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People know that the MSM despises Sarah Palin. Still, it was shocking to hear the dirty little secret so openly stated . . . Jim Vandehei of Politico, on Morning Joe today: "If you talk to any single reporter at any media organization that we're aware of, I don't think that anyone thinks she can be president or should be president." View video here.

When on today's Morning Joe, Mika Brzezinski tried to report the comments of RNC Chairman Reince Priebus on Weinergate, Joe Scarborough shut her down and shut the comments out. "It's just stupid. Just shut up," said Scarborough of Priebus. View video here.

Yesterday, this column jibed Joe Scarborough & Co. for blacking out, during Morning Joe's first half-hour, coverage of Anthony Weiner's epic news conference of the day before. Today, a defiant Scarborough dismissed the criticism the show received, boasting "we'll talk about what we feel like talking about." When the show opened today, it at first seemed that Scarborough was about to make amends for yesterday's poor news judgment. But Joe's mock contrition was just a set-up for a joke. View video here.

When I began watching my DVR recording of Morning Joe today, I was of course wondering which clip from yesterday's Weiner press conference Morning Joe had chosen to open the show. When instead a clip of Jon Stewart mocking Sarah Palin appeared, I literally wondered if I was playing the recording of the wrong day's Morning Joe. But as the first half-hour unfolded, it became obvious that Morning Joe had made a conscious decision to black out any mention of Weiner-gate during today's first half-hour. Hat tip NB reader Matthew E. View video here.

"He's a Morning Joe candidate." That could be the kiss of death among Republican primary voters, but Mark Halperin meant it as a compliment. Today's Morning Joe panel was unanimous in its praise for Huntsman's performance in New Hampshire over the weekend. More from Mark Halperin: "As impressive as any couple I've seen . . . I was pretty blown away by how effective he was . . . more [comfortable in his skin] than Barack Obama and George Bush, and they for me in my career have been the gold standard . . . One of the liberal trackers...

Newt Gingrich came in for some serious criticism on today's Morning Joe for his attack on Paul Ryan's health care proposal. Reacting to footage of Newt on Meet the Press alluding to Paul Ryan's health care proposal as "radical," Joe Scarborough accused Gingrich of being in "the mushy middle." Pat Buchanan came with the unkindest cut of all, saying Gingrich is "out on the left wing of the Republican party." View video here.

I called Trump last Friday to see if he would back off his claim that the president of the United States might be constitutionally prohibited from holding his office. “I’m not finished with that issue by any stretch of the imagination,” Trump told me. “You mock me for that, but his own grandmother says he was born in Kenya and says she was there.” The New York real estate mogul didn’t stop with questions about the birth certificate. Trump also claimed the president’s first book was ghostwritten by a domestic terrorist.

Republicans in Washington are trying to recruit Joe Scarborough to run against Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) next year. Sen. John Cornyn (Texas), who heads the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), told The Hill on Thursday that he has talked to Scarborough a couple times about a Senate bid. And he indicated he’s still working on persuading the MSNBC host to run for the upper chamber. “I’d be delighted to talk to him a third time,” Cornyn said. In 2005, Republican campaign operatives tried to get Scarborough to challenge Rep. Katherine Harris (R-Fla.) in the Senate GOP primary. Scarborough passed, and...

Joe Scarborough's "intuitive gut reaction" to the mess in Wisconsin is that Gov. Walker's holdout against union pleas for collective bargaining "seems kind of un-American" to him. It supposedly pained the self-described small-government conservative to say it, but he held to his opinion on Monday's "Morning Joe." "I'm going to get killed for saying this," Scarborough hesitantly prefaced his confession. "I'm going to get so killed for saying this – I hate to say this, but the concept of telling people that they

On MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” this morning, host Joe Scarborough delivered a scathing rant against Glenn Beck. According to Scarborough, Beck is “losing it before our eyes” and is “bad for the conservative movement.” “He’s bad for the Republican party. He’s bad for Fox News. It’s that simple,” Scarborough said, referring specifically to Beck’s recent work to uncover the socialists, progressives, and unions to the unrest in Egypt and Wisconsin. Guest commentator Pat Buchanan added that Republicans have a “responsibility and a duty” to make sure Beck isn’t speaking for conservatives. Scarborough refers to a recent blog post by conservative writer...

American combat troops will get sensitivity training directly on the battlefield about the military’s new policy on gays instead of waiting until they return to home base in the United States, the senior enlisted man in Afghanistan said Thursday. The Pentagon is launching an extensive force-wide program to ease the process of integrating open homosexuals into the ranks, including into close-knit fighting units. Army Command Sgt. Maj. Marvin Hill, the top enlisted man in Afghanistan where 100,000 U.S. troops are deployed, said that the sessions on respecting gays’ rights will go right down to the forward operating bases, where troops...

Well if he did, I sure missed that episode.

Joe Scarborough may be a morning talk show host now, but from 1995 to 2001 he was a Republican Representative from Florida, and a very conservative one at that. So when he comes out and takes aim at his former party, it really makes you wonder how far they have fallen. (Especially considering it's not a ratings grab.) When asked last night by Chris Matthews why Sarah Palin did so poorly in the straw poll at CPAC, which she did not attend and only got 6% of the vote, Scarborough did not beat around the bush, blasting her for her...

Joe Scarborough and Donny Deutsch consign Sarah Palin’s political career to the ash heap — certainly not the first time anyone’s done that — after her video response to the slanderous accusations of the media regarding her supposed responsibility for the Tucson shootings. Wasn’t that the conclusion media analysts had been flacking before her response, too?

Fairly enjoyable.

If only this were a coalition of the left and the right working out differences. But alas, it’s just a coalition of mostly liberal politicians who used to label themselves by a political party and now would rather fly stealth. Sigh. If you are not familiar with “No Lables”, no worries, it’s brand new and they certainly deserve a Hat Tip for brevity. Here’s their declaration: We are not labels – we are people. We care deeply about our country. We are frustrated and concerned about the tone of politics. We are passionate about addressing America’s challenges. We are Democrats,...

Complete title: Jeffrey Sachs’ Vicious Attack on Victor Davis Hanson Goes on “Morning Joe” Without Condemnation. Joe and MSNBC Must Apologize! As readers of my blog know, I usually watch MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program most days, because it’s the only early morning show that sometimes has serious and meaningful discussions about American politics.Today, however, was one of the program’s most low points. The show had one of its regular line-up of guests, Columbia University’s prominent professor, the internationally known Jeffrey Sachs, head of its Earth Institute, and well known as the man who gave Yeltsin government advice on privatization after...

Another day when Joe woke up on the right side of the bed, apparently.

He must have woke up on the right side of the bed this morning.

This week's news quiz is a toughie. If you blame Sarah Palin for the GOP's failure to take the Senate, have 'always loved NPR,' oppose Arizona's immigration law as "unacceptable and un-American' and called Republican candidate Sharron Angle a 'mental patient,' then you must be: A) Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, B) Lefty loon and entrepreneur Arianna Huffington, C) An MSNBC host or D) An elitist who 'will help headline the launch next month of a new national group dedicated to restoring civility in politics.' If you answered both C and D, then you should go back to drinking your...