Maybe the Morning Show at MSNBC Is Really a Comedy

A few days ago I wrote a post about the show called “Morning Joe” on MSNBC claimed the Rod Blagojevich verdict was a miscarriage of justice because the participants on the show could not tell the difference between an acquittal and a hung jury.  A few days later, that same morning crew set up political analyst Mark Halperin for a suspension.

When I say set up, I don’t believe it was intentionally done, but when you listen to the give and take in its entirety, you wonder why everyone was suspended.  Halperin, who is senior political analyst for MSNBC and Time magazine, asked before he spoke, “Are we on a seven-second delay?  He made it clear that he might say something offensive, so he wanted to ask if protection was available, so what he said wouldn’t go out on the airwaves.  The co-hosts of the show, Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, assured him that he could speak freely.  Scarborough went as far as to say, “You fall down, I’m going to catch you.”

Unfortunately for Halperin, the co-hosts seemed not to take him seriously, and when Marks said that President Barack Obama came off as “kind of a d__k,” the show went up for grabs.  All of a sudden, Scarborough, the man who said he was going to catch Halperin, suddenly changed his tune and said he couldn’t believe Halperin said what he said.  There was no seven-second delay, so Halperin was out on a limb with the rest of the morning sawing it off.

I don’t know Halperin at all, but I do know that he tends to liberal advocacy in his reporting.  However, I may be the only person who doesn’t think he should be suspended.  What he said on the air was an inappropriate comment about any sitting President.  There is no question about that.  Nevertheless, he did warn everyone on the show that he was about to say something that could be deemed offensive.  Whether intentional or not, it certainly appears that Halperin was hung out to dry.

There are two major observations I am taking away from this unfortunate scenario.  The first is that is appears that even Obama cheerleaders, like Halperin, are starting to realize that the current President may not be anything more than smoke and mirrors.  The other is that if I were Halperin, I would never trust Joe Scarborough again.