Joe Scarborough

MSNBC's Thomas Roberts: Panetta Criticizing Obama For Bucks and Hillary Brownie Points
By Mark Finkelstein | October 9, 2014 | 8:08 AM EDT

Elite Dems across America might be scuttling away from Barack Obama.  But the president can count on at least one man to stand by him: MSNBC's Thomas Roberts.  On today's Morning Joe, Roberts accused Leon Panetta of criticizing President Obama for base motives: "getting paid" off his book, and currying close ties with Hillary Clinton.

Roberts' lame attempt to undermine Panetta came after Joe Scarborough and Mark Halperin [citing Ron Fournier] said Panetta's criticism of Obama echoes what elite Dems from Washington to Hollywood are saying in private—but are afraid to express in public.

Scarborough and Matthews Squabble Like Schoolboys: 'It's My Show!'
By Mark Finkelstein | October 7, 2014 | 8:28 AM EDT

Early in today's Morning Joe, teasing Chris Matthews' upcoming appearance, Mika Brzezinski admonished "you two be nice now." They weren't.  Yet again, the two MSNBC hosts came to verbal blows.  The detonator wasn't political differences.  Instead, the two MSNBC hosts squabbled over personal supremacy like a pair of eighth-grade boys in the schoolyard.  Matthews was on a riff, offering a extended rundown of his predictions on the various Senate races. 

After going down the entire list of contested races once, giving his predictions, Matthews circled back to go over them yet again.  Scarborough had enough, but Chris didn't want to let Joe stop him, and the squabble was on.

Friction on 'Morning Joe' Over Whether Pierson Was Affirmative Action Hire Sends Geist Smirking at Mika
By Mark Finkelstein | October 1, 2014 | 8:27 AM EDT

Imus would call it a "tension convention." There was palpable friction among members of the Morning Joe team today on the question of whether Secret Service Director Julia Pierson was an affirmative action hire. By the end, the almost unfailingly affable Willie Geist was smirking in frustration at Mika Brzezinski.

When Brzezinski first broached the sensitive-for-liberals subject, she suggested that she was going to go further than her male colleagues dared. But by the time she circled back to the topic, Mika had for some reason lost her nerve. She was suddenly so cautious that Donny Deutsch chided her for raising the issue "softly." Things came to a head when Mika, suddenly trying to sound tough, asked Willie whether it was "illegal" for her to ask why Pierson got her job. Willie, having suggested no such thing, could only smirk and look off camera for support in response to Mika's non sequitur of a question.

Men Need Not Apply: Morning Joe Digs Idea of Women-Only Taxi Service
By Mark Finkelstein | September 9, 2014 | 7:24 AM EDT

All the members of the Morning Joe panel--Mika Brzezinski, Joe Scarborough and Willie Geist--speak approvingly of "SheRide," a new taxi service that hires only women drivers and accepts only women passengers.

Scarborough Scoffs at Friedman's Idea To Stop ISIS: A Carbon Tax
By Mark Finkelstein | September 8, 2014 | 10:51 AM EDT

Joe Scarborough scoffs at Thomas Friedman's suggestion that the way to confront ISIS is for the US to adopt a carbon tax and permit oil exports.

Santorum To Scarborough: Yeah, You're Pigeonholing Me On Religious Freedom, Contraception!
By Mark Finkelstein | March 19, 2012 | 9:21 AM EDT

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.

Chuck Todd Laughs When Asked If Obama Thinks His New Tax Plan Is A 'Realistic Goal'
By Noel Sheppard | September 19, 2011 | 10:38 AM EDT

Even Chuck Todd thinks President Obama's new tax plan is a joke.

When asked on MSNBC Monday if the White House believes "tax reform in the context of the Super Committee is a realistic goal," NBC's chief White House correspondent broke out laughing followed by the entire "Morning Joe" panel (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Scarborough Smacks Down E.J. Dionne's GOP Obstruction Charge: Obama 'Owned Washington' for Two Years
By Noel Sheppard | September 1, 2011 | 10:42 AM EDT

I sure hope Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne as well as other unapologetic Obama-loving media members were watching MSNBC's "Morning Joe" Thursday.

After Mika Brzezinski read a snippet of Dionne's "Obama's Paradox Problem" wherein he basically blamed all that ails the nation on GOP obstruction, Joe Scarborough accurately noted, "the President owned – OWNED! – Washington, D.C., in 2009 and 2010" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

'Slut' Walk Feminist Won't Say If She'd Want Daughter To Dress Like One
By Mark Finkelstein | June 6, 2011 | 8:27 AM EDT

This column makes a living lambasting Mika Brzezinski for her liberalism. So let's give the Morning Joe co-host credit when she dares deviate from the lefty line.

On today's Morning Joe, Mika persistently questioned Jessica Valenti, a feminist proponent of [their term] "Slut Walks," as to whether she'd want her daughter to dress like one.  Valenti, happy to push others out into the streets in skimpy clothes, twice dodged Mika's question, the second time with a particularly lame line.

View video after the jump.

Video With Cheney Fighting For Breath Leaves Mika Laughing
By Mark Finkelstein | April 4, 2011 | 9:36 AM EDT

Are you old enough to remember the polio-era line: "funny as an iron lung"?  After all, what kind of person would find funny the notion of someone fighting to breathe?

Answer: Mika Brzezinski.

Today's Morning Joe played a Letterman clip of a faux-promo for an imaginary TV show called "The Dick Cheney Story."  As the title song from the Mary Tyler Moore Show plays merrily in the background, we're treated to images of Cheney wielding a gun, in a wheelchair and undergoing open-heart surgery.  The clip closes with video of Cheney fighting to get a breath of air.

Cut to Mika, doubled-over, laughing hysterically, literally to the point of tears.

View video after the jump.

Indignant Norah O'Donnell Defends Obama's Lack Of Leadership On Libya
By Mark Finkelstein | February 24, 2011 | 8:35 AM EST

If Time-magaziner-turned-WH-press-sec Jay Carney ever tires of defending Pres. Obama, Norah O'Donnell clearly seems ready to step in...

When on today's Morning Joe Donny Deutsch described PBO as having a passive leadership style as evidenced by his approach to Libya, health care and other issues, an indignant O'Donnell piped up, defending the president's passivity.

View video after the jump.

Scarborough Says 'Judge Not' . . . Then Calls Kyl And DeMint 'Un-Christlike'
By Mark Finkelstein | December 16, 2010 | 6:50 AM EST

Update: Joe denies judging Kyl and DeMint.  See video after the jump.

Call it an episode of Short Self-Attention Span Theater . . .

Mere moments after citing Matthew 7's instruction to "judge not, that ye be not judged," Joe Scarborough judged Jon Kyl and Jim DeMint to be "un-Christlike."

Scarborough's strange self-contradiction came in the course of his diatribe against the two Republican senators for having criticized Harry Reid for threatening to keep the Senate in session through Christmas.

View video after the jump.