Mika, please place your foot in his face.

[Graybeard]

Sorry for another post about the incredibly awful Morning Joe program.

Scarbozo is out of control this morning. The worst I've ever seen him. Saying nobody has ever heard Ryan say the things Akin has said. Mika pointed out that may be true but he has cosponsored the bill that does say that.

At that Joe went ballistic saying that's besides the point (!)

Get the guys with the nets to take him away.

[Atman]

1. Why did the CNBC guy just walk out?

He looked pisssed...was he asked to leave,or did he storm out (as it appeared)?

[hlthe2b]

5. I didn't get that either..

All the "inside baseball" discussion on this show that excludes the audience pisses me off almost as much as Joe Scab's arrogance and ignorant political views. It has become like watching and listening in on the supposed "cool" clique at the high school lunch table.

[12AngryBorneoWildmen]

40. Wouldn't it be great if…...

They were replaced with Sam Seder, Randi Rhodes, Cliff Schecter, Ezra Klein and others of that caliber? I would wake up everyday at 5:45 for that. Janeane Garofalo as "Katherine Harris" as a frequent guest?

[Lucy Goosey]

43. Yes! I would add Allison Kilkenny to your list

And as a bonus, Kilkenny as "Jan Brewer"

[Mike Daniels]

29. I think he was trying to get a question in to either Mika and Joe

This was during the part where Mika was up and running about Paul supporting the bill with Akin and Joe was talking over her (as usual).

The CNBC guy appeared to be trying to ask a question or comment on something Mika had said. Joe was either too wrapped up in his own ego to notice or deliberately ignored him. It was at that point where the guy effectively threw up his hands in a "whatever" motion and as soon as they started the break he left. Now he may have had to vacate for another guest but it would seem you would wait till you're off camera to vacate the seat

[Graybeard]

33. It was Brian Sullivan and he came back.

At the end of their final hour Brian Sullivan came back on the show apparently to kiss and make up.

There was some patter about Joe being rude to him but it all seemed to have blown over.

[nenagh]

2. I just tuned in..saw a man apparently walking off the set...

What did I miss?? Thanks

[orpupilofnature57]

3. Cracked Actor ,they have to polish a turd.

Defending oral sex in the Whitehouse will be a cinch compared to this , Carville stood by his Friend but he didn't have a nervous breakdown over it , Joe & Shawn & Rush only have the talking point as a Friend ,well have a blast at this one ,Word-smiths of the Evil axis.

[Berlum]

21. Are the Repubbies defending Diaper Sex with Hookers again?

Repubbies get so vociferously Morally Righteous about their diaper sex fetish...One hesitates to bring the steenking subject up. But then again, we the American public would be derelict if we did not contemplate the ugly truth of it to gain a complete and accurate, um, Moral Context for modern-day Republicanism.

[librechik]

48. love the onesie! n/t

[lapfog_1]

4. I'm hoping that Warren Sapp (ex football player) will just

leap across the table and beat the living hell out of Scuzz borrow.

And Mika can cheer him on.

[smokey nj]

6. Stay away from Morning Joe, it'll rot your brain and stunt your growth.

Mornin' Graybeard!

[Graybeard]

7. Just listening with half an ear.

Flipped it on just to hear what stupid things Scarbozo would say about the Akin mess. He didn't fail me.

Hi smokey nj.

[coldbeer]

8. Bill Press is on CRNT at the same time

My morning ritual is watching mnbc with Rachel and the gang until Joe comes on. Then I switch to CRNT. Joe Scab just turns me off so I turn him off!

[Graybeard]

9. +1

Right you are. Bill Press is the much better choice.

[librechik]

49. DishNet makes me pay an extra $15 a month, apparently just for Current

after many years of exile they finally brought MSNBC down into some of the lower tiers.

You don't think they are doing that deliberately, do you?

[keroro gunsou]

22. morning joe would be oh so much better

if they had statler and waldorf heckling joe from a box...

[DCKit]

56. For those who don't get the reference (don't know why or how I did)....

[Manifestor_of_Light]

61. I love Statler and Waldorf. Named after famous hotels.

Muppets rock!!

[malaise]

10. I'm lovin' it

He's desperate.

[Tennessee Gal]

11. Joe says the bill cosponsored with Ryan has nothing to do with what Akin said.

Reeeeaaaalllly stretching there, Joe.

Is there nothing you won't say? Is there a limit to the excuses you come up with?

Apparently not.

[malaise]

14. He just said he knew nothing about the

Ryan connection to Akin with the 'forcible rape' bill - he's getting an education -

[vlyons]

12. It's time to boycott Starbucks Coffee

If you want Joe Scab off the air, the fastest way is through MSNBC wallet. I'm writing Starbuck's Coffee and MSNBC that I'm boycotting Starbucks coffee shops and telling all my friends and family to also boycott as long as Joe Scab is on the air. His ranting, raving, and banging the table is unacceptable. I don't need to start my mornings listening to Joe's histrionics.

Hey, let's start a boycott!

[hlthe2b]

15. Love my Nespresso machine I've had for years and their pods make expresso every bit as good

and far cheaper than Starbucks. I can make my morning latte in 3 minutes for considerably less than a $1, compared to , what, almost $4 for even a medium (grande) latte?


Besides, if you go to the Italian and French Nespresso websites, you get to see gorgeous George Clooney pimping for them in their tv/online commercials .

[iamthebandfanman]

13. joe has been super defensive

the last couple of weeks :p
super annoying to watch,
but has to mean good things i figure

[Graybeard]

16. They sure got rid of Steve Forbes fast.

He was there to plug his book. He contributed nothing coherent to the discussion and was shown the door.

[CTyankee]

34. Vile man. I always despised him. I muted the 'effer!

[ScarlettOhara]

17. Mika

She looks like the embarrassed wife at a dinner party, having to sit there while her husband goes off on a drunken tirade. Everybody's embarrassed for her, but anything said would only make the unfortunate situation worse.
But still, the audience wishes mightily that she would just punch him in the face.

[Graybeard]

18. Welcome to DU.

Every morning.

Mika sits there with her head bowed while the maniac goes on and on.

[ScarlettOhara]

27. Thanx for the welcome, Graybeard.

I usually tune in to see who the guests are, but within just a few minutes I'm reminded that Joe's abusive, uncouth behavior is the reason I don't watch at all anymore.
So let me know when the moment arrives when he makes the off-hand remark, a la Imus and Akin, that will get him dumped. It's just a matter of time.

[PatSeg]

50. Welcome to DU

Joe has been getting away with abusive crap for years. I've watched him bully and harass people and never pay a price for it. Joe got Markos Moulitsas banned from MSNBC because Moulitsas said something Joe didn't like.

I watched Joe go after Carlos Watson one morning. Watson looked absolutely shocked that a co-worker would act that way.

Then there was the classic fight with David Shuster, where Shuster walked off the set.

Meanwhile, Mika takes his shit day after day and I keep waiting for her to go off on him. Its amazing how civil and relatively interesting the show is when Joe the Bully isn't there. I'd love to know what the regulars say about him when he's not there.

[PatSeg]

51. And here's the incident with Shuster in 2008

[JoePhilly]

20. I just flipped it on just to see that jerk suffer, and you are correct. He is ranting

like a crazy person. And she does look like the embarrassed wife wishing that he'd just pass out and shut up.

Poor Joe is trying to figure out how to make Romney look good, and no matter what he says, the others just shake their heads at him.

[Zen Democrat]

19. Turned it on just as JoeScar was pleading with Akin to quit to save the Conservative Court.

So much hinges on this election, and the Supreme Court is a biggie. My t-party cousin has been forwarding emails exhorting people to hold their noses and vote for Romney so that Obama doesn't get to name up to three new justices during a second term.

[YellaDog1950]

24. "hold their noses".....

has become one of my favorite descriptions of the Repugnants/Tea Baggers. It just goes to show how hypocritical they really are. Just "hold your noses" and vote for someone whom you believe is a member of a spreading cult (according to most, if not all, evangelicals). Hypocrisy at it's finest.

[Doctor_J]

62. Why? Akin is going to win by a mile

[Tennessee Gal]

23. Joe is trying to draw some type of distinction between Akin and Ryan

based on when the bill was co-sponsored.

Mika was having none of that!

Joe, the date of the bill makes no difference. Stop your whining. The fact that they are tied together on this bill is the problem!

[YellaDog1950]

26. The bill to redefine rape.....

as to whether rape is just rape or "forcible rape" was just last year. Wasn't it?

I find it astonishing that Scab didn't the answer before he asked the question. And I find it astonishing that no one had the answer.

The bill was H.R. 3.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

25. Beside the point?

So we shouldn't judge a legislator by the acutal bills and programs he's sponsored, but by whether or not they've been careful not to be offensive? We should judge them based on their communications skills and NOT the actual results of what they do?

Speaking of communications skills, Joe, great job on the whole dead-blonde-staffer-in-my-office thingy. You'll probably never be indicted.

[99Forever]

30. When I go to a ..

.. restaurant and get served really bad food, I tell them. If I try it again and the same thing happens, I don't complain. I leave and don't come back. Ever. In fact, when any business consistently has a bad product, I don't go there. Ever.

What is the product of ""Morning Joe"?

[darkangel218]

31. We're masochists :)

We like stuff that hurts our brains, what can I say

[99Forever]

32. You understand that...

.. every time you tune into that swill, you are giving the horse's ass job security, right?

I get that having a character you "love to hate" is a great writing tool for dramas, but in "news" and opinion shows, you are feeding the enemy.

[darkangel218]

35. I.dont consider MSNBC my enemy

Just because of morning Joe.

[99Forever]

42. Did I say ...

... MSNBC is the enemy? Read for comprehension, not to reinforce your prejudices. Rightwingnut liars in the media are the enemy, as in this case, Joe Scarboro (or whatever his name is).

As long as he gets ratings, he will remain there, doing the same stuff, telling the same lies. Advertisers pay for ratings. That is how the Idiot Box works.

[modestybl]

38. The "product" of Morning Joe....

...is the illusion, desperately desired by the beltway crowd, that there is a reasoned, honest and thought Repub viewpoint in this era.

Oh gawd, did Joe just end with a completely gratuitous sexist remark about Mika's dress? What is HER problem that she plays this role?

[Graybeard]

39. Yes he did.

And Mika turned on her heel and walked away before the wrap-up was over. She....was....not....pleased.

[99Forever]

41. The "product" IS the show.

You tune it in, you just bought it. As to what is on that swillfest? Couldn't tell you, I wouldn't watch if they did it naked. I don't feed the lying conservative media. Ever.

[LanternWaste]

45. I think it's rather valuable for individuals to expose ourselves to the bullet points...

I think it's rather valuable for individuals to expose ourselves to the bullet points, the faces, and the claims/counter-claims of political opposition that often become the daily or the weekly meme of the opposition base.

[99Forever]

46. Why?

To what end does consistently feeding the machine that spews the propaganda lead?

[LanternWaste]

53. Many people often like to know how an opponent is rallying the base,

Many people often like to know how an opponent is rallying the base, or the corners being taken, or the route used to get there. It allows a great deal of valid inference re: the direction of upcoming policy and/or agenda.

You see it as feeding a machine (passive), while others may well see it as keeping tabs on opposition (active). I imagine much of that depends on our perspectives-- vulgar curiosity or comfortable dogma.

[99Forever]

57. So what you contend...

... is that the people who complain here, time after time, are actually plotting the course for future Democratic strategy, based on the rantings of some guy that less than 1% of the population ever listens to?

Well, that's interesting to know.

[LanternWaste]

58. No, that's not that I contend

No, that's not that I contend-- you seem to have inferred that absurdly wrong.

I simply believe that every additional bit of information lay open the opponent that much more, and allow a truer perception of that opponent.

Can't really say if "that's interesting to know" or not. I would however, call it a practical and easy application of Sun Tsu...

"“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle”



You may of course, again infer from clarity anything you wish...

[99Forever]

60. Oh please.

Joe Whoeverthefuckheis isn't some fountain of insight into the Teapublican mind. There's a million other places to hear the rightie talking points of the day. They aren't some well kept secret. And that's the REAL problem, lying righties keep their venues because they get ratings. They make their paychecks because they get ratings. If you are watching them, you might as well be signing their paycheck. Follow the money.

[spanone]

36. scarborough is so fucking condescending to mika....fuck him

why she sits there and takes it, well, it's television

[Gidney N Cloyd]

37. So much of this is just theater.

[Lucy Goosey]

44. Joe knows that Ryan and Romney are going to have to wear Akin's comments

so he's having a little temper tantrum.

[Grammy23]

47. Joe dropped his usual smug demeanor today.....

When he began to rant and rave today it really hit me how desperate the Republicans are at this moment. Can't you see the rats scurrying around in their nests trying to figure out what to do next?? Usually, he is so insufferable and full of himself and today he let it all hang out. This is a volatile situation with Ryan's link to Akin. Stuck like fly paper to each other. The Dems need to trumpet this position out at every opportunity. And Joe knows that this will be a disaster for the Romney/Ryan ticket. I'll have the popcorn ready for the debates when the question about "what is LEGITIMATE rape" is asked??? And then you couple that position with the Republican platform.....No Abortions, No exceptions for Rape or Incest.......their support from women should pretty much dry up.

Reince is trying to defend the Pro-Life position as I write this. Lots of stammering and stuttering and claims of "Most women are....." Like that little weasel knows about most women.

This is getting good......OH, now he is going off on Obama. Change the subject. Their favorite strategy. Won't work this time.
Go on........We're all ears.

[ElboRuum]

52. Let me tell you just WHO Joe Scarborough is...

He is a Reagan Republican.

If you had to liken him to any recognizable character in our collective past, it would have to be Alex P. Keaton.

What you are seeing is what I like to call the meltdown of realization. He is incredibly invested in the implied intellectual underpinning of the George Will/William Buckley Republican, the idea of the "adult in the room" educating Spiro T. Agnew's "nattering nabobs of negativity" on the simple elegance and perfection of semi-enlightened self-interest. He sees himself as a generational heir of the Reagan legacy. He knows the points, he believes the tropes.

But here's what's happening to him. Like many Reaganites before him, he is starting to see what many of us liberals saw decades ago, that the end game of economic deregulation was corporatocracy. Reaganites adhere to the idea that government and corporations are efficient partners in economic prosperity, but neoconservatives want to end that partnership at all costs, and that they see such a partnership as temporarily necessary but ultimately undesirable, and they are precisely interested in defanging the only check to their influence and authority, national and state governments.

What Joe didn't realize is that his Republican brethren in the upper echelons of the party structure used his Reaganite sensibilities (and that of the Republican population at large) as a necessary step to dismantling that partnership.

He's finally getting that he is a dupe.

Well, no one likes to feel like a dupe.
And absolutely no one likes to be exposed as a dupe.
And absolutely, positively no one likes to be exposed as a dupe by one's own admission.

I actually feel a little sorry for the guy. Well, very little. The guy could have chosen to see reality long before this, but always kind of assumed that he was on the right side of the issue, using his own success and visibility as prima facie evidence of the vindication of his own sociopolitical proclivities. But I do feel a bit sorry for him because, like many others, he was sold a bill of goods when he was formulating his own political viewpoint in good faith. He was playing the game just like everyone else who bought into Reagan's Morning In America, not realizing that their opponents weren't liberals or socialists or communists or whatever bogeyman of the day was dragged out of the Republican toychest, but conservatism itself.

When you get this invested, and he's been inculcated for most of his life, it's tough to let go. I half expect him to get into a tirade like he did today sometime and just kind of stop in mid-sentence, stammer for a couple of words, pause for a half-minute, and just say "fuck this, I can't defend this crap anymore".

I think he's been on the verge of epiphany for some time. It must be exhausting for him to be this much of an apologist in such remarkably obvious circumstances.

[PatSeg]

54. I see what you're saying

but there is also the problem of Joe's enormous ego. He has to dominate every conversation and seems incapable of admitting he's wrong.

He has some lucid and relatively rational moments. He was very critical of Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney for a while, but later he walked that back. He does that sort of thing frequently. I get the impression that it is often more about JOE and being the center of attention than it is about politics and ideology.

Yes, "no one likes to feel like a dupe" and if you have an ego like Joe's, you probably will defend your misplaced allegiance til your dying day.

[ElboRuum]

55. Having an enormous ego...

...along with the hard-hearted smugness so endemic to 80's politics is part and parcel of being of being a post-Reagan Reaganite.

For 30 years, he's been the beneficiary of Reagan's America. He's not going to let go the ego any time soon, because to do so would acknowledge that his usefulness to his benefactors is at an end.

[PatSeg]

59. That sums it up beautifully

And it explains why Joe is always living in the past, "When I was in Congress.........." and everyone at the table tries not to show what they are thinking, "Oh crap, here he goes again. How long before he talks about his father driving past the closed steel mills? Groan....."