Morning Joe

Republican politicians, more than their Democratic counterparts, tend to campaign on anti-Washington themes. That’s kind of odd, suggests Michael Tomasky, given that one of Washington’s quintessential institutions, Congress, helps the GOP by playing a crucial role in obscuring the American people’s fondness for liberal socioeconomic policies. “If Congress is what you see when you see America,”…

Joe Scarborough was careful to state for the record that he was "not voting for Hillary Clinton." But everything else he said during a segment on today's Morning Joe was one long love letter to her foreign policy and leadership skills. Granted, Joe set the bar very low, comparing Hillary's prospective leadership to President Obama's fecklessness. Even so, it was striking to hear Scarborough…

Mike Barnicle prefaced his remarks on Obamacare by saying his understanding was "meager." He was grossly . . . overstating his knowledge. The subject in the Morning Joe segment today was UnitedHealthCare's decision to quit the Obamacare exchanges. Dr. Dave Campbell explained that UnitedHealthcare was going to lose $1 billion on Obamacare this year, and that all other insurers were also losing…

As former ABC This Week co-anchor Cokie Roberts appeared as a guest on Thursday's Morning Joe on MSNBC, she expressed agreement as liberal host Mika Brzezinski declared that GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz "seems like a terrible choice" for Republicans to support to stop Donald Trump from winning. Brzezinski proclaimed: "I'm sure it is a little bit of, for me, my world view, ideology, but it…

Morning Joe regulars know that Mika Brzezinski has made a virtual art form out of her facial expressions and body language. On today's show, Mika put on a particularly demonstrative display of horror while asserting what she sees as Ted Cruz's lack of appeal to women voters. The question on the table had been Donald Trump's surprisingly strong showing among women in yesterday's New York…

Barry Goldwater was a conservative hero and pioneer.  But his presidential run was an historic flop. So when Joe Scarborough described Ted Cruz on today's Morning Joe as "Barry Goldwater's ugly stepson," it was a scalding simile. Scarborough in turn scolded the Republican establishment for backing Cruz over John Kasich as the alternative to Donald Trump. Scarborough's argument focused on …

John Heilemann: self-appointed avenging angel and scourge of lies and liars? Earlier this month, Heilemann accused Dan Senor to his face of "lying" about Paul Ryan's presidential ambitions. Heilemann was back at his accusatory beat on today's Morning Joe, this time making the affable Willie Geist, of all people, his target. To introduce a feel-good segment congratulating Willie on his new gig,…

The Coming Cruz Senate Apocalypse? That's Joe Scarborough's baleful prophesy, should the senator from Texas snatch the Republican presidential nomination.  On today's Morning Joe, Scarborough asserted that "Ted Cruz is the worst-case scenario for [GOP] Senate candidates, even worse than Donald Trump." So bad, in fact, that Joe agreed with Mike Barnicle that Cruz as nominee = Chuck Schumer as…

Does Donald Trump think he's going to lose the nomination at the convention? Are his current complaints about RNC "dirty tricks," the system being "rigged," etc. a preview of the explanation he'll be offering when he does indeed lose?  Yes, and yes, if you buy what former senior Cruz aide Rick Tyler said on today's Morning Joe. After the show rolled video of Trump's attacks on the RNC, Joe…

Shades of Chris Matthews' infamous thrill up his leg when listening to Barack Obama in 2008 . . . Fast forward to 2016, and we have ostensible Republican Nicolle Wallace getting the good kind of "chills" up her arm when listening to . . . Hillary Clinton talk about gun control. Morning Joe today played a clip of Hillary saying that many of the guns used to commit crimes in New York come from…

Joe Scarborough spent Monday morning fanning the flames of fear that all the political mechanisms in America are "rigged." Some of Joe’s rants were dedicated to the Hillary e-mail probe and "super-delegates" on the Democratic side, as my colleague Mark Finkelstein wrote about. But when Joe set his sights on the Republican nomination process it was to boost the guy he has been “campaigning” for,…

The words of the day at Morning Joe today were "rigged, rigged, rigged, rigged." The reference was to the delegate selection process in both parties and the FBI investigation/Justice Department decision-making process regarding Hillary Clinton's handling of classified information on her private server. While the panel discussed problems in the Republican process, the most glaring example given…

What does it say about Bernie Sanders--and the Pope--that when it comes to economics, Sanders sees Pope Francis as more "radical" than he is? Appearing on today's Morning Joe, Sanders discussed the news that he has been invited to visit the Vatican. Sanders mentioned that [other than on social issues] he is a "big, big fan of the Pope." Said Sanders: "people think Bernie Sanders is radical. Uh-…

That’s it! Joe Scarborough has had it with the reporting coming from the media this election cycle. “All I’m asking for, and all I’ve been asking for, is just some straight reporting,” Scarborough pleaded with reporters across the country Thursday. “Don't let your hatred get in the way.” Say what?