MSNBC seems to be full of surprises this week. On Monday, the Morning Joe crew hosted a genuine conservative from National Review. On Tuesday, they called out Democratic strategist James Carville and dogpiled on former DNC chairman Howard Dean.
The festivities began with Mika Brzezinski simultaneously acknowledging MSNBC’s reputation for liberal bias and taking issue with Carville’s notion that Clinton’s email controversy is born of never ending right wing nonsense, "The New York Times broke the story and there was even a --first couple of days, articles that showed that we covered it more than Fox. So what right is he talking about?"
Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson also rejected the tired rehashing of the vast right-wing conspiracy against the Clintons, "Carville says this will never stop. And the reason this will never stop is they keep doing it....I don't understand what the impulse is for the secrecy and the sort of combination of being embattled and entitled that seems to characterize the way the Clinton family does business, does politics, does everything."
Howard Dean tried his best to defend the sinister right-wing narrative. "I don’t think it’s a vast right-wing conspiracy. But I bet you anything it was the right wing that brought this attention – brought this to the attention of the press...This is nonsense. This is bupkis, as we say in the Bronx."
Joe Scarborough didn’t buy it, "This is a New York Times story, that Dianne Feinstein and other Democrats are very concerned with."
Next, Dean tried to invoke the obstructing character of the State Department’s bureaucracy, "Do you think the Secretary of State of the United States of America ought to be conducting back channel diplomacy, even outside of the bureaucracy of the State Department, because I do and I’ll bet you every single one has, including John Jay."
Scarborough let him have it, "I don't know how that's relevant to you doing what the letter and the spirit of the law says."
Robinson piled on, saying, its "not relevant, actually. And it is interesting to disagree with Howard on this. We usually agree on most things." His only explanation as to why Hillary would want her own email account was simply "[she’s] a control freak perhaps."
Next, Dean tried to plead ignorance on the government regulations after days of Hillary-scandal talk. "I’d like to see those regulations...cause I'm not aware of them."
Brzezinski couldn’t help but call Dean out, "[P]retending you’ve never seen it -- come on, Howard."
Scarborough told Dean that it was "ridiculous" that he was "pretending [he’s] never seen or heard anything about this regulation. Everybody in Washington, D.C., has been talking about it." Dean insisted that was the problem, that the scandal is nonsense.
Finally, Dean played his most desperate card and claimed that Clinton was acting in the interest of national security, "Well it may be that some of these – that this whole thing is because she wanted security. It may be that the -- and it wouldn't be surprising at all to have the State Department being much more vulnerable to hacking than her ISP that she set up."
This was too much even for Brzezinski, "What are you doing? What's going on?"
Scarborough asked incredulously: "Are you saying that a State Department server in Washington, D.C., my head hurts -- are you saying that a State Department server in Washington, D.C., might be more prone to being hacked than a home-brewed system in Chappaqua?....I mean this is laughable on its face."
Eventually Brzezinkski went straight for the kill, "Are you working with the Clintons?" Dean admitted, "I am supporting Hillary Clinton. Yes, I definitely am."
Commit this broadcast to memory. This may be the last time in a long while that we see MSNBC this objective about facts and this aggressive with Democratic guests.
