"I'm Glad Halperin Called Obama a Dick"

[babylonsister]

So was scabby angry at Halperin or the producer? Telling...


http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2011/6/30/95818/7981

I'm Glad Halperin Called Obama a Dick

by BooMan
Thu Jun 30th, 2011 at 11:50:31 AM EST


I am glad that Mark Halperin called the president a dick on Morning Joe this morning. I'm also glad the producer didn't know which button to push to prevent it from being broadcast. I'm glad not because I agree with Halperin that the president was being a dick, but because it forever removes any doubt about Halperin's political bias.

“I thought he was a dick yesterday,” Halperin, who also is a senior political analyst for MSNBC, said on Morning Joe, referring to the President’s conduct during his press conference.

Host Joe Scarborough hoped to prevent the comment from being broadcast, saying, “Delay that. Delay that. What are you doing? I can’t believe… don’t do that. Did we delay that?”

Just minutes later, Halperin quickly apologized to the president and viewers for his choice of words. “Joking aside, this is an absolute apology. I shouldn’t have said it. I apologize to the president and the viewers who heard me say that,” Halperin said.

“We’re going to have a meeting after the show,” Scarborough said.

According to Scarborough, there had been a mishap with the seven-second delay button – a new executive producer apparently didn’t know how it worked. “You are supposed to know how to do the job,” Scarborough said of his producer. “I would tell you what I think of him, but he doesn’t know what button to push.”

Later in the show, Halperin again apologized, saying, “I can’t explain why I did it. It’s inappropriate, disrespectful. I’ve already apologized, and I will again to the President. I’m sorry, I’m sorry to the viewers…It is disrespectful, what I said was disrespectful to the president and the office but it also lowers our discourse.”

I'm not sure why Halperin thought the president was a dick. Maybe it was because he wants to raise Halperin's taxes rather than cut money for college loans, food stamps, and unemployment insurance. Halperin should be careful. He might need that last one.

[JuniperLea]

1. How the hell do you get to be...

An executive producer without knowing production functions? Bullshit.

[BeyondGeography]

2. Me too

That smug bastard Halperin will never be quite the same again. Respectability, false as it is, is everything to that twerp and he'll never get it back to the pre-dick phase.

Dick.

[nevergiveup]

7. Yep

He will always be known as the "journalist" who called President Obama a "dick". He will not be able to escape it.

[CakeGrrl]

12. Exactly. His "brand" is damaged.

His name is going to be much more recognized now, and for a reason he'll regret.

[sundancekid]

17. from the irony department ...

... takes GAME CHANGER to a whole new level - thank you kharma

[karynnj]

18. I hope that the damage is enough that people will actually look

at the level of journalism he is really associated with. This is a guy who lavishly praised Matt Drudge and did so for what really was a very ineffectual dirty trick. The fact is that his status at both Time and mainstream media automatically gave him status he may well have earned to get there, but his actions in the power positions he was in did not warrant it.

Consider his books on 2004 and 2008. On 2004, he essentially praises the Republicans for smear campaigns - and attacks Kerry, who almost won in spite of enormous powers against him - and not enough voting machines to record Ohio votes that likely would have given him the election. His 2008 book was more gossip than serious analysis.

Hopefully, he this will cause a real reevaluation.

[Drunken Irishman]

3. Fuck Halperin, fuck Scarborough and fuck MSNBC.

[madmax]

5. 2 Thumbs up! nt

[Hand_With_Eyes]

4. Democrats are not supposed to fight back, apparently

They are supposed to bend over and take it. Kudos to Obama for telling it like it is.

[babylonsister]

6. Welcome to DU, Hand_With_Eyes!

:hi:

[The Wielding Truth]

11. Welcome to DU!That's just how I feel.

[Cosmocat]

21. THAT is the out take ...

The "liberal media" has set rules to ...

1) Always portray Rs as tough and effective.
2) Always marginalize Ds.

Bush spent the better part of 7 years calling democrats terrorist loving, america hating scumbags ... He was TOUGH, and SPOKE FROM HIS GUT.

BO called the Rs out, in proper political form, and he was "a bit of a dick."

[Paladin]

23. Sad But Oh-So-True.

There never seems to be a shortage of wimpy, play-nice Democrats---in the White House, here at DU, wherever---willing to see the party fail.....

[calimary]

8. Do we have a Twitter address or Facebook address for him?

'Cause I'd like to tell him how much of a dick HE is!

[frazzled]

9. And because he's stupid and wrong all the time, too

The best commentary on the dick story today, from Alex Pareene at Salon:

I don't care what Halperin calls Barack Obama. But for the record, President Obama did not really act like a dick yesterday, which is unsurprising, because Mark Halperin is a horrible political analyst who is wrong about everything. ...

This is a great excuse for MSNBC to fire Halperin, though! I mean if they won't fire him for being incompetent at understanding and explaining politics they now have an opportunity to fire him for being disrespectful and vulgar. ...

Being a professional observer of the "horserace" is bad enough, but Halperin doesn't even understand the horserace element of politics. He fails at being a hack. He's too dumb to correctly parrot conventional wisdom. He is pretty sure Sarah Palin and Donald Trump are 2012 front-runners. He thought "suspending his campaign" to fix the economy and not knowing how many houses he has were both huge messaging victories for John McCain. He wrote a book about how to win in 2008 that predicted everything Hillary did, but in his world it all worked. He thought Bush's political comeback would come any day now throughout the entirety of the years 2006-2008. He can't interpret polls or see through the spin of GOP consultants who are much smarter than he. If I were revising the Hack list I'd put him above number one.

So this indefinite suspension is a nice first step ...

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/06/30/fire_halperin

[CTyankee]

20. Heh, I LOVE Alex Pareen! It looks like the knives are out now to get Halperin.

Pareen's ridicule was just scathing...it looks like Halperin has pretty much pissed off a LOT of people...

[wryter2000]

10. Lower the discourse?

Not as if it was very elevated before this.

[Telly Savalas]

16. Our political discourse is so bullshit-laden that it would be elevated

if public figures had the freedom so speak with enough candor to use the word "dick" more liberally.

e.g.

"You've advocated spending over a trillion on wars, lowering taxes on millionaires, but now you want to dismantle Medicare because you say we're having a fiscal crisis. C'mon. Quit being a dick."

[janet118]

13. Here's the thing . . .

Halperin was just kissing up to Scarborough, trying to be one of the cool kids. What an ass! Scarborough was pleased as punch about the gaffe. He was smirking throughout the "apology." I don't watch the show but happened to come upon it while changing channels just in time to hear the phony apology. I kept going. Scarborough is a smarmy frat boy and his pal Mika is his Robin Quivers - there to scold him and feign disgust. Ick!

[Cosmocat]

22. Yep ...

The whole show is a circle jerk for Joe, with everyone quivering in fear he might go nuts and bash their heads off the desk ...

In a never ending cast of pitiful, spineless pukebags, Halperin stands out for being particularly maleable ...

It was PATHETIC how Scarboro so easily drew him into saying what he really thinks ... They got caught, THIS time, and it is a GLARING example of the REAL right wing bias of the "liberal media" at large that just is so tangible ...

For all of the last 2 plus years, you knew deep down inside Halperin was always thinking this way about the president, but as a foisted "even hand" in the media, his painfully biased opinions were presented as objective "analysis."

[PragmaticLiberal]

14. Personally, I'd respect Halperin more if he didn't apologize.

I have no clue why he feels that way about the POTUS but he chose to make that statement.


Now he should own it.

[OwnedByFerrets]

15. Just like a repuglican to shift the blame

[Supersedeas]

26. There you have it -- it was the push-button guy's fault

[winstars]

19. "IT"S A GREAT DAY FOR JOHN McCAIN!!!!

Halperin is the dick who said that John McCain would do better after his 'not knowing how many houses he owned' gaffe. Its on the Youtube...

[SayitAintSo]

24. Speaking of "dick"...I'm really missing Wiener 'bout now....

We're all screwed..... oy...

[and-justice-for-all]

25. Thats President Dick to him...nt