Mike Barnicle

NYT Pair Strongly Imply That Mosby's Cousin Was Killed by Police, When It Was a Black-on-Black Crime
By Tom Blumer | May 3, 2015 | 11:41 PM EDT

One could spend hours critiquing the horridly written, agenda-driven Friday evening (Saturday print edition, front page) story at the New York Times about Marilyn J. Mosby, the state’s attorney for Baltimore. On Friday, she announced the indictment of six police officers in the death of Freddie Gray.

Earlier Sunday, "Open Blogger" at the Ace of Spades blog provided the Cliff's notes version of the report by Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Alan Blinder — "exactly what one would expect from what is now the loudest national voice in support of mob rule." Especially egregious is the pair's strong implication, in the context of their writeup, that Mosby's cousin was killed by the police. It's hard to see how the average reader could reach any other conclusion after reading paragraphs 2 through 7 in their report (bolds are mine throughout this post):

Scarborough Calls Hillary Defender Howard Dean 'New England Version of James Carville'
By Mark Finkelstein | April 30, 2015 | 9:13 AM EDT

How did Howard Dean go from vivid voice of the New Left to political hack defending Hillary Clinton at all costs? Joe Scarborough called Dean on it today, telling Howard he had become the "New England version of James Carville."

Dean, on today's Morning Joe, dismissed the latest Washington Post story suggesting possible financial improprieties at the Clinton Foundation as "a breathless piece of hot air" and, incredibly, Dean said he'd advise Hillary not to address the rising tide of questions. 

Barnicle: No Clinton Quid Pro Quo Because Bill Bilked Bribers
By Mark Finkelstein | April 27, 2015 | 8:39 AM EDT

How bad are things getting for Hillary when the best defense some supporters can muster is that there was no corruption because Bill bilked the people who thought they were bribing her?

Last week, we reported on Hillary fan Dorian Warren suggesting that Bill was "running serious game on many of these countries saying oh, I'll talk to my wife, give me the check, and then never mentioning [it.]" On today's Morning Joe, Mike Barnicle made that same argument, claiming there was no quid pro quo because knowing Bill, he took the money saying "yeah, sure, I'll call him for you, and he'll never call."  Interestingly, Mika Brzezinski wasn't buying, saying that Newt's allegations of bribery "made sense."

Barnicle: Obama Iran Deal an 'Extraordinary Feat'
By Mark Finkelstein | April 10, 2015 | 8:07 AM EDT

For Iran, Mike?  On today's Morning Joe, reliable Obama fan Mike Barnicle managed to keep a straight face while lauding the Iran deal as an "extraordinary feat." He did so despite poll numbers displayed showing that a huge majority of Americans don't think the ayatollahs will keep their promises.

Let's see: sanctions lifted while centrifuges keep spinning and nuclear scientists beaver away in hardened, bomb-resistant facilities.  Extraordinary, yeah.

Bibi's Criticism of Iran Deal Has Mika Making Faces
By Mark Finkelstein | April 1, 2015 | 9:05 AM EDT

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, when after rolling a clip of Bibi Netanyahu criticizing the prospective Iran deal, Mika announced that she would "reserve" comment, satisfying herself yet again with dramatic pauses, grimaces, etc. [see example below].

What Makes Mika So Miffed About Bibi?
By Mark Finkelstein | March 24, 2015 | 10:08 AM EDT

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 about Bibi? Mika gave a little hint when she challenged the integrity of her guests for declining to join in her blasting of Bibi: "I just want to know what you're all afraid of. I do."  Hmm.  Mika apparently thinks there's something about the Israelis, or their friends in the US, that frightens American reporters and pundits from speaking their minds.  What might that be?

Barnicle On Dealing With ISIS: 'You Want To Set Your Hair on Fire'
By Mark Finkelstein | February 18, 2015 | 7:13 AM EST

There are still 10 months to go in 2015, but Mike Barnicle is a strong frontrunner for Clumsiest Comment of the Year.

In a Morning Joe segment today on ISIS outrages, and shortly after mentioning the atrocity in which ISIS burned dozens of people to death in Iraq, Barnicle said that the complexity of dealing with ISIS makes "you want to set your hair on fire."

Barnicle: We Can't Call It Radical Islam 'Because We're The Crusaders'
By Mark Finkelstein | February 17, 2015 | 7:23 AM EST

Mike Barnicle: proud member of the Barack Obama "terrible deeds in the name of Christ" school of moral blindness . . . 

Joe Scarborough opened today's Morning Joe with a protracted and impassioned plea for America—and in particular President Obama—to call out radical Islam by name. Mika Brzezinski was dubious, citing unspecified "difficult times" in the past when presidents used the wrong language. But taking Mika's misgivings a giant step further, Mike Barnicle flatly declared that we can't call radical Islam by name because "we're the Crusaders."

MSNBC Catholic? Barnicle Attacks 'A--hole' Cardinal As 'Offensive' for Opposing Feminism
By Tim Graham | January 19, 2015 | 2:17 PM EST

If the notion of an “MSNBC Catholic” sounds like a complete non sequitur, you could be thinking of Mike Barnicle. In a foam-flecked Daily Beast attack on conservative Catholic Cardinal Raymond Burke -- "Catholicism’s Most Offensive Mansplainer" -- Barnicle and the Beasties highlighted how his “mother the nun” would call Burke an “a**hole” in Gaelic.

Barnicle also uncorked a completely crackpot line: “The cost of his gilded, ornate vestments could feed a family of four across a decade.”

Daily Beast's Dickey's Disgusting Moral Equivalency: There Are Extremist Christian, Jewish & Hindu Preachers, Too!
By Mark Finkelstein | January 12, 2015 | 8:08 AM EST

It's not enough to read the transcript.  You really need to view the video to appreciate the depths of Christopher Dickey's world-weary, dismissive, preening political correctness. Asked on today's Morning Joe to comment on Muslim preachers inciting violence from their pulpits, Dickey of The Daily Beast sniffed that the problem is "exaggerated," claimed that the number of violent Muslims is "infinitesimally small" [down even from the "minuscule" number he cited last week], and engaged in the most fraudulent form of moral equivalency, saying that there are also crazy Christian, Jewish and Hindu preachers who incite their congregations.

Barnicle Mockingly Imagines Tough Question for Rick Perry: What Day Is It?
By Mark Finkelstein | December 11, 2014 | 8:30 AM EST

Guess when you're as brilliant as Mike Barnicle, it's OK to ridicule others for their supposed lack of smarts.

Today's Morning Joe was teasing an upcoming segment about a tough question that reporter Kasie Hunt [who has earned a rep for not being afraid in interviews to "go there'] had posed to Rick Perry.  Mockingly trying to imagine the question, Barnicle offered "she asked him what day it was."

Miklaszewski's 'Damning' Description of Obama Admin Micromanagement of Pentagon
By Mark Finkelstein | November 25, 2014 | 7:53 AM EST

Jim Miklaszewski kept it relatively diplomatic, declaring "there's something amiss here."  But Joe Scarborough was blunt: "boy, that's damning," said the Morning Joe host.  

They were characterizing Miklaszewski's description of the Obama administration's "micromanagement" of the Department of Defense in which communication flows only in one direction: from the White House to the Pentagon. On today's Morning Joe, NBC's Pentagon correspondent reported that former SecDefs Robert Gates and Leon Panetta had recently "lambaste[d]" that micromanagement.