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Morning Joe Tag

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on August 09, 2016 51 Comments
Was New York Times columnist Frank Bruni suggesting there could be civil unrest if Donald Trump loses big and bitterly? That seemed a likely implication of his comments on today's Morning Joe. Bruni said his "fear" is: "what if he goes down big and goes down bitterly? I really worry about the aftermath. I worry about November 9th and forward in terms of what's been stirred up." Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson tried to soothe poor Frank's fears: "We survived Bush-Gore 2000, we made it through that just fine and I think we'll make it through post-Trump just fine, too."

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on August 08, 2016 42 Comments
On today's Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough said that "I had multiple sources last night telling me that an independent with the backing of a lot of Republican money is going to launch today." None of the other panelists, including the well-connected Mark Halperin, had heard that. Scarborough continued: "several good sources told me that people, Republicans from, let's just say #NeverTrump land found somebody and they're going to put good money behind him." Scarborough said it would be someone "French-like," i.e., like National Review author David French whose name was floated not long ago before withdrawing.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on August 04, 2016 23 Comments
The liberal establishment has yet to recover from the shock to its delicate sensibilities caused when Donald Trump spoke of Megyn Kelly having blood coming from her "wherever." But will anyone blink a whatever now that MSM member Mika Brzezinski has told Republicans that they need to "get their heads out of . . . something?" The ever-diplomatic Willie Geist suggested Mika had "sand" in mind, but it seemed clear she was referring to something else.

On today's Morning Joe, Mika repeatedly made the case that the Republican establishment should dump Trump. Analogizing the Trump candidacy to a car that has burst into flames, Mika called Republicans "wussies" for refusing to get out of it.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on August 03, 2016 53 Comments
We reported yesterday on Joe Scarborough's statement that Republicans, conservatives and so-called right-wing bloggers had been contacting him to ask about Donald Trump's "mental health." Scarborough himself called Trump "unhinged." Joe took things a significant step farther on today's Morning Joe, saying that Republicans have been contacting him, asking themselves "is Donald Trump a sociopath?" Scarborough was careful to state "I didn't say this, but this is what everybody is saying." Scarborough dropped the s-word in the context of hammering Ari Fleischer, former press secretary to President George W., over his lesser-of-two-evils support of Trump.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on August 02, 2016 63 Comments
On Morning Joe, in the wake of recent comments by Donald Trump including his criticism of the Gold Star Khan family, Joe Scarborough says that he has been contacted by Republicans, conservatives and what the media would call "right-wing bloggers" to inquire about Trump's "mental health." Scarborough says "everybody" is talking about it. Scarborough went on to say "I've known him for a decade, never seen him act like this before. It's unhinged, not the Donald Trump I've known for over a decade. I never have seen anything remotely resembling this type of behavior from a guy who I've known and liked and called a friend."

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on August 01, 2016 21 Comments
As we reported yesterday, in her Fox News Sunday appearance, Hillary Clinton blamed "professionals" on whom she was "entitled to rely" who “made the wrong call” by sending her classified material. Appearing today on Morning Joe, Hillary Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook continued to blame others, whining that the emails containing classified materials came from "long-time tenured State Department professionals." But as Scarborough and others on the panel pointed out, Hillary forced others into sending her classified information in an improper way because she only maintained email on her private server.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on July 29, 2016 20 Comments
Of all the metaphors he might have picked to praise Hillary Clinton, Joe Scarborough chose the most unfortunate one: that of "brain surgeon." Because to many people, Hillary brings to mind none other than Nurse Ratched, that cold and domineering figure who subjected one of her charges who wouldn't fall in line to . . . a lobotomy. On today's Morning Joe, Scarborough actually said "why don't we try actually hiring a brain surgeon who's been operating on brains instead of chopping down trees for the past 30 years?" Scarborough put the words in the mouths of Hillary supporters he imagined, but was clearly expressing his own sentiment.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on July 27, 2016 8 Comments
Couldn't Joe Scarborough have waited until after Barack Obama and Joe Biden gave their DNC speeches tonight before he began gushing over them? Apparently not. On today's Morning Joe, Scarborough, pre-lauding Obama's speech-to-be, said "you know when you're watching a great movie . . . and you can see where it's going, and you sort of start smiling?" But it wasn't just Obama's as yet unspoken speech that had Scarborough excited. "You look at that lineup: it's absolutely extraordinary," enthused Joe. In addition to Obama, tonight's line-up consists of Michael Bloomberg, Tim Kaine and Joe Biden. Yes, when it comes to oratory that will bring people to their feet, set their pulses racing and forever claim that they were there in the hall that night, there's nothing like Mike Bloomberg bragging about the day he banned the Big Gulp.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on July 26, 2016 13 Comments
Today's opening segment of Morning Joe was one—long—gush-fest over First Lady Michelle Obama's speech to the DNC last night. The apotheosis of adulation came from Joe Scarborough, who said that the speech "reminded me of Ronald Reagan." Scarborough also had an "America love it or leave it" message for those who think our country needs to be made great again: "we are the last best hope for a dying world. If you can't get behind that message as a Republican or a Democrat, then let me buy you a ticket to another country." Wonder if Joe offered Michelle a ticket out back in 2008 when she said that "for the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country?"

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on July 19, 2016 51 Comments
John Heilemann came up with a strange way to defend Joe Biden and Barack Obama, and to attack Melania Trump, for the plagiarism in speeches each of them gave. On today's Morning Joe, Heilemann argued that Biden and Obama's plagiarism wasn't as bad, because they ripped off fellow liberals: Neil Kinnock and Deval Patrick, respectively. In contrast, passages in Melania's speech came from a 2008 Michelle Obama speech. Per Heilemann, that made Melania, or the person who prepared those passages for her, a "moronic plagiarist." Heilemann omits one important thing: Melania is the wife of the candidate, for whom English is not even her second language. In contrast, at the time they gave their plagiarized speeches, Biden and Obama were presidential candidates themselves. They were almost certainly directly involved in the plagiarism.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on July 15, 2016 48 Comments
Want to see a textbook example of the kind of thinking that leads to the fall of civilizations? View the video of Richard Haass, President of the Council Relations on today's Morning Joe. A clip was played of Donald Trump favoring a declaration of war and repeating his call for the restriction of Muslim immigration, in particular Syrian "refugees," that we know little or nothing about. A hand-wringing Haass argued against "cutting down immigration" and other measures, because "our connections with entire populations and communities, our best measure of defense is making sure that people in these communities are working with us rather than threatening us." So according to Haass, we shouldn't defend ourselves against terrorists entering the country by restricting the immigration of Muslim "refugees" about whom we know little or nothing. Why? Because doing so would incite Muslims already in the United States and lead to them "threatening us." If that is so, our problems are even more serious than we have realized. If the Muslim population in the US is a tinderbox, on the brink of "threatening us" if we try to defend ourselves, why were they admitted in the first place? And whatever additional threat they might pose if we do adopt sensible measures, shouldn't the first thing we do be to limit the ability of more such volatile people to enter our country? Haass' attitude, which as you'll see is seconded by Mika Brzezinski, is the passive, self-disarming road to the decline and ultimately destruction of our nation and civilization.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on July 14, 2016 15 Comments
Joe Scarborough couldn't have been kinder as he slid the shiv into Mike Pence this morning. The opening segment of Morning Joe was devoted to the veepstakes, and Scarborough politely trashed Pence while making the case for Chris Christie. Scarborough went out of his way to praise Pence as an "able leader" and someone he likes. But he proceeded to say that Pence wasn't "ready for prime time." Joe broke out the deer-in-headlights metaphor and analogized Pence to previous running-mate "disasters." On the other hand, Joe argued that Christie is someone who has been on the national stage, capable of destroying Marco Rubio with one debate, and who is best equipped to prosecute the case against Hillary Clinton.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on July 08, 2016 32 Comments
Morning Joe did a very decent job today of covering the shooting of police officers in Dallas and the issue of police shootings of African-American. The remarks were generally even-handed. Even Al Sharpton was cautious and balanced in his comments. And so it was surprising that of all people, Chuck Todd made the most tendentious remark. Speaking of the shooting of Philando Castile in St. Paul, Minnesota, and discussing the need for better police training, Todd said: "how do you train prejudice and hate out of somebody's heart? That's a tough thing." Is there racism among police? Of course, as there is in every segment of society. Was the Minnesota governor right when he said Castile would be alive if he were white? Quite possibly. But for Todd to focus on police "prejudice and hate" was a gross and unfair overgeneralization. Chuck Todd: please spend a few days in a police cruiser in an inner city. See what the police see and have to deal with every day. Then come back and tell us whether police "prejudice and hate" is the key to the problems facing our society.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on July 07, 2016 8 Comments
Mika Brzezinski makes no bones about being a liberal Democrat. She was big on Bernie, even more enthusiastic about Elizabeth Warren, whom she repeatedly urged to run for president. But while she might well vote for Hillary in the end, Brzezinski is anything but a Clinton acolyte. Her aversion was on display on today's Morning Joe. A clip rolled of Speaker Paul Ryan saying that as a candidate Hillary should be denied classified briefings, given FBI Director Comey's finding that she had been "extremely careless" with classified information. Panelists Harold Ford, Jr., Jim VandeHei and Michael Steele scoffed at the notion that Hillary could be denied such classified briefings. That's when Mika went off: "you've been hostages for 30 years! You've all been hostages for 30 years and you don't know how to think anymore." Mika recommended that people look at Hillary "as a human being, not someone who for years and years and years and years and years we've just decided is in a different category of humanity."

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on July 06, 2016 21 Comments
Last night, I emailed our Legal Insurrection leader Bill Jacobson to say I was counting on Joe Scarborough to have his finest moment this morning in light of the fiasco of the failure of the FBI to recommend the indictment of Hillary Clinton. This morning, Scarborough rose to the occasion. With significant support from Mika Brzezinski, Morning Joe's opening segment was one long blast at Hillary -- for doing what she did with her email and lying about it -- at James Comey -- for failing to indict -- and at President Obama -- for putting his thumb on the scale on Hillary's behalf. There were many noteworthy moments that you will find in the video montage we've assembled. One highlight: Scarborough says that while he doesn't question Comey's integrity, "I question his courage."

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on July 01, 2016 65 Comments
Who's even more powerful than the king? The person who gets to pick the king. And as of this morning that person is, quite possibly, FBI Director James Comey. Today's Morning Joe reported breaking news from the New York Times: Attorney General Loretta Lynch has decided that she will accept the recommendation of the FBI regarding its investigation of Hillary Clinton's e-mails. If Comey recommends against an indictment of Hillary, that would lift a huge cloud that has been dragging her candidacy down. It would put Hillary in a very strong position to become the next president. But should Comey recommend the indictment of Hillary, her candidacy would effectively be destroyed. Dems might scramble to replace her as their candidate, but in any case Donald Trump would be well-positioned to win the election.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on June 30, 2016 23 Comments
Wow! Mika Brzezinski absolutely ripped into Bill Clinton and Loretta Lynch today for holding a private meeting earlier this week. More importantly, the Morning Joe host clearly seemed to swipe at the rest of the media and punditry class for refusing to focus on the outrage. When Mark Halperin said "I bet you they didn't talk about" the FBI investigation of Hillary, Brzezinski literally laughed in his face. "Come on, stop! Everybody stop! Okay, well this is why this is never going to be a problem for Hillary Clinton. People are too afraid to talk about the truth." In a parting shot, Mika said "we'll just move on, just like everyone else does. Even though it's a complete sham."

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on June 29, 2016 38 Comments
It's the same kind of elitism expressed by Brexit opponents who are casting Leave people as ignorant, parochial hicks . . . On today's Morning Joe, historian Jon Meacham disparaged Trump supporters as people who think with their "gut" instead of with their "head." After video rolled of Trump supporting waterboarding and saying we had to fight ISIS fire with fire, Meacham sniffed: "Democrats tend to seem to win the intellectual argument and Trump walks away with the emotional argument." Really? What was the "intellectual argument" won by Hillary, Obama and other Dems on the Russian reset, "leading from behind," the Syrian redline, the toppling of Gaddafi, the withdrawal of all troops from Iraq and the Iranian nuclear deal? How's this for an "intellectual argument"? Take your patronizing, condescending, elitism and shove it.
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