Mark Halperin

Mike Barnicle: Shut Up, Jimmy Carter! People Would Rather Have Obama Than You as President
By Tim Graham | October 10, 2014 | 10:15 AM EDT

You know it's getting bad for Obama's foreign policy when Jimmy Carter attacks him for being weak and vacillating. On Thursday's Morning Joe, co-host Mika Brzezinski read the Carter critique on the air, and they talked about Leon Panetta's argument against Obama's weakness. Mark Halperin added that the Panetta view is shared by people inside the Obama adminstration and Democratic circles. This was too much for Mike Barnicle, who shot back:

"I would like to see a poll on how many Americans would feel more comfortable with Jimmy Carter leading the United States right now rather than Barack Obama."

John Heilemann: Clinton’s Hands Are ‘Like The Paintbrushes Of Picasso’
By Jeffrey Meyer | October 8, 2014 | 12:37 PM EDT

John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, authors of the controversial 2008 campaign book Game Change, have a new show on Bloomberg called With All Due Respect and the two liberal journalists are using their platform to continue the media fawning over President Clinton. On their Tuesday show, the two hosts gushed over a campaign speech Clinton gave on behalf of Arkansas Democrat Mark Pryor and Heilemann proclaimed that Clinton’s hands “they’re like the paintbrushes of Picasso. He just uses them as an artistic expression mode.” 

Mark Halperin on 2016: Hillary is 'Far and Away the Class of the Field'
By Geoffrey Dickens | September 4, 2014 | 5:11 PM EDT

Appearing on Tuesday’s edition of PBS’s Charlie Rose show Game Change co-author Mark Halperin said Hillary Clinton’s poor performance during her recent book tour was nothing to worry about because “She’s still so far and away the class of the field.”

His writing partner John Heilemann agreed and added: “If you think about Hillary Clinton’s story over her life, there’s a lot of material there to work with. She has a compelling story to tell. She’s not yet told it.” Not yet told it? How many memoirs does Heilemann think Clinton needs to tell her “compelling story?” (video after the jump)

Beltway Insiders Pour Cold Water on GOP's Senate Chances
By Geoffrey Dickens | September 3, 2014 | 5:07 PM EDT

On Tuesday night Mark Halperin and John Heilemann stopped by Charlie Rose’s PBS show to throw cold water on GOP hopes of re-taking the Senate as the co-authors of Game Change and current Bloomberg Politics editors spouted the typical inside-the-beltway view of the Republican Party’s 2014 chances.

Halperin claimed the GOP was hampered by having “no real message” whereas the Democrats could run on “keeping Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security” - basically the same ideas they have run on since the 1930s.  Heilemann also told Republicans to cool their jets. (Video after the jump)

MSNBC’s Halperin on Perry Indictment: ‘This Is the Stupidest Thing I've Seen...In My Entire Career’
By Curtis Houck | August 18, 2014 | 12:50 PM EDT

On Monday’s Morning Joe on MSNBC, MSNBC contributor and managing editor of Bloomberg Politics Mark Halperin slammed the indictment of Texas Governor Rick Perry (R) by an Austin, Texas-area grand jury for threatening to veto funding for a Democratic District Attorney’s public integrity unit after she was convicted of a DUI as “the stupidest thing I’ve seen, I think, in my entire career.”

Expanding further on his opinion, Halperin added that: “I hope some judge throws it out right away. It's not just kind of funny and ridiculous, but it’s an infringement on individual liberty. He’s got a First Amendment right just cause he’s governor of Texas and I think it’s – like you said, it's easy to joke about this, but this is a serious thing. It is ridiculous that he was indicted for this. Ridiculous.” [MP3 audio here; Video below]

Kevin Drum Seconds Mark Halperin: Hillary's ‘Just Never Going to Catch a Break’ From Media
By Tom Johnson | July 31, 2014 | 5:02 PM EDT

NewsBusters readers presumably would laugh at the proposition that the media are biased against Hillary Clinton, but plenty of liberals, including Mother Jones blogger Kevin Drum, believe it.

In a Tuesday post, Drum, regarding the media’s fascination with Hillary’s “dead broke” remark, wrote, “Hillary could have responded to questions about her wealth a little better. She's not the natural politician Bill is. But really, there's not much else here. So why does it continue to be news a full month later?” Drum then touched on Mark Halperin’s recent comment on Morning Joe that “the press loves to cover [Hillary] hard.” Halperin also said on another recent Morning Joe broadcast that Hillary is “destined to get horrible coverage if she runs for president.” Drum went on (emphasis added):

Morning Joe Panel Hits Andrew Cuomo on Corruption Scandal: ‘Evening Newscasts Every Night’ If It Was Christie
By Connor Williams | July 28, 2014 | 11:30 AM EDT

Following Andrew Cuomo’s decision to disband a corruption commission he created, Morning Joe hit the New York governor hard for his questionable tactics. The scandal comes after The New York Times reported that Cuomo shut down the commission when it began to go after some of the Governor’s own political allies.

Cuomo was defiant in response to the allegations, asserting that “it's not a legal question. The Moreland Commission was my commission, it's my commission, my subpoena power, my Moreland Commission. I can appoint it, I can disband it. I can appoint you, I can un-appoint you tomorrow.” Joe Scarborough wasn’t buying the excuses, ripping the Governor: [MP3 audio here; video below]

'Morning Joe' Panelists Lament Media 'Lying In Wait' To Attack Hillary Clinton
By Laura Flint | July 25, 2014 | 1:00 PM EDT

From numerous softball interviews to free publicity for her memoir Hard Choices, it is plain to see that the liberal media adores Hillary Clinton and pines for her to run as a Democratic presidential candidate in 2016. Except, of course, for the panelists on Morning Joe. On the July 25 edition of the MSNBC morning show, Mika Brzezinksi and her guests Mark Halerpin, David Gregory, and Donny Deutsch lamented the “horrible coverage” Clinton is “destined” to receive “if she runs for president.”

Brzezinksi began the segment by recounting former New York Time’s executive editor Jill Abramson’s statement that “the former first lady expected the press, especially female journalists, to be loyal to her” and Clinton’s response that “I'll have to work on my expectations.” While it is true that Clinton expects the liberal media to fawn over her, the Morning Joe panel forgot that usually, they do.

MRC's Notable Quotables: If GOP Ruled, IRS Scandal 'Would Be a National Obsession'
By Rich Noyes | July 14, 2014 | 9:37 AM EDT

Now online: the July 14 edition of Notable Quotables, MRC’s bi-weekly compilation of the latest outrageous quotes in the liberal media. This week, former ABC News political director Mark Halperin blurts the truth about the media's neglect of the IRS scandal: "With a different administration, one that was a Republican administration, this story would be a national obsession."

But two days later, NBC News political director Chuck Todd suggested it was all a Republican ploy: "Are there any actual real victims?" while a longtime White House correspondent insists the press corps "would be galloping after" the IRS story if there was only "proof of a crime." Highlights are posted after the jump; the entire issue is posted online, with 20 quotes at www.MRC.org.

Scarborough Panel Mocks NY Times for Ignoring IRS Commissioner Donations to Obama and Other Dems
By Brad Wilmouth | June 27, 2014 | 8:54 AM EDT

On Friday's Morning Joe program, MSNBC host Joe Scarborough complained about the absence of media attention to the fact that IRS commissioner John Koskinen, in charge of an organization currently embroiled in an investigation into whether it has unfairly targeted conservative groups during the Obama administration, is himself a "big Democratic donor" who has donated to President Barack Obama twice and, over the years, almost $100,000 to various Democrats.

Regular panel members Mark Halperin of Time magazine and John Heilemann of New York magazine joined in as Scarborough called out the New York Times in particular and imagined how the Times would have reacted if the roles had been reversed during the George W. Bush administration. Scarborough asked:

VIDEO | MRC's Bozell: Liberal Media 'Just Don't Want to Know' Depth of Obama IRS Corruption
By NB Staff | June 24, 2014 | 5:55 PM EDT

"The email scandal, and it is a scandal, it is a crime, broke 11 days ago, and it took six days, it took Paul Ryan erupting at the IRS commissioner six days later for the media to cover this [on] the evening news," Media Research Center founder and president Brent Bozell reminded Fox News Channel (FNC) substitute host Stuart Varney on the June 24 edition of Your World w/Neil Cavuto.

Yes, a handful of reporters, like Mark Halperin, have spoken out, which is commendable, but "[t]he reality is that this story is still by and large being ignored," Bozell argued. "This is serious, serious stuff going on," but the liberal media "are headed for the tall grass" because they "just don't want to know" the extent of the Obama administration's corruption. [Watch the full segment below the page break]

MSNBC’s Halperin: If IRS Scandal Happened Under GOP President, ‘This Story Would Be A National Obsession’
By Curtis Houck | June 23, 2014 | 3:15 PM EDT

Mark Halperin, a frequent panelist on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, made an intriguing observation on Monday’s show about the IRS scandal. After saying that the recent news regarding the destroyed hard drive belonging to former IRS official Lois Lerner would be “a test for the news media,” Halperin took a stance on the scandal that few on the cable channel would dare take.

“I think with a different administration, one that was a Republican administration, this story would be a national obsession and, instead, it's getting coverage here and a few other places, but it really deserves a lot more questions,” opined Halperin. [MP3 audio here; Video below]