Joe Defends Mika…
NewsBusters’ Mark Finkelstein notes that Joe Scarborough came out and defended Mika Brzezinski over the White House talking point kerfuffle that erupted yesterday…
But here was the suddenly chivalrous Scarborough of this morning.
SCARBOROUGH: Mika yesterday, she gets pounded by—you know, I won’t even call them names—because then they’ll say [imitating] “Scarborough called [inaudible]” eating Cheetos. But bloggers said oh, Mika is just reading White House talking points. Well, it’s actually called reporting. We asked. Because Rudy came on here and said [Obama] hasn’t talked to any industry people, and so I said, let’s call the White House and get a list of all the meetings. And that’s exactly what we did. And we got the list. And it said that actually he had been reaching out to industry types from the beginning. And so, we read the list. Now, we read the list differently. Mika interpreted it one way and I another, but that’s another
I resent Joe’s remarks, personally observing a strict no-Cheetos-before-noon rule. At 6 AM, my repast of choice is a box of Hostess Twinkies, washed down with whatever dregs I can drain from the crumpled cans of last night’s Keystone Light six-pack.
In any case, bloggers are hereby put on notice: when Joe chides Mika for toeing the White House line, he’s just joshing. Report his words at your Cheeto-spewing peril!
Not that I’m trying to defend Finkelstein here since I said yesterday that I thought Mika misspoke but this mess isn’t the bloggers’ fault…it’s Mika’s fault. She didn’t phrase things properly and put just enough ambiguity out there in explaining what was she had been doing that the blogs could jump to the wrong conclusion.
June 22, 2010 at 6:52 am
..it’s Mika’s fault. She didn’t phrase things properly
A journalist – opinion or straight – who says he or she is “working with the White House” on a story is inviting trouble.
I’ll continue to bang my spoon on the highchair by asking what type of checking she did. Opinion journalists (if that’s what she now is) should have some standards too when they are presenting information.
And please, no “Hannity/Beck/Fox does it too” replies. That’s not an argument; it’s an excuse.
June 22, 2010 at 7:05 am
Wow…this non-story has been pushed further than I thought it would. I guess Newsbusters are just desperate for more shattering stories to pimp their paranoid “I DON’T BELIEVE THE LIBERAL MEDIA” Bumper Stickers.
Morning Joe has a format where people have an easy-flowing conversation. Yes, Mika might have slightly misspoke, but honestly she had said nothing wrong.
This is the quote that has caused the whole brouhaha:
Do you want to know why I have a file that I’ve been working on with the White House—and I’ll be very transparent about that? Because of your friend Rudy Giuliani who came here last week spewing out a whole bunch of nothing.
She never said the words “talking points”…etc…
The only thing I can find that she said wrong was “working on with”—where she should have said “spoke to the”.
Again, a list of people and dates is not talking points. They are just answers to questions the White House was asked.
Oh, and I loved Joe’s impression this morning of the
NewsBuster-ies(?).
June 22, 2010 at 7:46 am
We’ve long believed that Mika isn’t particularly intelligent and probably got as far as she has in this business because of her last name. Now we know for sure that we were right.
June 22, 2010 at 7:49 am
What does this have to do with her intelligence?
June 22, 2010 at 8:07 am
That she appears to be incapable of properly expressing a basic concept, and apparently left a lot of room for interpretation.
Then again, from the little we used to see of her, she never impressed us being one of the brighter intellectual lights.
June 22, 2010 at 8:22 am
That she appears to be incapable of properly expressing a basic concept, and apparently left a lot of room for interpretation.
…or she just misspoke? lol
Sorry but that is being way to harsh. She seems “incapable”? Really?
I don’t think she is dim, as you suggest. When she actually states her opinion she makes some really good points. I think the reason it is so rare for her to speak up is because for years she was a straight news anchor and that has stuck with her. That can come off as just being another “dumb blonde anchor”. Only more recently has she found it appropriate “to be fair” rather than “not speak up” as I heard her say in a Morning Joe promo.
June 22, 2010 at 8:59 am
Admittedly, we don’t watch much of her. But from what we have seen over the years, we were consistently unimpressed by her intellect.
Maybe that’s why the White House feeds her talking points, because she’ll uncritically pass them along.
June 22, 2010 at 9:06 am
Maybe that’s why the White House feeds her talking points, because she’ll uncritically pass them along.
*sigh*
There. Were. NO. Talking. Points.
June 22, 2010 at 10:25 am
Again Welch called her notes points when they were talking about flow rates. Later Joe gestered with both hands and referred to the notes as talking points. WATCH THE VIDEO.
June 22, 2010 at 10:29 am
Well Rhino Joe is b#nging Mika so of course he’s going to defend her.
June 22, 2010 at 10:41 am
Joe called her notes talking points, how is that defending her?
June 22, 2010 at 1:59 pm
“That she appears to be incapable of properly expressing a basic concept, and apparently left a lot of room for interpretation.”
What reporter, anchor, commentator, etc, hasn’t said something on-air that can leave “a lot of room for interpretation“? It almost happens on a daily basis.
“Joe called her notes talking points, how is that defending her?”
No, you moron, he quoted the bloggers calling them talking points. Watch the video again.
June 22, 2010 at 4:37 pm
She has never impressed us as being someone with anything resembling complex thoughts.
June 22, 2010 at 4:53 pm
I believe Joe was the speaker ,not a blogger. It don,t make any difference, her notes were referred to as talking points.
Theres no need for you to call me names, its not nice, however i think you watch Olbermann, Cris Mathews and Ed Schultz., so I am half moron, sister moron, crazy moron , liar moron, turd blossom moron, worst moron in the WORLD, to you. You genius.