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Morning Joe Tag

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on September 19, 2016 10 Comments
A current GQ article detailed something that this Insurrectionist, as a regular monitor of Morning Joe, had observed: that Joe Scarborough went from being a Trump booster during the primaries to a vitriolic critic of The Donald during the general election campaign. But a trend I sensed last week continued on today's Morning Joe: Scarborough seems to be swinging back in Trump's direction. On a number of issues, it was Scarborough-against-the-panel in defending Trump. First, Joe noted how a reporter had teed Hillary up to criticize Trump for speaking of a "bomb" in NYC, whereas Hillary herself had spoken of "bombings." Later, Scarborough alone rose to Trump's defense over his suggestion that Hillary's bodyguards be disarmed.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on September 15, 2016 29 Comments
Americans of color to the rescue? That's how MTV's Ana Marie Cox sees it. Appearing on today's Morning Joe, Cox said: "I feel like if Hillary Clinton wins in the fall, it will be because the black and brown people of America have saved us, like they do a lot of time." Cox, perhaps best known as founder of the Wonkette blog, was preceded on set by Marcela Valdes of the New York Times, whose recent article noted the lack of political engagement in Latino culture [emphasis added]: "through all my conversations, I began to fear the real roots of political engagement, which lie not in quadrennial outreach programs but around dinner tables and in churches and classrooms, are far more absent from Latino life in America than most people understand."

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on September 14, 2016 3 Comments
Can you imagine the absolute outrage on the left if a conservative pundit suggested that a male Democrat candidate was a "pansy?" The cries of "homophobia" would echo through the land, amidst demands that the offending pundit be defenestrated. But on today's Morning Joe, Mika Brzezinski wondered out loud if Mike Pence is a "pansy." And you can just hear the liberal crickets gathering to say . . . absolutely nothing about it. Brzezinski's beef is that Pence, while denouncing David Duke, has declined to use Hillary's word—deplorable—to describe him, and has failed to be sufficiently critical of Putin. Mika claimed that Pence is "scared of his boss"--Donald Trump. So Mika, care to expand on your use of the word "pansy?"

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on September 14, 2016 15 Comments
How deeply has Joe Scarborough dived into Hillary's tank? On today's Morning Joe, Scarborough offered Hillary a script of how she should attack "right-wing Republicans." Howard Dean was so impressed by Scarborough's work on Hillary's behalf that he exclaimed "I actually think you could actually be her speechwriter. That's exactly what she should be saying. I'm sure you don't want that job, but I'm just saying, you know?" Howard, don't be so sure Scarborough doesn't want that job. Sure looked this morning like Joe was auditioning for a spot in Hillary's West Wing.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on September 13, 2016 36 Comments
As liberal pundits go, I find Sam Stein among the least objectionable—a low bar to be sure. The HuffPo editor has a streak of fairness to him. But on today's Morning Joe, Stein served up some absurd spin on Hillary's "basket of deplorables." "Deplorables," according to Stein, in a way "does work to her advantage." Why? Because some moderate Republicans will "look at this division between the deplorables and the non-deplorables . . . and do say to themselves: do I want to be part of that?" A kind of snob appeal, Sam? Don't think so, and even Joe Scarborough, who continued his attacks on Trump throughout the show dismissed the notion, saying "you don't win voters by calling other voters irredeemable."

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on September 12, 2016 20 Comments
Let's say it simply: Joe Scarborough has become a shameless pro-Hillary shill. On the big issues of the day: Hillary's health collapse and her "basket of deplorables," Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook himself could not have spun things for Clinton more audaciously than did Scarborough on today's Morning Joe. On Hillary's collapse, Scarborough played the happens-to-everyone card, saying that he often has to grab the handrail walking down the stairs and feels faint during every performance with his rock group. As for Hillary heaving half of Trump supporters in a "basket of deplorables," Scarborough first tried to prove Hillary right with some poll numbers, then dismissed the issue as "much ado about nothing."

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on September 09, 2016 10 Comments
The opening segment of today's Morning Joe was a Niagara of negativity deluging Donald Trump, focused on his comments at the Commander-in-Chief Forum. No discussion of Hillary Clinton's newest lies about her email, and the fact that, in order to create a veil of secrecy for her Foundation malfeasance, she subverted our national security. Two examples of the extreme hostility toward Trump, coupled with a dose of Hillary-worship. Ad man Donny Deutsch detected "envy" of Putin by Trump, saying "I think he wants to be a dictator." A bit later, Mika Brzezinski sympathized with poor Hillary: she's so "incredibly prepared" to be president that she has to "dumb herself down to deal with this idiot on the other side."

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on September 08, 2016 8 Comments
A few days ago, we reported on "Dr." Joe Scarborough declaring that Hillary Clinton "doesn't have" any health issues. On today's Morning Joe, Scarborough took off his neurologist's hat and put on the campaign consultant's cap. Scarborough's advice to Hillary: refuse to answer any more questions about her emails. According to Joe, Clinton should put her answer up on her website, refer journalists to it any time they try to probe her on the matter, and "move on" to a discussion of Syria. Mike Barnicle echoed Scarborough's "move on" advice, suggesting Hillary say that if people are still concerned about her email, they should just vote for "Bozo the Clown." To his credit, Mark Halperin dissented from Scarborough's advice, saying that there are "many new questions" that have been raised about Hillary's email that she still needs to answer.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on September 07, 2016 27 Comments
On today's Morning Joe, Mika Brzezinski teased an upcoming segment with James Carville and Steve Schmidt by saying it would be a "debate." But the only contest between the two was to see who could be more critical of Donald Trump. And Schmidt, senior adviser to John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign, won that contest hands down. Schmidt actually said that the "peaceful transition of power" would be "in doubt" if Donald Trump loses, suggesting he might refuse to concede and rouse his supporters by claiming the election was rigged.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on September 06, 2016 20 Comments
A leading candidate for President of the United States has a documented history of serious health issues, including a blood clot on her head. She has had at least two fainting episodes, including one in which she fell and broke an elbow bone. During this campaign season, she has been plagued by numerous coughing fits including two just this past weekend. The candidate, of course, is Hillary Clinton. Yet Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski were very reluctant even to raise the issue on today's Morning Joe. When Scarborough announced they were about to show a clip of one of Hillary's coughing fits, Mika declared "I don't want to show it!" Scarborough apologetically said "I thought you wanted to! I wasn't even going to bring it up." But not to worry. As to Hillary possibly having a health issue, Mike declared: "No, she doesn't. That's just BS." And Scarborough was right there to second her: "she doesn't have one," later explaining "we all cough."

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on September 02, 2016 28 Comments
I lived and worked in Mexico at the beginning of my career. Loved the country, the people, the culture. Was offered a permanent position. Tempting, but couldn't do it for one key reason: the absolutely endemic corruption. From the "policeman" on the corner shaking you down for an illusory infraction right up to the president, corruption and deceit were ingrained. A person would have to be dangerously naive to take as gospel the word of the Mexican president. Enter Hillary Clinton. Morning Joe today aired her latest ad in which she claims that Donald Trump was caught "lying" when he said he didn't discuss payment for the wall during his meeting with Mexican President Peña Nieto. Hillary's proof? A subsequent statement by the Mex prez that he was "clear and emphatic" that Mexico won't pay for the wall. What other statements by what other Third World leaders will Hillary—naively and uncritically—take at face value?

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on September 01, 2016 58 Comments
UPDATE: Looks like Scarborough was parroting a Clinton campaign talking point. John Podesta, chair of the Hillary for America PAC, had put out a press release entitled "Trump Choked," and repeating that c-word a couple of times in the release. Maybe Morning Joe can cut out the middleman, dispense with hosts, and just run a looping feed of Clinton campaign press releases. Like Bulgarian and Ukrainian Olympic judges back in Soviet Union days who gave American ice skaters a crummy score after a strong performance, on today's Morning Joe Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough totally trashed Donald Trump on his visit with the Mexican president. For not raising the issue of who would pay for the wall, Scarborough screamed "he choked! I can't stand people that choke under pressure!" Brzezinski was reluctant to discuss the trip at all, dismissing Trump as a "fringe, alt-right Republican candidate . . . let's not pretend this is some sort of foreign policy discussion."

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on August 31, 2016 54 Comments
What was your reaction upon waking to the news of Trump's planned trip to visit the President of Mexico? This Insurrectionist saw it as a bold move that might help him appeal to various voting groups. Morning Joe has been on an anti-Trump riff of late, but even so one anticipated that at least someone on the panel would applaud Trump's gambit. Wrong. Across the board, the Morning Joe gang ripped and ridiculed Trump's trip. Joe Scarborough set the tone, mockingly pointing out that Trump and the Mexican president will be "very excited" since their combined approval ratings will reach 50%. Mika Brzezinski, after emotionally declaring "I'm absolutely done with being emotional about this" said "it's almost silly to spend too much time analyzing his moves because they're nonsensical." Mike Barnicle couldn't see "what difference this trip makes." Willie Geist said Trump might be walking into a "trap" in which the Mexican president will seize the occasion to tear Trump down in front of the Mexican people. Donny Deutsch outdid the others, psychoanalyzing Trump: "megalomania, sociopath, detached from reality." Thank you, Dr. Donny.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on August 29, 2016 31 Comments
One week ago, a Twitter war erupted between Donald Trump and the hosts of Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski. Whereas the pair had been among the first in the media to take Trump's chances seriously, in recent times they had become very critical of the Republican candidate. On August 22nd, Trump tweeted that Mika was a "neurotic and not very bright mess!" He also threatened to some day tell the "real story" of Joe and Mika, whom he described as Scarborough's "long-time girlfriend." Scarborough responded with tweets telling Trump to "look in the mirror" if looking for someone who's "neurotic and not very bright." Scarborough added that the show was enjoying its best ratings ever "thanks to obsessed fans like you!"

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on August 25, 2016 23 Comments
This would be funny if it weren't so ironically hypocritical. There was reporter Jeremy Peters, of the New York Times—appearing on MSNBC—piously condemning "Sean Hannity's incredibly inappropriate role as an adviser to Donald Trump who is essentially giving him tens of millions of dollars of free advertising." Just what does Peters think the MSM is: from his own New York Times to MSNBC, CNN, CBS, ABC, the Washington Post, etc., if not one huge monolith devoted to electing Hillary Clinton and other Dems while destroying Donald Trump? If Hannity is giving Trump "tens of millions" in free advertising, what is the combined value of free advertising that the MSM is giving to Hillary Clinton? Peters spoke after a clip ran of Hannity's show in which Trump asked people at a rally to show their support for different policy options on immigration.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on August 24, 2016 21 Comments
On arguably the worst day of Hillary Clinton's campaign, her campaign manager Robby Mook never stopped laughing and grinning through his Morning Joe appearance. The AP has reported that more than half of the meetings Hillary had as Secretary of State with non-governmental representatives were with people who had donated to the Foundation. But in what was clearly a grinning-past-the-graveyard strategy, there was Mook laughing like he had just won the lottery. And when he wasn't actively laughing, Mook kept a smile resolutely plastered in place. Mook displayed encyclopedic knowledge of all facts favorable to Clinton. But when it came to something that might harm her, Robby suddenly pleaded ignorance. Joe Scarborough asked whether it was true that when Doug Band of the Foundation was sending Huma Abedin emails asking for meetings on behalf of donors to the Foundation, he was also the head of the Teneo firm at a time Huma was on the Teneo payroll, effectively making Band Abedin's boss. "I, I don't, I don't know the details of, you know, what was going on in her life," stammered Mook. Isn't that convenient?

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on August 22, 2016 38 Comments
Will Hillary Clinton's latest ad, which attempts to scare people about Donald Trump when it comes to national security, actually wind up winning him votes? Today's Morning Joe opened by playing the ad, which features clips of Trump making various bellicose statements, e.g., "I would bomb the s--- out of them." Mika Brzezinski found the ad "very strong: it tweaks on every level." Better than twerking on every level, we suppose. "It's scary," said Mika as, in a bit of unintentional humor, she imitated the "whoosh" sound of the fighter jet at the end of the ad. But query: could the ad wind up winning more votes than it loses him? After eight years of "leading from behind," of foreign policy disasters from Russia to Syria to Libya to Iran, could America be ready for a blunt-talking president? Remind me: who was the president who, speaking of the Cold War, said "we win, they lose?"

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on August 19, 2016 6 Comments
On a certain level, it was refreshing to see an MSM member admit how he sees his role: as that of a "defense attorney" for Barack Obama. On another level, it was disgusting . . . On today's Morning Joe, during a discussion of the Iran ransom deal in which even State Department spokesman John Kirby effectively conceded that the deal was a "quid pro quo," the Washington Post's Eugene Robinson said "I feel like I need to ask the sort of question a defense attorney would ask at this point." Robinson's point was that some had criticized the Obama admin for not obtaining the release of the hostages as part of the Iran nuclear deal. But no one ever suggested that the US pay ransom for the hostages, as President Obama untruthfully denied doing. The notion was that the US should not agree to the deal unless the hostages were released. But that didn't stop Robinson from going all Perry Mason on behalf of the president.
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