Retraction: Morning Joe Was Joking About Blagojevich Innocence, Made Ted Bundy Jokes

June 29th, 2011 3:33 PM

Yesterday, NewsBusters published an account of the Morning Joe crew seemingly sticking up for former Gov. Rod Blagojevich and how he was victimized by prosecutors. Going past the original transcript I reviewed yesterday to the video, it became obvious Joe Scarborough, Willie Geist, and Mike Barnicle were all joking. When Mika Brzezinski proclaimed she didn't want to waste a segment on this, she meant the silly pretense. NewsBusters regrets our collective failure to grasp the elongated joke. Whether you find it hilarious is another matter.

It became really obvious when Scarborough started to suggest an American hero was executed serial killer Ted Bundy, who represented Florida values. (Eric Ames, who reported on this segment, is 21 and wasn't born until after Bundy was executed.) Fortune editor Andy Serwer was mocked on the set for not seeming to get the joke until that point. Video below the fold.

SCARBOROUGH: You know who's the hero of the America I grew up in? And he's a Florida boy.

BRZEZINSKI: Oh, who's that?

SCARBOROUGH: Ted Bundy.

BRZEZINSKI: No.

SCARBOROUGH: I tell you, seriously. No, seriously, you look at Florida values.

BRZEZINSKI: Wait, what do you mean? I think you might mean a different Bundy.

SCARBOROUGH: It was funny. It was so funny. He was on Married with Children.

BRZEZINSKY: That's Al Bundy.

SERWER: You guys were letting him just twist a little bit there. 

SCARBOROUGH: Oh, there's Al Bundy. 

BRZEZINSKI: Just don't go on tv before you say that.

GEIST: King Kong Bundy, I think you were thinking of.

BARNICLE: No, I think it was Al Bundy. Joe was thinking of Al Bundy. Very funny.

SCARBOROUGH: Married with Children, he's now on Modern Family. That guy's great. 

SERWER: That's very well done, actually.

SCARBOROUGH: Do you get it yet? 

SERWER: I got it - I got it half way in.

SCARBOROUGH: You're a little slow. You're a little slow, Andy. Hey, Andy, when I go like this - I'm going to be telling a joke- I'll do it four times.

SERWER: I got it, I was playing along.

SCARBOROUGH: Can you do pig Latin?

BRZEZINSKI: Usually it takes me 24 hours to get a joke.