“Whatever action that network, any network, any newspaper might take, that’s not for us to decide.”
So as long as that media outlet isn’t a car plant or Boeing, the administration won’t barge in and tell them how to run their business. Good to know.
I’m curious as to whether or not the Obama administration ever privately admonished members of its party when they said similar, if not worse, about American voters? I never heard any public admonishment of Nancy Pelosi when she suggested that tea partiers were Nazis; or of Representatives John Lewis and Andre Carson when they slandered grassroots voters with a debunked and offensive accusation; or when Janet Napolitano put everyday grassroots Americans on the DHS watch list (I could go on at length but we’ll stop here); which makes me wonder if the White House did so privately. Regardless, we never received an apology.
Excuse me if I disregard the left’s outrage, the same side that screamed obscenities at a 14-year-old as she spoke during a pro-Walker Wisconsin rally; the same side who blamed the Tucson massacre on conservatives before the networks could accurately report whether or not Gabrielle Giffords’ was still alive (an action which caused Arizona tea partiers and Sarah Palin to get a wave of death threats). You all on the left act surprised at how much your #newtone has grown!
It’s hysterical to think that “dick” is an obscenity or that it in any way trumps the left’s verbiage the past several years; in fact, I thought it was comical that Scarborough and Halperin behaved as though they were pulling a George Carlin with a modified seven dirty words routine. Was Halperin wrong to suggest that the President had a tantrum and was rude to his audience by blaming corporate jets, evil, job creators, and condescending to congress by comparing them to his children? No, he wasn’t. (Dude, it’s your party that still hasn’t produced a budget, your homework, in two years.) Halperin could have phrased it differently. This isn’t “The Young Turks” on Youtube, this is is a professional network on … MSNBC. Yeah, OK. It’s still network television, though.
(An aside: The left has redefined morality and manners to mean that those who don’t support socialist policies are immoral but infant genocide is moral. Suddenly they’re the new censors. Wait, not suddenly. They’ve long loved them some censorship!)
MSNBC didn’t suspend Halperin because he showed as much respect for the office as the office has shown Americans these past several years; they suspended him due to profanity. If this was about respect for the office of the presidency, a number of their talking heads and analysts would have been canned ages ago when Bush was in office. If this came down to respect, they would have been canned over calling Palin, Bachmann, INSERT GOP/CONSERVATIVE INDIVIDUAL HERE an “idiot,” “zombie” and other names.
Being that I’m a free speech purist, I’m offended more by the blatant double-standard MSNBC shows in cherry-picking which officer holders to defend from pejoratives. People can use whatever language they want to demonstrate their creativity, or lack thereof. However, I also support businesses’ rights, so if MSNBC wants to suspend Mark Halperin because his language was unacceptable by their standards, they absolutely have that right. If MSNBC wants to suspend Halperin for his remarks while others on that network have said the same, if not worse, about Republican office holders and/or presidents, they also have that right. They can choose how to present themselves to the viewing audience: as a serious network or as a hypocritical joke.
As for those who pound their chests about respect for the office, I agree. We should absolutely have respect for elected office holders but it’s not so sanctified that the respect is barred from being reciprocated and I don’t believe that this administration has reciprocated that respect. I definitely don’t believe it when I see my President stopping short of stomping his feet and wailing behind a podium about how one party is to blame for their caution in approaching a financial issue that should have been solved two years ago by his own party. Blaming others for your mistakes on national television isn’t respectful, either.
The administration also needs to have respect for the office of the presidency and hold themselves and their members to a higher standard.
But of course, the leftist detractors won’t tell you that.
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71 Comments
When the left wing propaganda department steps out of line, they must be disciplined as a lesson to the rest. Do not insult dear leader or there will be consequences.
The only discipline applicable to a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Democrat Party such as MSNBC is to boycott it and its sponsors, and tell them that you're doing so. Nothing else has the ghost of a chance. Don't expect any other form of reproval to have a salutary effect, as MSNBC's barons know quite well which side of their bread is buttered.
Inasmuch as MSNBC caters explicitly to a left-liberal audience, even a boycott might not have a perceptible effect. But if you want to change the station's behavior and policies, it's the only thing that has a chance of working.
I agree a business can censure, suspend, and/or fire any employee for any or no reason. Period …. But you know Mess-NBC is lying
The President needs to keep his mitts out of the news business, too … but that ain't gonna happen either … oh well
Not real familiar with Halperin, but at least he had the nerve to speak his mind. It was particularly funny the watch the "pretend conservative" Joe Scarborough jump out of his skin. If the Bush Admin. had called a major media outlet over such a minor statement, the left would still be crying "foul".
It is a shame that telling the truth gets you fired.
Maybe he could have used a less profane word,but he would have sill been fired.
I hope Fox calls him !
He just proved that he is "Fair and Balanced" and truthful !!!
Obama and his thin skin again. Not surprised.
If Bush had done this ALL the networks would be screaming bloody murder over his use of "Censorship". I love it that they go along like sheep when it's their guy doing it.
So bizarre….now the WH will own Halperin when they let him return. The fall of an independent media is a national disgrace. Couple that with the public school indoctrination of our children and that is the end of freedom.
Dana, I like the way your article segues into a discussion re the substance of Halperin's remarks. Had I the time today, I'd write a piece entirely on the substance of what he said, but I don't, so here's the comment:
Halperin was right. Obama was being more than his usual petulant self. I listened to the presser, and was amazed how just how much of a dick he really was, and how open he was about it. Hey, he had the press corps in stitches with his "I'm here" bs. He was insulting and demeaning.
Obama himself lowered the discourse and diminished the respect that people on the left have for him, and that all of us have (had?) for the office of the Presidency. Even Bill Clinton never acted so arrogantly and childishly. Yet it is par for the course with the most unqualified, in-over-his-head man child to ever occupy that once noble office.
______"The President needs to keep his mitts out of the news business, too .."_______
Imam Obama does not control the MSM or curry political favor …
He just enjoys the free ride they have given him and Mooochele.
The MSM and especially MSNBC are the "Official Fluffers"of Imam Obama and the Liberal Democrat Party.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluffing
The hypocrisy and double-standard at MSNBC and the rest of the left-wing media is so glaring and blatant that it's barely worth mentioning. I seem to recall Keith Olbermann addressing a sitting president directly when he said "Mr. Bush, shut the hell up!!" I don't recall any talk about him being suspended or fired. The reaction from the Left was quite supportive. No doubt, Bush didn't give a rat's behind about Olbermann's opinions.
But that was Bush. This current president is a thin-skinned lightweight who can't handle any criticism. So he can lecture Congress, comparing them to children, but no one can call him on it? But let's take the word "dick" out of the equation and replace it with "arrogant, grandstanding, disrespectful blowhard." There, is that more acceptable?
And by the way, listen to a Jay Carney press conference for more than 60 seconds and you'll see that the word in question doesn't only apply to Obama.
Why wouldn't the White House call MSNBC?
It isn't as though they have much to do.
I am sure that Obama's Media Management Czar will be all over this one.
Obama has soft skin. What a little baby. Unfit to serve as our leader.
I've been banned from commenting on Reuters for quoting passages from Obama's "Dreams" that document his muslim sympathies. Also I suggested his associations with Jeremiah Wright, Louis Farrakhan, and others was our first clue he would resume recognition of the terrorist support group; muslim brotherhood. I didn't even mention the billions in aid Obama has spent supporting groups such as Hamas. All true, all relevant to their article, yet I'm banned. This was after one post with factual quotations, less than 75 words in length. This story with Halperin is another example of the double standard we have all witnessed for years, but added with the now routine censorship of opposing opinion on the internet, it's even more disturbing.
obama is a dick so what's the big deal?
In their zeal to defeat and quiet opposing opinions, the MSM has created a monster that will destroy them as well.
The Democrats would flush Obama if they could only figure out how. Obama makes a deer tick jealous.
If this is what they say in this forum think of what they are saying in private! At least we say what we mean and mean what we say. It would appear that these people are not only liberal but two faced.
What I don't understand is why Scarborough and his sidekick Mika haven't been singled out for criticism. They egged on Halperin and then when he said "that word" they jumped back in horror and blamed the executive producer for not pushing the right button. Amateur hour.
Crybabies. Sorry that the truth hurts.
I used to think people couldn't really be dumb enough to let history repeat itself. I was wrong, welcome to Rome.
Anyone know what it takes to appoint a special prosecutor to prosecute the head of the ATF?
Here's the other problem: The press is SUPPOSED to be slightly DISRESPECTFUL of power. Any power.
That's the way the system works best. The press should hear everything any president says — on either side — as BS until proven true.
Sadly, the watchdogs are lapdogs to an emperor with no clothes.
The MSNBC lefties have called Bush about every name in the book and 'dick' is now being delcared "profanity"? And this follows how many mentions of "weiner" in "weinergate"?
Halperin just mistakenly thought he was still in the America that had free speech and freedom of the press.
The media is feeling the sting of obama's disdain for them and are acting up as a result, now they will feel the sting from his whip as he realigns the 4th arm of his government.
Next time MSNBS strays from the Obama line, they will be visited by the O's brownshirts.
If Sean Penn had his way, Halperin would be jailed for daring to disrespect Our Dear Leader….. http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2010/03/08/s...
I think that "dick-tator" would be a more fitting description.
For probably the first and last time…….I agree with Halperin.
He's correct in his assessment of the Dear Leader's performence.
it says a LOT- and none of it good- about the current occupant that he's been able to make both Carter & Clinton look better in the eyes of conservatives…
"arrogant, grandstanding, disrespectful blowhard."
that's a start. i'd add petulant, ignorant, incompetent, insensitive, mendacious, bullying, corrupt, dishonest, preening, pretentious, Marxist,………….(and those are some of his better qualities)
yep. the news in this story is that ONE PERSON in the MSM has finally slipped and said out loud what a majority- yes, majority- of this country has been thinking & saying for the last couple years.
purple is the new brown…
I would agree with you if we were in the land of free capitalism, and to that extent I think the only audience that MSNBC has is from the people who are tired of sitcoms and are looking for something new to laugh at. Speaking for Halperin's defense – what he said on MSNBC isn't nearly as bad as what some of the other folks have said over there and had he said that about anyone else they would have pinned a metal on him.
However, in this more enlightened progressive age we all have job and health rights. MSNBC has no right to fire him. Well — at least not until the state police (read TSA) come and take him away to the gulags.
It won't be long before Obama will order the arrest of anyone who speaks against him or cast him in a bad light.
Campaign officials said about 800 people, each giving at least $100, attended the first event, at a Hyatt hotel. Later in the evening, Comcast’s executive vice president, David L. Cohen, hosted about 120 people in his home for a dinner, each of the attendees giving at least $10,000 for Obama’s reelection campaign. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/44/post/obama...
Cohen, a longtime Democratic operative, has successfully sheparded the regulatory review of Comcast’s merger with NBC Universal earlier this year.
When the meeting is scheduled @ Fort Marcy Park you better not show up. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Marcy_Park
Halperin should sue MSNBC for discrimination. Halperin got an indefinite suspension for "dick", while Ed Schultz got less for using the term "slut".
Sean Penn is a corrupt little totalitarian wannabe. Won't see anything he's in or otherwise involved with, EVER.
Just a small nit … "not only liberal but two faced" is redundant. You had us at 'liberal' … Liberals can be explained with 5 D words … Delusion, Denial, Dysfunction, Depravity, Death … all of it stemming from 19th century Euro-Nihilism, the philosophy of self-destruction but I digress.
I thought Joe and Mika said they would "catch him if he falls"? Kinda like outfielders all saying 'I got it' and then all backing away to watch the ball (Mark) drop on the field.
Since where does The White House get off by calling a "news" network and telling them what they should, or should not say?
You know who else does that kind of sh!t? CHAVEZ!
That dick needs some viagara cuz all it does is bow.
Love the article Dana. I was watching live as that man spoke and I could scarcely believe how petulant he sounded.
One typo correction for you though:
"…cherry-picking which officer holders…"
I think you meant OFFICE holders. Don't ya hate it when spell check misses things like this?
Excellent article, expanding on the point made by Larry O'Connor in his MSNBC double-standard/Mark "Kindofadick" Halperin article. My favorite paragraph:
"…if MSNBC wants to suspend Mark Halperin because his language was unacceptable by their standards, they absolutely have that right. If MSNBC wants to suspend Halperin for his remarks while others on that network have said the same, if not worse, about Republican office holders and/or presidents, they also have that right. They can choose how to present themselves to the viewing audience: as a serious network or as a hypocritical joke."
No, no, no the White House does not control the MSM.
When will the MSM be tired of being lapdogs and milquetoast patsies? Has anyone of the reporters any pride left?
Was the reporter kidding about the TV's tuned to MSNBC? I didn't realize they had truly lost any claim to critical thinking.
Why did Jay not just say they don't comment about those types of things? Instead he sounded like he was trying to tone down Daddy's disapproval.
Poor Jay Carney…He's almost in above his head as deep as the inept President is. I'm not sure if they are standing in just dirty water or bull manure but it's definitely deep and over their tiny little heads!
Please do not think that because Halperin criticized Obama regardiing the increasing overt signs of BHO's personality disorder, it means that he is an honest journalist. The links below show who and what he is.
Halperin is the then ABC news director who advised his staff in a 2004 memo not to "reflexively and artificially hold both sides 'equally' accountable when the facts don't warrant that." The memo advised the reporters not to report on John Kerry's gaffes, and justified this by saying that george Bush supporters were pointing out the gaffes to hurt Kerry's credibility. The also says ABC has "the skill and strength to help voters evaluate what the candidates are saying to serve the public interest."
He defines bias and self-annointment in journalism.
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,20....
http://www.drudgereportarchives.com/data/2004/10/....
None of us in the work-a-day, non-union world would get away with saying the same sort of thing in a meeting or a presentation in a similarly "professional" setting without a serious reprimand and inevitable loss of respect from our colleagues. I do draw a distinction between someone like Mark Halperin and someone like Bill Maher or Ann Coulter–like them or not, they have successfully developed their own brands. Halperin is not a celebri-pundit but apparently is a sad wannabe; a news analyst (the sort of category that gives one license to inject opinion but still requires professional delivery). And I think that might be a commentary on how much more powerful pundits/opinion journalists/ citizen bloggers have become. Mark Halperin has had what might have been a distinguished career in journalism 20 years ago–he was the top political guy at ABC for a while, made appearances on the NewsHour then moved to Time Magazine and MSNBC. A resume that might have garnered respect in the pre-diminished era of the Mainstream Media, and still not a major player. If you, too, saw Obama as a savior, you might be equally disappointed with him by now.
@m –
Good. I'm sure that would be much more entertaining to many than the Bachmman/Palin smackdown the MSM keeps promoting. Too bad for MSNBC that they no longer has Olbermann on their team. They might lose the fight.
See Dick run, see Dick tax, see Dick spend, see Dick bankrupt, see Dick dictate, see Dick lose in a historiic landslide.
Dana Loesch: We should respect the Presidency, except when it benefits us to not respect the Presidency.
Good to know, Dana.
LOL wouldn't be surprised if Halperin ends up being forced to attend "sensitivity classes" ; he'll come back as a nice brainwashed drone.
"arrogant, grandstanding, disrespectful blowhard."
"that's a start. i'd add petulant, ignorant, incompetent, insensitive, mendacious, bullying, corrupt, dishonest, preening, pretentious, Marxist,………….(and those are some of his better qualities) "
Sorry guys, but those words are all too intelligent for libturds to comprehend. "Dick" they understand.
So true,lol. Probably give him his own program.
The White House is kinda acting like dicks.
I like your thinking!!
When the White House, and by that I mean OBAMA, thinks he can call MSNBC, or any other news outlet, and complain that he doesn't like negative criticism or won't tolerate it, then we know our current leaders DO NOT respect this country and the pillar of freedom. The leaders signal they WANT a banana republic.
Obama's presser yesterday made it clear that he DOES NOT support the foundation of this country, which is entrepreneurship and business. He DOES NOT support the poor moving up the economic ladder–which is another foundation of this nation. He wants to punish the successful and he want to build up the entitlement sector. Obviously to grant more power to the federal government.
This president is dangerous. Anyone who votes for Oblame-a in 2012 should have their head examined. Instead of ID's, how about an IQ test?
Guess the truth hurts. Especially coming from a lefty friend.
ooooh, so Halperin's main offense was using a term even typical Dem voters can understand. it all makes sense now…….
just to prove a point about a year ago on scarbrough it was announced that Mika watches her blackberry for responses from valarie Jarrett if they go a little overboard with the messiah they get scolded gooogle it!!! That is why they do not start there morning cabinet meetings till 10:00 am they have to produce and direct MSNBC's Morning Joke
Mark deserves his own show…fork the Whitehouse ful of dicks…and foreign agents
I realize our Dear Leader would think it rude, but I'm lovin' every second of this pathetic circus.
Mark Halperin, who's a center-right analyst on MSNBC, was rude and childish. You, Fixed Noise, and Fake Business has said MUCH WORSE things than on the left or what Halperin said.
PURPLEBELLIES!! screw it, if barry hussien goes another 4 years, I'm going REAVER!!!
ridge –
This is who Mark Halperin is, and this is the backround which shaped him.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2366247/....
Ridge –
My link is no longer good. But here is an excerpt from another link about Mark Halperin's father, Morton Halperin:
"In the mid-1970s Halperin befriended Philip Agee, a former CIA agent-turned-Communist who publicly identified hundreds of American CIA agents. At least one of these agents, Athens station chief Richard Welch, was murdered shortly thereafter. Halperin flew to Europe to help Agee find safe haven after Great Britain had expelled him. In the U.S., Halperin, who has described the CIA as "the subverter of everybody else's freedom,” opposed legislation to punish the outing of U.S. undercover agents as Agee had done.
During that era, Halperin also served as Director of the Washington, DC office of the American Civil Liberties Union, under whose auspices he defended the right of The Progressive magazine to publish secret details it had obtained of how to make an atomic bomb."
http://freedomtorch.com/blogs/10899/1718/morton-h...
@Think –
Think again. The MSM is messing with us – this is probably all part of some duplicitous scheme. Maybe to make us believe they are starting to wake up, and therefore we will start giving them more credence. Maybe they want to appear more "balanced" in their outlook.
This is about Mark Halperin's father Morton Halperin:
"In the mid-1970s Halperin befriended Philip Agee, a former CIA agent-turned-Communist who publicly identified hundreds of American CIA agents. At least one of these agents, Athens station chief Richard Welch, was murdered shortly thereafter. Halperin flew to Europe to help Agee find safe haven after Great Britain had expelled him. In the U.S., Halperin, who has described the CIA as "the subverter of everybody else's freedom,” opposed legislation to punish the outing of U.S. undercover agents as Agee had done.
http://freedomtorch.com/blogs/10899/1718/morton-h...
Proof freedom of the press is considered a crime by the Obama Regime.
Dana Loesch has said worse things than the left has? Really? Dana Loesch doesn't follow a mindless drone who follows everything one side of the political spectrum says unlike you.
Good article. But "dick" is an obscenity.
You obviously don't have an 8-year-old and a 6-year-old.
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