
BUCHANAN: You're all prose, no poetry. I mean, really.
DEUTSCH: We already know she's this interesting woman. That's great. I got that.
MARK HALPERIN, Time magazine: With the exception of her book tour, this is I think her best moment since the campaign ended.
DEUTSCH: I can't believe I'm listening to you guys say that. It's just like, there's nothing there.
HALPERIN: I'll tell you the two things that I think are there. Three things. Number one, if the Republican Party can harness centrist and right women in these midterm elections, it can affect the entire balance of power in Congress. Number two, it humanizes her in a way on her own terms.
DEUTSCH: She's always been humanized.
HALPERIN: No, but this is a more accessible humanity to people outside her base. And the third thing it does, which I think is incredibly important, is it gives the Republican Party an emotional leader. That's what they need above all else. Pat talked before whether they have a "Contract for America," they need emotion and personality to say "we're marching toward this November election day" and this is as good as anything I've seen the party do.
BUCHANAN: You got to get beyond position papers and all this straight ideology and get into personality and humanity. She's adding these dimensions to her base and she's got a hardcore conservative ideology or philosophy but she's adding a softening dimension to her which is very powerful.
DEUTSCH: I'm a Democrat, I really hope she's going to do Iowa and she's going to win South Carolina and she's the party's candidate because she's unelectable. She's unelectable in the general election.
