More of the worst journalism possible from Morning Joe this morning. McCain spokesperson Nicolle Wallace came onto the show and said that Obama was receiving more from the oil industry than McCain. She cited but did not quote a report on the subject from the Center for Responsive Politics. This sounded incorrect to me since it had been widely reported that McCain had received several times as much money from the oil industry as Obama. Immediately after her appearance, Scarborough read an email from the Republican National Committee quoting the Center for Responsive Politics report that through June 30th Obama had received $7,000 more from Exxon $42,100 to $35,166) and Chevron ($35,157 to $28,500) than McCain. The email was read uncritically and went unchallenged.

Well, it took me about two minutes to find the Center for Responsive Politics report and see how misleading this talking point was. It's right there in the article, which is quoted below.

The absence of Morning Joe brings the presence of morning bliss?  Or, a call to feminists to help me understand why Mika drives me nuts.

I've actually been waiting for someone else to post a diary about this. I don't like writing diaries.

This AM on "Morning Joe" a vid of an interview of Bill Clinton has him totally ducking the question "Is Obama ready to be President?".

Was this red meat for MSNBC? You bet.

They have been chewing on this with the addition of this Bill Richardson interview.

And Richardson wants to collect money for Hil's debt.

links below

Bob Herbert Took Over Mourning Joe this Morning. And it Took it Over so Well.

New York Times columnist Bob Herbert backed up his claims that the celebrity ad from John McCain’s campaign was indeed racist.

Good ole Joe Scarborough! He did it again this morning, but this time, it made me laugh.

For those that wonder how I can stand to watch this pompous GOP gasbag so early in the morning, it's because his best gems come VERY early on in the show. For the past three days he's popped off with some lovely fuck-up (that his producers are quick to correct at the nearest commercial break, I'm sure).

Yesterday, it was his misquote of Michelle Obama's statement about being proud of her country for the first time in her adult life. Even though her original statement sounded bad, what Joe twisted it into was purely disgusting. I didn't enjoy hearing what he said, but it certainly gave me insight into how he thinks.

Today it was beautiful! While Joe was busy pontificating about how effective McCain's new "Celebrity" ad is, and trying to illustrate the idea that celebrities/rock stars are substanceless, bubble-headed nothings that couldn't care less about the world they live in, he compared Obama to U2 frontman Bono!

Tucker just did it on Morning Joe, Laura Ingramm does it constantly, every neo-con invokes it as soon as the mike is turned on.

obama at the democratic caucus meeting

I know that this isn't a diary.  But I had to let off some steam.  I will delete this if people want.  

The Joe Scarborough show.  I used to be able to watch it.  

This morning there have been numerous diaries about newspapers defending Obama against McCain's lies.  Morning Joe is spending the hour discussing how Obama is too confident.  Someone on the show even used the word "uppity."

His arrogance against Mika (sexism) is constant.  He even berates the way she reads the news.... he doesnt comment or disagree with her--- but screams at her like a child or dismisses her-- no room for dialogue. It's not just that I disagree with him politically. I can even appreciate Buchanan who gives his opinion. Scarborough's disrespectful treatment of Mika and anything or anyone he disagrees with is constant.

 It's his total disrespect

Does anyone remember on Race For The White House when he told Rachel Maddow that she had Hillary's cackle down? Or when she asked him to stop interrupting her and he walked off the set.

MSNBC can do much better.  How about Rachel Maddow for the morning spot?

On Morning Joe on MSNBC today, both Chuck Todd  and Mike Murphy were strongly in agreement with each other about how lousy the poll results are in this election cycle and warned repeatedly against paying attention to them (MSNBC video). Each, in his own way, strongly supported many of the contentions of Arianna Huffington in her post today (Obama's Trip Bounce).

This is my first diary. I'm a member of the mythical over-50, white-female cohort that McCain and Obama are desperate to woo. I was originally a John Edwards supporter and have supported Obama since Edwards dropped out.

Please read on.

Cross-Posted on MYDD

I don't usually have the luxury of watching morning Joe on a workday, and I know many of you don't either, so I'd like to share how Andrew Card just got ridiculed for his mealy-mouthed defense of Bush's/McCain's "Time Horizon." His shilling was actually going quite well until, a few seconds into it, the words "Time Horizon" escaped Andy’s mouth. The result was a loud guffaw courtesy of Joe Scarborough followed by the following, unusually non-anti-Obama conversation (paraphrased, but not loosely):

Andrea Mitchell is on Morning Joe (the daily Obama bashing fest on MSNBC) explaining how Obama being greeted so warmly by the people in Europe could be a negative for Obama back home in America.  

Obviously you see, being greeted in a positive manner around the world is a lot less desirable back home with Americans than what George Bush received by people around the world over the last 8 years.

The question become then, will BHO be more like JFK or GWB? And which is better for America?

When I first started watching Morning Joe it appeared that he was trying to play it right up the middle.  He did bash Bush.  But after they picked up his show, he reverted to true form.  His bashing Bush to gain credibility was ingenious.  This made him look bipartisan, while suffering no downside.  After all, bashing an unpopular president that will not run again will hardly hurt McCain.  He never mentions McCain unless he points out that he was a POW.

He starts off every day bashing Obama.  He cherry picks polls, to highlight Obama’s supposed weaknesses.  Even if the poll shows him ahead-which most of them do. He frames it in the narrative of "why isn’t Obama ahead more?" He also inserts snide comments that portray him as effeminate or playing for the other team.  He then looks for anything that he can point to highlight divisions in the Democratic party.  Finally, he always draws false equivalences.  He usually makes shit up about the American people supporting the positions he is advocating.He never mentions the fact that McCain is behind in the polls.  The following is a typical show:

A long time ago, a good friend, a Republican, told me I had to start choosing my battles and stop letting them choose me.  You see I was forever challenging authority.  My daughter calls me the "rebel without a clue."  What if Obama is choosing his battles wisely?  Choosing to fight outside the box, on his own timetable, when he can win?  What if it isn't all hype and he really does have good judgment?  What if we back away just enough at just the right time and leave his campaign without the funding and the feets on the ground at a critical time. ...  

As I was rushing out of my house this morning, late again for my carpool, I happened to catch a bit of Morning Joe (while SportsCenter was on a commercial break), and I could not believe me eyes.. Rick Perlstein, author of Nixonland, arguing about the misdeeds of the Nixon administration with Patrick freakin Buchanan.

Say what you will about Morning Joe, and there is a lot of things that can be said about what's wrong with it, they do, from time to time, book some very intriguing guests.  I certainly never expected to see a widely respected liberal historian arguing with one of the most divisive right wing political figures of the 20th century on a morning political talk show on MSNBC.

I was frozen to my television.  Carpool be damned!  Link to the video after the jump.

I admit it: I watch Morning Joe on MSNBC in the morning to wake me up. Usually, it wakes me up because some Republican will be on there - and it's hardly ever Joe that does this, which is odd - attacking Sen. Obama and saying things that are just blatantly absurd. I want to crawl through my TV screen and choke the bullshit out of these people, but then I remember that without the bullshit, these people would die and I would be charged with murder. Destroying a GOP shill, though gratifying, is not worth spending the rest of my life in prison. Anyway...

Honestly, today I was saddened as I watched this little drama play out on my TV. The GOP shill in question was Rudolph Giuliani. I was a freshman in college when the 9/11 attacks happened and was on my way to class when I heard about them. My classes were cancelled that day, so I went home and like the rest of America I sat glued to the TV awaiting any update, any good news, and anything to tell us why this happened to us. That was when I was first introduced to Mayor Giuliani.

Update after the jump...

I'm a huge fan of MSNBC.  I watch Olbermann every night and while Chris Matthews can really be obnoxious, I'm too much of a political junkie to miss Hardball.  The new Verdict show is not bad either.  But when it comes to the morning it's a whole different story.

I know this has been discussed before but not with the video of Pat Buchanan attached to it.  I’ve been waiting since this morning for this bit of video to become available.  

The fist bump, dap, or pound has been in pop culture for several decades now.  I remember my bothers doing it in the seventies.  However, back in the day it came with am with an arsenal of moves and turns that would defy and mystify many people.  I myself never participated in the ritual because I deemed it unlady like and it just didn’t fit me.  I do have some reservations about Obama doing it as well.  Its fine by me, I grew up with the fist bump, dap, pound and now according to Faux News terrorist fist JAB as part of my everyday life.