Talk about killing the messenger . . . Mike Barnicle has blamed the New York Post for the fact that New York City has become less safe under far-left Mayor Bill de Blasio.

On today's Morning Joe, Barnicle--holding up the front page of today's Post--whined that part of the problem is "the way crime is now covered in this city--especially in this paper, okay? If someone is shot in Times Square, or a guy with a hatchet in midtown is attacking people, it's on the front page." Boo-hoo. The fault, dear Barnicle, is not in the Post, but in de Blasio, and the way his reduction of stop-and-frisk and lax attitude have emboldened criminals and led to a jump in the crime rate.

The panel was discussing a Post column  by NYC police commissioner Bill Bratton claiming that the 20% increase in the city's murder rate is "relatively small."

JOE SCARBOROUGH: So let's just stop talking about the bad old days. If you're Bratton, who I love, or if you're de Blasio. You've been given an extraordinarily safe, huge, metropolitan city--don't go back to the 70s, 80s and 90s and compare.

MIKE BARNICLE: They're not going part to the -- it still remains a safe -- Part of the problem, and you have to address it, is the way crime is now covered in this city--especially in this paper, okay? If someone is shot in Times Square, or a guy with a hatchet in midtown is attacking people, it's on the front page.

JOE: But Mike, that's how it was when Giuliani was mayor. That's how it was when Bloomberg was mayor.

BARNICLE: If a 15-year old or a 16-year old young man or young woman is shot to death in a school playground in some parts of the Bronx or Brooklyn, go find it in the papers. It just lends to "oh, an epidemic of crime."

JOE: I totally agree with you, but that's how it was when Bloomberg was mayor. I'm just saying, they're going to be compared to how things were in 2012, and not 1992.