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Talk about setting someone up to fail . . . Heading into a contest, politicians traditionally like to lower expectations. But Joe Scarborough has raised expectations for Marco Rubio almost to the roof. On today's Morning Joe, Scarborough repeatedly cited talk that if Marco Rubio doesn't finish second in the South Carolina primary, "he has to get out of the race." Chuckling through Joe's comments, Mark Halperin batted away talk of a less-than-second-place finish forcing Rubio out of the race: "with all due respect, that's one of the silliest things I've heard this cycle. Rubio needs to beat Bush here...

Any would-be Republican presidential candidate who had--hanging around his neck--all the scandals and investigations that surround Hillary Clinton, would likely not have the chutzpah to throw his hat into the ring. He would know that the MSM would create such a toxic environment that his candidacy would never have a chance of getting off the ground. And so it is somewhere between amusing and outrageous to hear Mark Halperin claim, as he did on today's With All Due Respect, that the press is "biased against" Hillary Clinton. Granted, Halperin did so in the context of discussing this evening's Dem debate...

‏@MarkHalperin: "My report card grades for the NH winners victory speeches: @realDonaldTrump A: v strong energy/close. @BernieSanders B+: went too long

**SNIP** "All of our sources high up are telling us... that this investigation is far more advanced than we the public knows," Scarborough said, before asking the panelists what information they're getting. "Well, there are three things that people are keying off of. First of all, there are a lot of chatter amongst FBI agents, many of whom have never been big fans of the Clintons. But a lot of FBI agents seem to be saying something is happening here," Bloomberg News analyst Mark Halperin said. "Second is from a legal point of view, you look at the recent developments...

With news of the death of Paul Kantner of Jefferson Airplane, let's take a line from another group of the late 60s, Buffalo Springfield: "there's something happening here." What it is ain't exactly clear, but it doesn't seem to bode well for Hillary Clinton. Today's Morning Joe featured an ominous exchange between Joe Scarborough and Mark Halperin. The notion was that a variety of sources--from a senior network exec, to top Obama admin officials, to FBI agents--are saying the same thing: the FBI investigation of Hillary is much further along than most people realize. Listen to Halperin: "the body language...

"I'm really good at killing people," Barack Obama once allegedly said. The origin of the quote is the 2013 book "Double Down" by veteran political journalists Mark Halperin and John Heilemann, who cite unnamed Obama aides as their source. The two reporters have journalistic credits even a liberal would respect--The New Yorker, The Economist, and MSNBC, to name a few. Some people choose not to give the quote credence because its source is anonymous and it wasn't caught on tape. Skepticism surrounding anonymous quotes is of course understandable though I surmise that most doubters have political motives. People who are...

Mark Halperin Verified account ‏@MarkHalperin Does anybody know where @SarahPalinUSA plans to be on Tuesday? Trump will be having a major announcement with a special guest tomorrow in Ames, Iowa.

Mark Halperin ‏@MarkHalperin 16m16 minutes ago At least 3 of top GOP '16ers are sitting on eye-catching endorsements that will be timed for release pre-Iowa for max impact. DEVELOPING...

EXCERPT Anyway, Charlie Rose with Mark Halperin last night. Charlie Rose said, "Are you saying, Mark, that if the Republican Party unites against Donald Trump, that they can't stop him?" HALPERIN: The establishment now will not accept Trump as the nominee. They will fight him to the end, including at the convention if they need to and I think they'll run someone else if he does become the nominee. ROSE: Meaning somebody's in the field -- HALPERIN: No! Someone like Mitt Romney or Mitch Daniels, someone else to step forward to say, "We've got a safe place to vote because...

Suggestion for John Kerry: if traveling makes you so tired that you say things undermining the war against radical Islamic terrorism, stay home on Nantucket and conduct your diplomacy by Skype . . . On today's Morning Joe, here's how Mark Halperin explained Kerry's despicable statement about the "legitimacy" and "rationale" of the Charlie Hebdo attacks: "Secretary Kerry has a history when he's tired in particular after he hurtles around the world of speaking imprecisely." Was Kerry speaking "imprecisely"—or did he let the truth slip of precisely how he and President Obama really feel? View the video here.

While Donald Trump and Ben Carson continue to dominate the polls and a gaggle of Establishment candidates battle one another, the favorite to win the Republican presidential nomination just might be Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, journalist Mark Halperin said Tuesday.On the day of the fourth Republican debate Tuesday, Halperin said on "The Laura Ingraham Show" that Cruz might be best situated to, as Ingraham put it, "marry the passion to the substance."Halperin, co-managing editor of Bloomberg Politics, said Cruz is set up nicely for the Iowa caucuses and would have favorable terrain in the early voting Southern states. In addition,...

God forbid it should be said that Bernie Sanders throws a "Christmas" party! Sanders wife, Jane O'Meara Sanders, was interviewed on today's With All Due Respect. When Mark Halperin asked the affable Mrs. Sanders to share a side of her husband that people might not know, she twice mentioned that Bernie organizes an annual "Christmas" party. And twice she promptly corrected herself, calling it a "holiday" party. View the video here.

Mark Halperin has alleged that FBI agents conducting the investigation of Hillary's emails are driven in part by personal animus toward the Clintons. Appearing on today's Morning Joe, Halperin said that "of all the entities in the United States that represent a threat to Hillary Clinton being the next President of the United States, those FBI agents are probably in the first tier, in part because they're following the evidence wherever it leads, but in part because—let's be honest—a lot of FBI agents don't like the Clintons. View the video, and be sure to watch to the end to catch...

This could get entertaining . . . Mark Halperin says that, faced with plunging poll numbers, Hillary's only hope of victory is to "win ugly." Appearing on today's Morning Joe, Halperin explained that by "win ugly" he means drawing invidious comparisons with her opponents, such as emphasizing that Bernie Sanders is a socialist and Trump a billionaire developer. Should we prepare for the Hillary Red Scare? "I have here in my hand a list of 205 socialists in the Sanders campaign!" View the video here.

So who's Hillary's enforcer? Last week we asked "who got to Donny Deutsch?" when he suddenly became supportive of Hillary whereas just the week before he had been very critical of her. Now the same thing has happened with Ed Rendell. Just yesterday, the former DNC Chairman and Pennsylvania governor was quoted in the New York Times saying Hillary has handled the email scandal "poorly, maybe atrociously, certainly horribly." But on today's Morning Joe, Ed was suddenly singing a different tune, claiming Hillary is doing everything right and plaintively suggesting that there is no problem. That led Mark Halperin to...

Wednesday on Bloomberg TV’s “With All Due Respect,” host Mark Halperin and John Heilemann asked Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump what his favorite Bible verse is.Trump has said many times on the campaign trail the Bible is his favorite book.Heilemann asked, “You mentioned the Bible and talked about how it was your favorite book and you said, I think last night on in Iowa, some people are surprised you say that. I am wondering what one or two of your most favorite Bible verses are and why?”Trump answered, “I wouldn’t want to get into it because to me that’s very...

Bloomberg Politics Managing Editor Mark Halperin stated that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has “reached a turning point” where the “establishment candidates” think he can win Iowa, “most” believe he can win the nomination, and “a significant number think he could win the White House” on Monday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” Halperin was asked his writing that “Most importantly, we’ve reached a turning point with Trump, the major establishment campaigns of both parties now think Trump could win Iowa, and most of them think he could win the nomination, and a significant number think he could win the White...

You know those super-fast-talking disclaimers run at the end of some ads? The kind of CYA things the lawyers force the advertisers to say? That's what Mark Halperin's pro forma praise of Hillary on today's Morning Joe brought to mind. Halperin first ripped Hillary's campaign as the most "unresponsive to basic questions" he's ever dealt with, and reported that "elite Democrats" are worried about being stuck with scandal-ridden Hillary as their candidate. But Halperin apparently felt obliged to include this bit of posterior-protecting pablum: "she's still an extraordinarily strong candidate, she's a great public servant. She's, I think, right now,...

MARK HALPERIN: The establishment wing of the party is going to have to settle on one or two people by March 1st. And I think today, if you look at, again, the four people the establishment talk about, leave Governor Christie aside, Kasich, Bush, Walker, Rubio. JOHN DICKERSON, FACE THE NATION: How -- HALPERIN: Even Trump hasn't gone after him yet. NOONAN: True. True. JAMELLE BOUIE: -- I think there's a sweet spot for Republican presidential candidates and it's basically, I want to cut your taxes, I don't want to stick it to anyone. And I think Kasich hits that...

On "With All Due Respect," Former Donald Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone discusses his abrupt departure from the campaign, whether the real estate mogul can win the Republican nomination and who would potentially fill a “Trump void.” He also provides a glimpse inside the mind of “The Donald.” Stone was advising Trump's presidential campaign but left right after the Megyn Kelly-FOX News debate debacle. Stone did not bash Trump and had nothing but praise to give.