I can’t shake the feeling that while she’s talking about Obama, she’s thinking of hastily Photoshopping Lady Di heads onto model bodies for more creepy Newsweek covers. Tina Brown was asked her opinion on the President’s tenure on “Morning Joe.”

“I think that Obama doesn’t like his job, either … he doesn’t know how to exercise power.”

She tried to temper her analysis by saying that the former community organizer is more “professorial,” as opposed to a quality leader of the free world but really, just said that he’s unqualified for the job. Another panelist chimed in: “It appears that you could make the case that Barack Obama doesn’t like politics.” Joe Scarborough added that if you don’t like politics, “then don’t be a politician!”

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Here’s an interesting back story to MSNBC’s hiring of racial riot instigator Al Sharpton as their latest evening host.  Back in March of 2000, MSNBC morning host Joe Scarborough was Congressman Joe Scarborough  and he introduced House Resolution 270  condemning Al Sharpton as a racist and a bigot. Read the text of the bill which was dug up by Legal Insurrection:

106th CONGRESS 2d Session H. CON. RES. 270

Condemning the racist and anti-Semitic views of the Reverend Al Sharpton

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

March 8, 2000

Mr. SCARBOROUGH submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

---

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION Condemning the racist and anti-Semitic views of the Reverend Al Sharpton

Whereas the Congress strongly rejects the racist and incendiary actions of the Reverend Al Sharpton;

Whereas the Reverend Al Sharpton has referred to members of the Jewish faith as `bloodsucking [J]ews’, and `Jew bastards’;

Whereas the Reverend Al Sharpton has referred to members of the Jewish faith as `white interlopers’ and `diamond merchants’;

Whereas the Reverend Al Sharpton was found guilty of defamation by a jury in a New York court arising from the false accusation that former Assistant District Attorney Steven Pagones, who is white, raped and assaulted a fifteen year-old black girl;

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Like all too many Americans TIME Magazine proves that it doesn’t know what is worth celebrating, noting, or memorializing in this world. Time doesn’t know what “important” means, it doesn’t know what “influential” means, it doesn’t even know what “top” means. And it has proven this again with its latest “2011 TIME 100 most influential people in the world.”

Let me just ask this: why is TV actress and comedienne Amy Poehler on a list of the “most influential people in the world”? It is idiotic. Actor Colin Firth is also on the list.

Another actress, Blake Lively, a B-list actress at best, is on the list. Unbelievable. TIME has so little to say of this “most influential person” that barely a paragraph was offered about her. How influential can you be if your whole life can be summed up in a mere 65 words?

Mark Wahlberg is there? Yeah, the one-dimensional actor Mark Wahlberg is on this list for some crazy reason. Why? Who the heck knows?

Singer/songwriter Patti Smith is on the list, too. Evidently TIME thinks she’s still big stuff. What has she done since the 1970s again? One would be excused for imagining that she died 20 years ago she’s so disappeared from the greater cultural attention span.

Also on this absurd list is — and this should make anyone laugh out loud — MSNBC’s faux conservative Joe Scarborough.

Let’s take a look at the guffaw worthy addition of low-rated TV talker Scarborough, he of the extremist left-wing cabler MSNBC. Joe’s presence on this list is inexplicable, not just because he is a TV talking head but because he is one of TV’s lowest rated talking heads.

Now, being a TV (or radio) talking head does not disqualify someone for inclusion on such a list, exactly. For good or ill, being a major media figure most certainly can lead to wielding great influence. Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and Bill O’Reilly are examples of current commentators that have quite a bit of influence. In his day so did Walter Cronkite. Even someone like Father Coughlin (for worse) during WWII days on radio or Edward R. Murrow (mostly not for worse) were highly influential TV/Radio folks of their day that were worthy for inclusion in such a list.

However, Joe Scarborough is not anywhere near as influential or successful as any of those I mentioned above. It is flat out ridiculous to call Joe Scarborough one of the world’s most influential people. It’s pure fantasy.

Listen, these people I just mentioned are fine people. Successful at their work, known well enough by people, sure. But does “acting” and being a TV talking head make a person one of the world’s most influential people? It is idiotic to say so.

It isn’t just the hollow actors, aging singers, and TV personalities that don’t belong on this list, either. Injured Representative Gabrielle Giffords is also on the list. Why? It’s hard to fathom.

Gabrielle Giffords has a compelling story, of course, but to the greater world she is known for nothing but being the victim of a crime. Before being shot she was a virtually unknown Congresswoman. Since her shooting she has yet to do anything especially noteworthy due to her necessary rehabilitation. Further, we have no real idea how that is progressing so we don’t even have her example as something that can inspire us. Maybe she will inspire us someday. I hope she does. But as of right now she is not a “most influential person.” As much as we feel for her and are pulling for her recovery she simply isn’t a major world figure.

There are all sorts of people on this list that don’t belong on a list as vaunted as the 100 most influential people of the world. Take Amy Chua, for instance. She wrote the controversial memoir Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. Yes her book is very interesting and yes she has gained a bit more than her allotted 15 minutes of fame. But as worthy as her book is, a most influential person of the world she is not.

Do these people deserve to be better known? I don’t know. I guess so. Why not? But are they worthy of being included in a list of the most influential people in the whole wide world? Nope. Not at all.

Anyway, you can look this list over and find all sorts of people that do not belong on it. It shows that TIME Magazine hasn’t a clue what “influential” really means. It shows how facile the thinking of this Old Media staple really is.

I must still be recovering from Grandma’s super strong amaretto slushes at the first of our family Christmas parties this past weekend because I could have SWORN that Joe Scarborough almost sounded like a Big Journalism writer here:

Oh my word he did.

“This is curious and it was our staff that did it this time. I’m always curious when there is a controversial issue … that mainstream media doesn’t like, they’ll always will say a George W. Bush appointee or a Reagan appointee … when a Democrat does something unpopular they never say Clinton appointee. Never. Never.”

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There isn’t anything I love more than a little superfluous drama queen indignation with my morning coffee and bacon. New Republic writer Eliza Gray concludes that the reason you see so many women in second banana positions on television is because programming heads are sexist:

One Monday morning in November, according to the admittedly rough transcript provided by the Federal News Service, “Morning Joe,” anchor Joe Scarborough spoke 3,213 words; his co-anchor Mika Brzezinski spoke just 644. Most of her words seemed merely to remind the audience that she was still awake: Yeah. Okay. Yes. No. Maybe. Right. Terrific. Scarborough dominated the meaty segments; Brzezinski piped up mainly during the transitions.

[...]

But if Brzezinski is the true second pillar of the show, why is she so quiet? Maybe the better question is, why is Scarborough so loud? And why does MSNBC, supposedly leading the liberal charge against conservative cable news, stand for such a dispiriting and old-fashioned gender dynamic? Anyone for a little sexism with their morning joe?

Granted, Gray illustrates the history of news and the role that women journalists, anchors, have played in morning coverage. What she misses entirely, however, is the dynamic of broadcast news and the types of individuals attracted to the medium.

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Who says conservatives don’t have “compassion?”  MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough on Friday lamented over the “sad,” “terrible” ordeal that Charlie Rangel endured during his censuring.  His more progressive Morning Joe cohorts like journalist Nora O’Donnell of course were full of that liberal piss and vinegar compassion usually reserved for radical imams or far-left politicians, calling it “very moving moment” and seemed moved to tears over Rangel’s “very emotional statement” on the floor of the House.  At one point, co-host Mika Brzezinski offered a one word description for the Democrat’s punishment: “Terrible.” (One wonders if they feel the same sadness for fallen Republican Tom DeLay, but that’s another story.)

For anyone wishing to understand some of the rancor that led to the walloping the Democratic establishment just experienced in the November mid-terms, all one need do is look into the happy face of Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY), former Chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee.

I just want you to imagine sitting across from an IRS auditor trying to explain how you failed to report: credit union balances, several investment accounts, vacant properties in New Jersey, stocks in your portfolio, rental income from a Costa Rican villa, etc.  And then explain how you “amended” your 2007 tax returns to include and extra $780,000 in assets income…oops! I dare say the IRS would do more than give you a tongue-lashing and then let you keep your position without further prosecution as a Congressional censure pretty much is just that.  (Ouch!  Don’t…stop…don’t…stop.)

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A day after Joe Scarborough dialed up the phony outrage in a Politico opinion piece, claiming that Palin was insulting and tearing down “Republican giants” like Reagan and both Bushes to “build her weak résumé,” Morning Joe brought on Nicole Wallace for a similar discussion.  The point of Scarborough’s Politico article and his MSNBC show over the last two days (arguably the last two years) was to call on Republican and conservative leaders to “man up,” as his title says, and criticize Palin, as if that hasn’t been going on since the 2008 election.

Joe Scarborough, like Peggy Noonan, needed to gin up such a ridiculous pretext like defending the honor of Ronald Reagan from the contempt of Sarah Palin – who idolizes Reagan – in order to attack her with language akin to Noonan’s “nincompoop.”  Why can’t Scarborough just “man up” and let it fly without manufacturing an excuse if he’s calling on others to do so?

Nicole Wallace had some interesting things to say, notably blowing a hole through Scarborough’s claim from the day before that “all of your talk radio hosts that will defend Sarah Palin” on the air, “off-set quietly say” the same nasty things that Scarborough does about Palin.  The next day Wallace explained why conservative leaders won’t take her on: because of…all the radio hosts who love her, “the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.”  That wasn’t the first time Scarborough was shot down after claiming everyone else secretly agrees with him.

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Seriously, again?

This morning on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program, Lawrence O’Donnell proudly declared the obvious:  he’s a socialist.

After hearing the news today about the suspension of Keith Olbermann from the same network, I can’t say anyone’s all that surprised.

O’Donnell’s proclamation was made when “The Last Word” anchor got into a lively exchange with Salon.com contributor Glenn Greenwald.

“Unlike you, I am not a progressive.  I am not a liberal who’s so afraid of the word that I had to change my name to progressive.  Liberals amuse me.  I am a Socialist.  I live to the extreme left -  the extreme left – of you mere liberals.”

You have to give the guy credit for standing behind his views, and doing so openly.  You have to respect him for that, at least.

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Amazingly, Joe Scarborough on MSNBC’s Morning Joe seemed to figure out the hypocrisy of the DNC and the White House complaining about undisclosed donors and “special interest” money being supposedly funneled into Republican campaigns. The White House has been going after the Chamber of Commerce and more than once has been unable to come up with any defense or any support to their totally unsubstantiated claims. Alexrod can’t answer, Gibbs can’t answer, and Mika Brzezinski, co-host of Morning Joe certainly can’t answer. Joe brought up something that the rest of the media has blatantly ignored in this debate, President Obama’s ability to raise more money than any other candidate. President Obama has received more anonymous donations, more big oil donations, more big business donations, and more special interest donations than any other politician ever!

The obvious lunacy of the White House pointing fingers at the RNC is something that only one MSNBC host can apparently seem to grasp. Perhaps Joe can talk to the other MSNBC hosts that have shown “rank hypocrisy” when it comes to asking about finances between Republican and Democratic candidates.

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… you know you’re really in trouble:

The sad part is that many on the left still don’t understand why this is happening to them.

Do they, Mr. President? (more…)

Joe Scarborough is a scarcely visible light in the intellectually vacuous cavern of MSNBC liberal apparatchiks.

I made the mistake of turning on this network in prime time last night and my head almost blew off.

What stunning honesty about ones employer and the jackassery within one’s own network.  The choicest part of these two minutes is the smug, putrefied reaction of the co-host after Joe’s comment.   Looking mortified, Mika Brzezinski glares the rest of the dialogue before squeaking out a nervous laugh in the end.  Eugene Robinson laughs and retorts Joe’s rational argument with quite possibly the most obtuse, child-like avoidance in the history of punditry.

“Why do you want to take Social Security away from senior citizens?” (more…)

The good doctor of East Hampton and Vermont, Howard Brush Dean III, analyzes Glenn Beck:

Card-carrying hack John Heilemann, totally clueless as usual, also chimes in. (more…)

In case you ever thought the media played things straight — you know, actually quoted people accurately and, when paraphrasing, gave a fair summation of what the person actually said and meant — think again.

Check out this priceless clip from the increasingly irrelevant Morning Joe MSNBC gabfest, which features a sputtering Chris Matthews summarizing some remarks from Tea Party candidate Sharron Angle, who’s running against Harry Reid in Nevada for the U.S. Senate.

Like a typical leftist, poor Chris has no sense of irony or metaphor or anything else — spooked by his own dark fantasies of the right, he takes every statement made by a conservative absolutely literally, then spins it into a terrifying tale of lurking militias and Christian-rightists and lions and tigers and bears oh my… (more…)

It’s certainly arguable whether Joe Scarborough, the host of the now nearly unwatchable haute-gabfest, Morning Joe, on MSNBC, is a conservative, but whatever he is, he’s too much for Canadian-born actor Donald Sutherland.  Consider this, from the Huffington Post:

Are the programmers at MSNBC nuts? They give us refreshing afternoons with Chris and Ed, put us to bed with the clarifying sensibilities of Rachel and Keith and then, idiotically, wake us up with Mr. Small Mouth.

Who is this idiot? Why is he there? He can’t even listen. He doesn’t conduct a decent conversation. He runs over everyone else’s words with a landslide of diarrhea. I saw him on Friday, stomping around the stage like a posturing rooster, calling Paul Krugman a political hack. Paul Krugman’s a political hack? Surely they put make-up on Mr. Small Mouth. Doesn’t he look in the mirror? That’s where he’d see what a political hack looks like.

“Mr. Small Mouth? — Sutherland really knows how to hurt a guy. But he’s not finished putting the boot in.  Oh, no… (more…)

Is there something in the water at MSNBC that makes everybody there crazy? Morning Joe, which ought to be the premier political talk show on morning television — but won’t be until it expands its guest list beyond Mrs. Alan Greenspan, writers and editors at the New York Times and the newsweeklies, and sneering lefties like Donny Deutsch, whose claim to fame is… what, exactly? — recently witnessed this Chernobyl-style meltdown by Lawrence O’Donnell, which has to be seen to be believed:

Sure, it’s tough being on the side of the incipient losers, staring into the electoral abyss of 2010 and knowing it’s going to take a miracle to save you.  But even Joe Scarborough — who normally is quick to assure his liberal guests that he’s not really that kind of conservative – couldn’t take the vicious animosity, not to mention the spectacular rudeness to one of his guests.  To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, if this is how MSNBC treats its conservative guests, it doesn’t deserve to have any.

Memo to MSNBC management: in the immortal words of Joseph Welch to Sen. Joseph McCarthy at the Army-McCarthy hearings:

You’ve done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?

You can see the more civilized second half of the segment after the jump:

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It’s quite a stretch to call The Nation’s Max Blumenthal a journalist.

A real journalist is free to have an opinion and even to express it, but he doesn’t fabricate things to make his subject look bad. A real journalist tries to understand his subject and help his audience understand it instead of just subjecting it to abject ridicule.

Blumenthal, who leaped to conclusions in his since-corrected Salon.com article to slander Andrew Breitbart and James O’Keefe, is an ethically challenged agitprop creator and self-indulgent performance artist. His slurring of O’Keefe, who helped to expose the criminal inclinations of ACORN, as a racist is the same thing that ACORN does when it’s attacked. If you disagree, you’re a racist. Nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah!

This left-wing extremist, who wrote the book Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement that Shattered the Party, is so consumed by his hatred of the other side that he can’t think straight. His work is littered with factual errors, non sequiturs, selective use of evidence, glittering generalities, and hyperbole.

Blumenthal hates the Christian right, evangelicals, supporters of Israel, tea party activists, conservatives, and Republicans. This is not an exhaustive list. To him, conservatives are a “movement that’s filled with people who can’t handle individual freedom and the pressures of democracy.” Conservatives also are needy losers seeking redemption, according to Blumenthal: (more…)

Well, the cat is finally out of the bag and guess who let him out?  None other than Morning Joe’s own resident heartthrob, Mika Brzezinski.  In an interview with TV Newser’s Julie Menin, promoting her new book, All Things At Once, the daughter of Jimmy Carter’s national security advisor had this to say about the mainstream media:

I’ve worked in the mainstream media for all the networks and I will say what people aren’t saying. It’s got a liberal world view. There are great people working at the networks, and they’re mostly Democrats, ok?

I think honestly what needs to happen, is we need to stop pretending about who we are and every journalist should tell us what their political affiliation is, who they voted for,  and we go from there.

I hate the polarizing extremes that we’re seeing on cable where there’s these sort of “Think my way or you’re evil” kind of subliminal message or cartoonish type characters on the right and the left. I think we try and break a lot of those barriers on Morning Joe.

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