Barnicle Mockingly Imagines Tough Question for Rick Perry: What Day Is It?

December 11th, 2014 8:30 AM

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."

Message to Mike: when mocking someone else's smarts, it's a good idea to avoid errors of one's own.  A little later, Barnicle said that compared to the last campaign cycle, Perry now appears "far more looser."  "Far looser" would have been "more better," Mike.

Note: Kasie's tough question [which Morning Joe teased multiple times before finally airing], turned out to be "are you smart enough to be president?"  Perry, as Hunt observed in her appearance on Morning Joe, handled the question just fine, saying "running for the president is not an IQ test. It is a test of an individual's resolve. It's a test of an individual's philosophy. It's a test of an individual's life's experiences. And I think Americans are really ready for a leader that will give them a great hope about the future."

MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Dan, do we have the Kasie question in this tease ahead? Just the question? Good. All right. 

JOE SCARBOROUGH: Did she -- 

BRZEZINSKI: She's at it again. She's so mean.

SCARBOROUGH: Who was she mean to this time? 

BRZEZINSKI: Rick Perry. 

MIKE BARNICLE: She asked him what day it was.

BRZEZINSKI: What? You don't have the question. 

SCARBOROUGH: Stop it. I like Rick a lot. Back off. 

BARNICLE: What's not to like? 

SCARBOROUGH: He's great. 

BARNICLE: He is, yes. 

. . . 

SCARBOROUGH: He's a very likable guy. That's the thing George W. had going for him personally: he's a very likable guy out on the campaign trail. 

BARNICLE: One thing that's kind of striking, at least I personally found striking, when he was in here a few months ago, off of the piece that you just did on him. Before you even get to ideology, before you get to, you know, is he right or left on an issue or whatever, he is, he seems far more looser and more likable -- 

SCARBOROUGH: He really is. 

BARNICLE: Than he did two or three years ago.