Morning Joe

Joe Klein Blames CIA for Benghazi Deaths: 'Those Guys Should Be Able to Protect Themselves'
By Mark Finkelstein | October 20, 2015 | 8:53 AM EDT

This could be the worst whitewashing since Tom Sawyer suckered people into helping him with that fence... On today's Morning Joe, Joe Klein cleared Hillary of responsibility for American deaths in Benghazi, and blamed the CIA.  

According to Klein, "this really was a CIA station there, not so much a consulate, and those guys should be able to protect themselves in most circumstances." Klein doesn't think Hillary should even be called to testify: "this is something that does not rise to the level of the Secretary of State." He suggested instead that David Petraeus be hauled before the committee.

Heilemann: Wouldn't Believe Biden if He Called to Say He's Getting in at Noon
By Mark Finkelstein | October 20, 2015 | 7:55 AM EDT

Basta: enough already! It's not that John Heilemann thinks Joe Biden is a liar, it's just that he's not convinced that Biden knows his own mind yet.  And so it was that on today's Morning Joe, Heilemann declared "if he called me this morning and said I'm going to get in today at noon, I wouldn't believe him because I think there's a chance that by noon he'd change his mind."

Heilemann used two words with rhyming Middle English endings to describe Biden's charged emotional state: fraught and wrought.

Halperin: 'Let's Be Honest, a Lot of FBI Agents Don't Like the Clintons'
By Mark Finkelstein | October 19, 2015 | 8:47 AM EDT

Joe Scarborough says there's an effort underway to delegitimize the FBI investigation of Hillary's email. Did Mark Halperin just abet that effort by alleging that FBI agents conducting the investigation are driven in part by personal animus toward the Clintons?

Appearing on today's Morning Joe, Halperin said that "of all the entities in the United States that represent a threat to Hillary Clinton being the next President of the United States, those FBI agents are probably in the first tier, in part because they're following the evidence wherever it leads, but in part because—let's be honest—a lot of FBI agents don't like the Clintons. View the video, and be sure to watch to the end to catch Hillary cackling in response to Jake Tapper's questions about the email.

Scarborough Suggests Hugh Hewitt Has 'Tingle Up the Leg' for Rubio
By Mark Finkelstein | October 16, 2015 | 8:37 AM EDT

Joe Scarborough swung a double-edged sword on today's Morning Joe, swiping simultaneously at his MSNBC colleague Chris Matthews and at radio host and debate panelist Hugh Hewitt. The subject was Marco Rubio, with Hewitt calling him "the most dynamic speaker the Republican party has seen ever, since Lincoln."  "Since Lincoln," asked Scarborough incredulously—"do you have a tingle going up your leg?"

Scarborough said that rather than recalling Lincoln, "when I see Marco speaking, I'm seeing a guy that's running for student government."  Interesting aside: Hewitt predicts that Republicans will have an open convention, with no candidate having wrapped up the nomination before the delegates get to Cleveland in July.

Willie Geist: 'Many of My Conservative Friends' Thought Cooper Would Go Easy on Dems
By Mark Finkelstein | October 14, 2015 | 7:30 AM EDT

Wow: an MSMer who not only has "many" conservative friends, but is willing to admit it on live national TV?

On today's Morning Joe, in the course of praising Anderson Cooper's performance as debate moderator, Geist let drop that prior to the debate "many of my conservative friends" thought CNN would go easy on the Dems, but that five minutes in, they told him "oh, I guess he's not going to go easy."

Cokie Roberts: Hillary 'Knows Everything About Every Issue'
By Mark Finkelstein | October 13, 2015 | 9:21 AM EDT

Rush Limbaugh likes to facetiously refer to Hillary Clinton as "the smartest woman in the world." Today's Morning Joe brought us three people who might actually believe it.

Previewing tonight's Dem debate, Mike Barnicle led off the love-in, fantasizing about people coming away from the debate saying "wow, there is a prepared, thorough, knowledgeable candidate. All the Benghazi stuff goes out the window." Next was Joe Scarborough, who said the debate gives Hillary the chance to show voters "she may be the smartest person on the stage and in politics right now."  And finally, the incomparable Cokie Roberts, who gushed that any time Hillary is with "actual people" [as opposed to droids?] she "always wows them" adding that Hillary "knows everything about every issue."  

WaPo's Ignatius: Obama's Weird 'I Told You So' About His Own Failed Syria Policy
By Mark Finkelstein | October 13, 2015 | 8:21 AM EDT

Michelle might want to gently tap the president on the shoulder and remind him "umm, Barack, you're not in the faculty lounge any more.  You're actually, uh, President and Commander-in-Chief.  So you don't get to criticize your own failed policies as if you're not responsible for them.  They're, umm, your policies, you know?"

Commenting on President Obama's 60 Minutes interview in which he said he was "skeptical from the get-go" about his administration's failed policy of training Syrian rebels, WaPo's David Ignatius on today's Morning Joe called the president's reaction "weird," adding "he spoke almost like a man vindicated when a policy of his own administration had collapsed in failure. And he was, he took the line almost of, see, I told you so."

Scarborough Slams CNN and Other MSM 'Trump Deniers'
By Mark Finkelstein | October 12, 2015 | 8:03 AM EDT

Says Joe Scarborough, if Jeb Bush had Donald Trump's poll numbers, the media would proclaim the race "T-K-Over." Yet rather than touting Trump's commanding lead, the liberal media speculates instead on the Donald's "exit strategy." That had Scarborough blasting CNN and other MSM outlets as "Trump deniers" on today's Morning Joe.

Why is the MSM unwilling to give Donald his due?  Scarborough suggested the media should "just admit: we hate him so much, that even when he is trouncing everybody, we loathe this vulgarian from Queens who we've never accepted into our club and screw him, we're never going to give him any sort of respect." Concluded Joe: "I call them Trump deniers."

Death Wish? Andrea Mitchell Asks Ben Carson Can Republican Party 'Survive?'
By Mark Finkelstein | October 9, 2015 | 10:34 AM EDT

Who is taking more glee from the current Republican turmoil over the selection of the next Speaker: Democrats or the MSM—or do I repeat myself?

Today's Morning Joe featured a clip from Andrea Mitchell's interview of Ben Carson in which she asked: "what does this just say about the Republican brand and the Republican party. Can it survive after this kind of chaos?" Wishful thinking, Andrea?

Scarborough: People Like Carson in Over Their Head on School Boards
By Mark Finkelstein | October 8, 2015 | 8:36 AM EDT

For weeks now, Joe Scarborough has been expressing befuddlement over Ben Carson's appeal.  It boiled over on today's Morning Joe, as Scarborough went on an extended anti-Carson rant.

Scarborough unleashed after clips were played from town halls in Iowa and New Hampshire in which Republican voters expressed strong support for the notion of Carson as a qualified president. Calling Carson unqualified to be president, Joe railed that he'd seen people like Carson on school boards who got into trouble because they were in "over their heads."

Scarborough: We Cut Clip of Dem Focus Group—Too Negative About Hillary
By Mark Finkelstein | October 7, 2015 | 8:45 AM EDT

Is it the MSM's role to protect Hillary Clinton's image by preventing the public from seeing what members of her own party think of her?  Today's Morning Joe played a clip from a Dem focus group in New Hampshire in which there was near unanamity that Hillary's personality could be a serious turn-off to voters, particularly male ones.

Joe Scarborough then said: "we actually cut a good bit in there, out, that was even more negative of Hillary because we thought it was actually too negative and didn't like some of the connotations there."

Barnicle: 'Assault Weapon' Ban Would Take 'Real Courage'
By Michael McKinney | October 6, 2015 | 12:55 PM EDT

On MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Tuesday, the roundtable turned to the NBC "town hall" Secretary Hillary Clinton had on gun control. Mike Barnicle began the discussion by declaring that it requires courage and hammering gun control for any gun control to be accomplished. Barnicle would then continue on against semi-automatic rifles, in particular the AR-15 and AK-47, because they are "military assault rifles." Mika Brzezinski would bring up the amount of guns owned by the Mercer family, while Joe Scarborough and Eugene Robinson would confront the hardship of parenting and responsibility of adult children.