More on Halperin

The Washington Post’s Greg Sargent has more details on what the thinking was that led to Mark Halperin’s suspension.

New details on Mark Halperin’s suspension: An MSNBC source tells me that MSNBC preident Phil Griffin’s initial response to Halperin’s “dick” crack was that he should be suspended for two weeks, in keeping with Ed Schultz’s recent limited suspension. But the volume of emails flooding in demanding Halperin’s firing persuaded him the suspension should be indefinite, the source says. That’s what MSNBC announced this morning.

But the White House has been privately sending MSNBC a similar message to what David Axelrod said earlier today, the source says: That they view Halperin’s move as stupid and distasteful, but ultimately a mistake that should not be a defining one. That, plus the commentary today saying it was an overreaction, likely means that Halperin will be ultimately allowed back on the air at some point, the source says.

There are indefinite suspensions and there are indefinite suspensions. In MSNBC’s history the only one that was “fatal” was David Shuster’s. Most of MSNBC’s “indefinite” suspensions aren’t very long. That’s the beauty of the indefinite suspension. It’s ambiguous which means you can make it as long, or as short, as you want to.

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