MSNBC suspends analyst Mark Halperin over characterization of President Obama

[kpete]

Source: Washington Post

MSNBC suspends analyst Mark Halperin over characterization of President Obama

By Emily Yahr

Cable news network MSNBC has suspended the network’s senior political analyst, Mark Halperin. Halperin was suspended indefinitely after he called President Obama “kind of a (expletive)” on the network’s “Morning Joe” show — after having been assured by co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski that there would be a seven second delay.

“Are we on the seven second delay today?” Halperin asked, in response to a question about President Obama’s “feisty” comments at a news conference yesterday. “I want to characterize how I thought the president behaved.”

“Well, we have it, we can use it, right Alex?” Brzezinski asked to a producer off camera.

“Yeah, sure, come on, take a chance. Have faith,” Scarborough responded.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/tv-column/post/msnbc-suspends-analyst-mark-halperin-over-characterization-of-president-obama/2011/06/30/AGocyAsH_blog.html

[TwilightGardener]

1. Kind of a...what? Now I'm curious.

[CherokeeDem]

2. "dick"

...I think they should have suspended the entire bunch of them....

[TwilightGardener]

3. Yikes. No "journalist" should be allowed to call the President a dick.

Talking heads and pundits, maybe, but not reporters.

[CherokeeDem]

6. There's a great commentary posted in another thread....

talking about how Halpern projected himself as non-biased, even though he often leaned right. Gets what he deserves. He, Joe and the others were just angry because Obama called out the Repubs at his presser...apparently, he's not allowed to fight back.

To use a popular phrase, all of today's Morning Joe crew..."dicks."

[No Elephants]

39. His father is or was a Democrat, too. (Not sure if Poppy Halperin is still alive.)

[CTyankee]

42. His dad, Mort, worked for the ACLU at one point. He had worked in the

for Kissinger in the Nixon Admin but broke with them over the Vietnam War. He was then wiretapped by the Admin and sued. Not sure how the court case turned out.

Mort was every bit as much a publicity hound as his son is, but with an anti-war aura about him.

[Dept of Beer]

7. It is an exhibit of unmistakable bias.

[RobinA]

14. Halperin a Reporter?

I thought he was known as a pundit. Wasn't he a Reagan speech-writer or something? He's always been Right.

Anyway, I can't believe how dumb these guys continue to be. It's like they are incapable of learning from experience. How many times does a politicain have to get in trouble for saying something into a supposedly "closed" mic before it sinks in that you don't call the President a dick within earshot of a mic. Open, closed or delayed. He puts his career in the hands of a talk show personality who "says" there's a delay and that they will use it? Right. Talk show hosts - known the world over for their willingness to protect a guy's career over attracting attention to their show. Mind blowingly dumb.

Listen up politicians/pundits/shills of all kinds:

No. girl/boyfriends. If married. No paid for sex under any conditions. Certainly no out-of-wedlock offspring.

No. pictures. of. any. kind.

Say nothing in public that you don't want to hear about on the news.

It's really very simple. If 50 other media figures have gotten fired/sued/impeached/suspended for what you are about to do, DON'T DO IT.

[TwilightGardener]

18. He was clearly trying to be cute and clever, but you lose all credibility

as a supposedly objective "analyst" by being so utterly disrespectful of the President. That's really the issue, aside from the disrespect--was MSNBC putting him forth as a neutral and objective NEWS person, or as an entertaining talking head?

[StarburstClock]

19. No country should be allowed to set up torture camps either

or be run by criminal banking interests.

[TwilightGardener]

20. Er...OK.

[jimlup]

12. Yeah, if Scarborogh endorsed the statement absolutely they should have! nt

[DallasNE]

34. The 7 Second Delay

Didn't work because "dick" is not one of the prohibited words, apparently. Joe even goaded him on. The punishment does not fit the crime in this case.

[No Elephants]

40. Agree, esp. smarmy, chronicaqlly dishonest Scarborough

"Trust me,” Scarborough assured him."

[abbeyco]

4. Dick - that's was "Dick" Halperin called President Obama

He was totally out of line and was egged on by Mika and Joe. I'm done with the show - and I let them know it. I think we need to contact advertisers on the show, too - send a little financial hurt to MoFo Joe.

[catbyte]

5. Halperin is a colossal dick, so I guess it takes 1 to know 1?

:shrug:

[Plucketeer]

8. MoJo's a waste of effort - theirs AND mine.

That's why I don't watch it. Maybe FOX will give Halperin a job and a raise!

[99 Percent Sure]

10. Thank you! Why do progressives help their ratings

by watching them daily, knowing that they're helping to keep them on the air?

[CTyankee]

24. Well, I'm not part of the ratings system so it makes no difference if I watch or not.

But the reason I watch is to see people I want to hear from. Today it was Howard Dean. He successfully rebutted Scar on Medicare more than once. Tomorrow they are having my governor, Dan Malloy, on and I want very much to hear what he has to say about the state budget negotiations with the unions. I like to see Katrina VandenHeuval and Chris Hayes from the Nation...and on and on...

When the RWingers come on I switch it off.

[No Elephants]

41. If you have a cable box, you probably are part of the ratings system.

[bluestateguy]

9. I don't accept forced apologies

And to criticize the President of the United States when we are at war and have troops in the field is beneath contempt.

[AlbertCat]

15. And to criticize the President of the United States when we are at war and have troops in the field

is beneath contempt.


You forgot the sarcasm thingie... right?

Or did you sing this tune during the Bush years?

[Beacool]

27. I hope that you were joking.

"And to criticize the President of the United States when we are at war and have troops in the field is beneath contempt."

This could have been taken out of a RW site. That's precisely what they kept saying during the Bush years whenever someone complained about Bush's policies.

;(

[emilyg]

28. Of course we never criticized Bush.

[No Elephants]

45. I'm on your side, but there is a difference between our criticizing Bush on a message board and

a commentator of a supposedly serious news network saying the President acted like a dick on national television. In fact, per DU rules, we wouldn't get away with calling a fellow DUer a dick.

That said, I believe wholeheartedly that Presidents should be criticized, most especially when they have hauled us off to or perpetuted war. Especially since it looks as though we will be in the war on terror until the universe ends.

[emilyg]

46. My feelings on politicians

and Presidents - we have a right to critize - they work for us. I do agree on national media.

[No Elephants]

43. Sorry, but that's what Republicans said about Dummya and Iraqistan.

I'll give you the same response I gave them.

Criticizing the President is not only a right but a duty of all Americans, and most especially when he is at war.


Public criticism, contributed to by Sir Walter Cronkite and other fine newmen, was the only thing that finally caused Congress to cut off funding of the the Vietnam War. (To reduce the possibility of that happening again, the neocons gave us an all volunteer military.)

Besides, the President workw for us. No sane employer disempowers himself from criticizing his employees.

[crim son]

11. I'd say he is entitled to his opinion, but not entitled to risk

revealing it on air. I hope he was fired for incompetence only.

[No Elephants]

44. He is entitled to risk revealing it on air. However, he must accept the consequences.

He was fired for saying an inappropriate thing on air. As he should have been. MSNBC fired Schuster for less.

[Hubert Flottz]

13. I watched the replay and...

I think they should can Mourning Joe for jumping on the engineer instead of the culprit.

[livetohike]

31. That's what I said in the e-mail I sent earlier

include Mika and Willie Geist as well for general smirkiness.

[rgbecker]

16. Cheney is the Dick.

[totodeinhere]

25. Yes, but I suspect he also would have been suspended for calling Cheney that.

It's not whether or not the characterization is true. People will disagree on that. It's about respect for the office.

[FreeBillClinton]

17. That's about the level of discourse I'd expect from a cable news channel.

[grasswire]

21. Did they suspend him WITH pay?

Halperin has been a tool of the right for many years now. He used to be the author of that daily insider newsletter that went out every morning to Washington press corps and "opinion makers" framing the narrative and nannying reporters and pundits into hitting Democrats every way possible.

He was especially active during the Lewinsky years and again during Bushco. I blame him for the way the herd mentality of the MSM developed.

A pox on him.

[bigworld]

22. Have some class

You're on TV, Mark. I hope you can offer up a better word than that.

[Leontius]

23. If he thought he was being a dick and said he was being a dick

so what? I for one like to know what the "analysts" really think. It helps to understand the slant of their analysis.

[CTyankee]

32. This is what passes for "political analysis" these days?

Honestly, I watch some of these "analysts" and wonder who they are trying to kid. There are many posters on DU who could do great analysis for Morning Joe, but instead we have an echo chamber when it comes to these guys. Howard Dean was on the show and in just a few minutes had the political situation sized up succinctly and intelligently. They get smartass Halperin and schmoozer Harold Ford, Jr. with their simplistic crap and waste time...

[teabaghater]

26. These are the

individuals who need to be removed from the scene, Karl Rove, Dick Army, Rush Limbaugh and the Cock Brothers or we're never going to get this country back. They're dug in, monied and have taken us over, i.e. Wisconsin, Ohio and other states where the blatant power grabs have taken place. They're even rewriting history , I heard, to match their idiot candidates lack of knowledge by changing facts on Wikipedia.
Think about it, when Rove brought in the religiously insane they garnished a huge voting block that morphed into the Tea Bag idiots.
People aren't willing to get in the streets, although Wisconsin and Ohio were a great indicator that some have caught on to the RW motives, it's going to have to get like the sixties to rock and roll these freaks out.
The complacency after the Gore presidential theft was very telling. The Senate's inaction at that time told a story of the power behind the RW.
The power players of the GOP aren't going to just "go away".

[davidwparker]

29. Thanks for posting the sequence. I had heard of this, but

was not sure why he said it. Now that I see Joe Smoe was encouraging, I understand.

I unfortunately have this show on after watching MSNBC the night before. I left it on the first hour since Dean was on. Turned it after Washington journal came on CSPAN.

Terrible show. Mama and the mooks would have been a better choice.

[FreeBillClinton]

30. Suspended? That should be a firing offense.

[flamingdem]

33. Whaa! Leave Halperin's corporate jet alone! Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Right winger caught out.

[EC]

35. They could get rid of him and the Scar crew for all I care.

I can't stomach watching Scar in the morning while getting ready for work...As much as I hate Good Morning America, I prefer that to Scar...I wish Olbermann was on an hour later, than I'd watch his repeat over anything else on in the morning.

[RoryK]

36. Isn't Mr Halperin the No. 2 hack in America?

I do believe it was either Slate or Salon which toggled him as such.

[PassingFair]

49. "Republican Suck-Up"

http://gawker.com/256341/time-hires-republican-suck+up-mark-halperin

[BadtotheboneBob]

37. Wasn't Nixon a Dick?

... I always thought so.

[Supersedeas]

38. all we need to know about the so-called middle of the road analysts

[TomCADem]

47. I Guess The President Was Too Mean To Republicans For Halperins' Taste

If you attack Republicans, you are being petty and partisan and acting like a d*&k. But, if a Republican attacks a Democrat, he is just standing up for his beliefs. Heck, if a Republican yells "You Lie!, you will get millions in donations.

I guess the corporate media is showing its true colors.

[unkachuck]

48. characterizing our Prez....

....as 'kind of a dick' doesn't display a nice reporterly attitude....

....and no matter how often a reporter may think or feel it, they should never refer to a president as a pussy, jagoff, fuckwad, dickpull, scumbag, fucker, chicken-fucker, mother-fucker, cum-sucker, son-of-a-bitch, snotball or Republican....unless they're referring to the chimp....