Let he who is without a Y chromosome cast the first stone . . . Today's Morning Joe afforded viewers a study in hypocrisy: the all-male makeup of a panel at yesterday's House hearing on contraception was bashed by the show's panel consisting entirely of, yes, men.
With Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough having the day off, Willie Geist and Mike Barnicle took guest-hosting turns. Barnicle introduced the subject, harrumphing about "the absurd picture we just saw of basically, it looks like an all-male locker room in a golf club." Lawrence O'Donnell and Dem congressman Elijah Cummings joined in the breast-beating. Video after the jump.
Mike Barnicle
By Mark Finkelstein | February 17, 2012 | 9:50 AM EST
By Mark Finkelstein | February 15, 2012 | 11:17 AM EST
The MSM loves Jeremy Lin for now. But how long before he gets the Tebow treatment? Check out the video of the opening of today's Morning Joe. In just over two minutes, the show ran clips of Knicks player Jeremy Lin hitting a three-point buzzer beater last night . . . no fewer than 10 times.
But Morning Joe was far from finished. I counted a total of 28 Lin clips during the course of the show. Donnie Deutsch opined that "this is one of the few things where the 1% and the 99% can agree." Mike Barnicle later expressed a similar sentiment. Clearly the Lin story is moving America. But query how long he will remain a uniting figure should the MSM, as in the case of similarly-inspirational Tim Tebow, start mocking his devout Christianity? Video after the jump.
By Mark Finkelstein | December 12, 2011 | 7:33 AM EST
Morning Joe remains the home of the overwhelming ratio of liberal to conservative guests. Even so, in recent weeks a narrative unflattering to Barack Obama has emerged around the table: Obama doesn't like his job. He doesn't particularly like people and is in the wrong line of work.
An even more damning appraisal was offered today: Obama doesn't think he has failed America. He thinks America has failed him. Or as Joe Scarborough encapsulated the concept, Obama believes our version of democracy is a "stumbling block to his greatness." Video after the jump.
By Mark Finkelstein | December 7, 2011 | 10:08 AM EST
Barack Obama's political tone has become progressively more partisan since his "no red states, no blue states just the United States" warm 'n fuzziness at the 2004 Dem convention. But President Obama's rhetoric is still not harsh enough to suit Mike Barnicle.
On Morning Joe today, the former Boston Globe columnist demanded to know of Obama press sec Jay Carney just when the president was going to stop "swinging at air" and start calling out Republicans by name. Video after the jump.
By Noel Sheppard | December 1, 2011 | 12:13 AM EST
As NewsBusters previously reported, the gang on MSNBC's Morning Joe Wednesday got into a serious discussion about whether or not Barack Obama actually likes his current job.
In the middle of this exchange, when Mika Brzezinski - who appeared uncomfortable with all the criticism of her beloved president - started defending him, co-host Joe Scarborough smacked her down saying, "Stop the apologizing" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
By Mark Finkelstein | November 30, 2011 | 9:31 AM EST
Recently on Morning Joe it was Jon Meacham suggesting that Barack Obama doesn't particularly like people and was in the wrong line of work. Today it was Tina Brown's turn, opining that PBO doesn't dig his gig.
Discussing PBO's ever-paltrier poll numbers, Brown opined that Obama "doesn't like his job." Video after the jump.
By Mark Finkelstein | November 29, 2011 | 7:56 AM EST
Can you imagine the holy hell Ann Coulter would have unleashed if Ronald Reagan had been described in similarly scathing terms? But when the irrepressible Ann called Ted Kennedy "human pestilence," long-term Kennedy clan retainer Mike Barnicle barely blinked.
It happened on Morning Joe today. Coulter, who has called on conservatives to rally around Mitt Romney, was defending Romney's adoption in the past of moderate positions. Ann argued he did so in hyper-liberal Massachusetts while running against Ted Kennedy and that Romney "came within five points of taking out that human pestilence." The best Barnicle could muster was a stumbling "I, I, I, I don't know that I'm going to do that with Ted Kennedy," that "we miss him in Massachusetts" and that Kennedy would have facilitated the ObamaCare debate. Video after the jump.
By Mark Finkelstein | November 16, 2011 | 8:15 AM EST
Ever been watching Morning Joe, and wished you could stop the steady stream of liberal blather? Simple. Say the magic word—Solyndra—and watch the gabby guests fall suddenly silent.
Today's show offered a prime example of the phenomenon. For the first ten minutes, the panel had a great old time cackling and crowing on the theme that the Republican presidential field is a mass of morons. They laughed at the mere mention of Herman Cain, likened the GOP field to a vaudeville show, dragged out the shopworn "bar in Star Wars" simile, and called the Republican candidates "jokes," "clowns" and "stupid." But then, 13 minutes in, Mika Brzezinski mentioned a story reporting that the Obama admin had suppressed the announcement of layoffs at Solyndra until after the 2010 elections. Despite Mika looking around the table at her guests as she wondered out loud "why this story hasn't picked up more," there wasn't a peep out of the quickly clammed-up crew and Brezinski breezed on to another topic. Video after the jump.
By P.J. Gladnick | October 29, 2011 | 9:12 AM EDT
As reported on Thursday by Newsbusters' Mark Finkelstein, Joe Scarborough and some members of his MSNBC Morning Joe crew shot their mouths off about what Mike Barnicle described as a "police riot" at the Occupy Oakland protests before waiting for all the facts. And now it appears that the Morning Joe folks have shot themselves in the foot as well since reports from the scene show that it was the police who were clearly provoked by the Occupy Oakland demonstrators.
So were these reports from the usual "rightwing" suspects? Nope. The reports confirming the provocations from the demonstrators came from the leftwing Mother Jones magazine and were supported by the very liberal San Francisco Chronicle. Here is the initial report from the scene by James West of Mother Jones:
By Mark Finkelstein | October 27, 2011 | 7:25 AM EDT
Today, some members of the Morning Joe panel piously preached the importance of not jumping to conclusions regarding the clash between "Occupy" demonstrators and police in Oakland, California that left one man seriously injured.
But that didn't prevent Mike Barnicle from describing the event as a "police riot" or Joe Scarborough from speaking of police "brutality." H/t NB reader Ray R. Interestingly, Mika Brzezinski was the voice of reason, declining to condemn the police, saying she'd "hold back" and "wait"--presumably to get all the facts. Video after the jump.
Scarborough Scolds Brzezinski: 'She Didn't Cross-examine Ron [Suskind] When He Wrote Books About Bush'
By Noel Sheppard | September 20, 2011 | 7:23 PM EDT Mika Brzezinski gave quite a cold shoulder to author Ron Suskind Tuesday whose new book "Confidence Men" paints an unflattering picture of the Obama White House.
Doing her best Clarence Darrow, Brzezinski grilled her "Morning Joe" guest leading Joe Scarborough to smartly observe, "She didn't cross-examine Ron when he wrote books about Bush like this" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
By Mark Finkelstein | September 7, 2011 | 8:01 AM EDT
Is there no double-standard depths to which the liberal media won't sink when it comes to provocative political speech? No—judging by the pitiful performance of two MSMers on today's Morning Joe in defending James "Take 'Em Out" Hoffa.
Newsweek editor Tina Brown brayed that we must not "sanitize" political speech or take the "juice" out of it--all the while condemning Michele Bachmann and Glenn Beck for some of their remarks. And the preposterous Mike Barnicle somehow defended Hoffa on the basis of the "context" of his remarks. Say what? Hoffa was introducing the President of the United States! And don't miss Barnicle logic-defyingly defending the double-standard when it comes to Sarah Palin on the basis that everyone knows the MSM will attack her. Video after the jump.