{"id":4102,"date":"2011-06-30T18:27:31","date_gmt":"2011-06-30T22:27:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/?p=4102"},"modified":"2012-07-05T17:41:13","modified_gmt":"2012-07-05T21:41:13","slug":"about-mark-halperins-comments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2011\/06\/30\/about-mark-halperins-comments\/","title":{"rendered":"About Mark Halperin&#8217;s Comments&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ok, so the the interwebs and talk radio are buzzing about MSNBC senior political analyst Mark Halperin&#8217;s surprisingly blunt assessment of President Barack Obama&#8217;s performance at yesterday&#8217;s press conference&#8230; From the video it&#8217;s pretty clear Morning Joe hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski thought Mr. Halperin was joking when he asked if the seven-second delay was working before delivering his remarks:<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"595\" height=\"335\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ukG_8OrW2V4?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>MARK HALPERIN: Do we have the seven-second delay today? I want to characterize how I thought the President behaved.<\/p>\n<p>MIKA BRZEZINSKI: We have it.\u00a0 We can use it&#8211;right [Executive Producer] Alex?<\/p>\n<p>JOE SCARBOROUGH: Yeah, sure, come on, take a chance. Have faith.<\/p>\n<p>BRZEZINSKI: Let&#8217;s see what happens.<\/p>\n<p>SCARBOROUGH: I&#8217;m behind you.\u00a0 You fall down, I&#8217;m gonna catch you.<\/p>\n<p>BRZEZINSKI: And the precedent has been set on the show, so you&#8217;re good [a reference to Joe dropping an f-bomb back in 2008, leading to the installation of the seven-second delay].<\/p>\n<p>HALPERIN: <strong>I thought he was kind of a dick yesterday.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>SCARBOROUGH: Oh my God.\u00a0 Delay that!\u00a0 Delay that!\u00a0 What are you doing?\u00a0 I can&#8217;t believe you&#8211;I was joking! Don&#8217;t do that! Did we delay that?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>(Transcript courtesy <a href=\"http:\/\/newsbusters.org\/blogs\/mark-finkelstein\/2011\/06\/30\/halperin-obama-presser-i-think-he-was-kind-d-k\" target=\"_blank\">Newbusters<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<p>Ouch, there&#8217;s a lot of things I could say about President&#8217;s performance yesterday, but that&#8217;s not one of them&#8230;. Look I&#8217;m no fan Barack Obama, you don&#8217;t have to like or even respect him, but he is the President of the United States and you do have to respect the office he holds&#8230; While I might agree with Mr. Halperin&#8217;s assessment of the president&#8217;s performance, his remarks were still inappropriate. You don&#8217;t call the President of the United States a &#8220;dick&#8221; &#8212; period.<\/p>\n<p>Anyway, Mr. Halperin has apologized and MSNBC rightly has <a href=\"http:\/\/hotlineoncall.nationaljournal.com\/archives\/2011\/06\/msnbc-suspends.php\" target=\"_blank\">suspended him indefinitely<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cMark Halperin\u2019s comments this morning were completely inappropriate and unacceptable. We apologize to the President, The White House and all of our viewers,\u201d in a statement by MSNBC spokesperson Jeremy Gaines. \u201cWe strive for a high level of discourse and comments like these have no place on our air. Therefore, Mark will be suspended indefinitely from his role as an analyst.\u201d<\/p>\n<h5 style=\"text-align: center;\">~ ~ ~<\/h5>\n<p>\u201cI completely agree with everything in MSNBC\u2019s statement about my remark. I believe that the step they are taking in response is totally appropriate,\u201d Halperin said in a statement. \u201cAgain, I want to offer a heartfelt and profound apology to the President, to my MSNBC colleagues, and to the viewers. My remark was unacceptable, and I deeply regret it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>That said the President was clearly posturing and playing to his base yesterday by resorting to the same tired, old partisan class warfare rhetoric. This country faces a serious financial crisis driven by debt and a lack of economic growth.<\/p>\n<p>Washington&#8217;s policy makers can&#8217;t simply turn a blind eye to that and keep spending beyond our means. No amount tax increases is going to close the budget gap, particularly not while the economy is teetering on the edge of a cliff. Raising taxes now could easily push our already weakened economy back in recession or depression.<\/p>\n<p>Washington&#8217;s policy makers have to face reality and make real, what some would call draconian, spending cuts. Not only in discretionary spending, but also through entitlement reform. Whether you agree with Republicans or not they have at least offered a plan. All the President has offered is demonetization and demagoguery.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Related<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/online.wsj.com\/article\/SB10001424052702304657804576401883172498352.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop\" target=\"_blank\">The Deficit Is Worse Than We Think<\/a> &#8211; Lawrence B. Lindsey, Wall Street Journal<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2011\/06\/30\/president-obamas-war-on-facts\/\" target=\"_blank\">President Obama\u2019s war on facts<\/a> &#8212; Jonathan Strong &#8211; The Daily Caller<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ok, so the the interwebs and talk radio are buzzing about MSNBC senior political analyst Mark Halperin&#8217;s surprisingly blunt assessment of President Barack Obama&#8217;s performance at yesterday&#8217;s press conference&#8230; From the video it&#8217;s pretty clear Morning Joe hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski thought Mr. Halperin was joking when he asked if the seven-second delay [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[19,7],"tags":[57,1192,1193,130],"class_list":{"0":"post-4102","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-media","7":"category-politics","8":"tag-barack-obama","9":"tag-mark-halperin","10":"tag-morning-joe","11":"tag-msnbc","12":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pfpI7-14a","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3584,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2010\/10\/11\/wsj-democrats-unleash-the-irs-and-justice-department-on-donors-to-their-political-opponents\/","url_meta":{"origin":4102,"position":0},"title":"WSJ: Democrats Unleash the IRS and Justice Department on Donors to Their Political Opponents","author":"Jeff","date":"October 11, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Democrats and Liberal activists love to accuse Republicans of being fascists or Nazis or using McCarthyite rhetoric while at the same time threatening their political opponents with IRS and Justice Department investigations: If at first you don't succeed, get some friends in high places to shut your opponents up. That's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Politics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":845,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2008\/10\/26\/tough-questions-for-joe-biden\/","url_meta":{"origin":4102,"position":1},"title":"Tough Questions for Joe Biden","author":"Jeff","date":"October 26, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"WFTV anchor Barbara West conducted a satellite interview with Sen. Joe Biden on Thursday, October 23rd. Unlike most reporters West didn't shy away from asking tough questions... She questioned Biden on democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's ties to ACORN and his plans to \"spread the wealth\" around. Biden's answers are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Politics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2260,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/05\/27\/rep-joe-sestak-to-chalenge-arlen-specter\/","url_meta":{"origin":4102,"position":2},"title":"Rep. Joe Sestak to Chalenge Arlen Specter","author":"Jeff","date":"May 27, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"TPM is reporting that Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA) is privately telling supports that he intends to challenge newly minted Democratic incumbent Arlen Specter: \"He intends to get in the race,\" says Meg Infantino, the Congressman's sister, who works at Sestak for Congress. \"In the not too distant future, he will\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Politics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":658,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2008\/10\/06\/sarah-palin-barack-obama-tops-in-spam\/","url_meta":{"origin":4102,"position":3},"title":"Sarah Palin &#038; Barack Obama: Tops In Spam","author":"Jeff","date":"October 6, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Secure Computing released a new report on spam trends Friday, among the reports findings, spam citing Gov. Sarah Palin topped her opponent, Sen. Joe Biden, by a ratio of 5 to 4 during the month of September. In a top-of-the-ticket comparison, spam using the name of Sen. Barack Obama easily\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Internet&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Internet","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/internet\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":383,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2008\/09\/17\/the-democrats-credit-crisis\/","url_meta":{"origin":4102,"position":4},"title":"The Democrats Credit Crisis&#8230;","author":"Jeff","date":"September 17, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The more I dig into the history behind our current crisis the more outraged I become... Commenter Veretax writes: \"I think the American people have had it with this situation where the middle-income people in our country are not protected from the ramifications of the risk-taking and the greed of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Economy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Economy","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/economy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2524,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/07\/16\/joe-biden-we-have-to-go-spend-money-to-keep-from-going-bankrupt\/","url_meta":{"origin":4102,"position":5},"title":"Joe Biden: &#8216;We Have to Go Spend Money to Keep From Going Bankrupt&#8217;","author":"Jeff","date":"July 16, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"From CNSNews.com: Vice President Joe Biden told people attending an AARP town hall meeting that unless the Democrat-supported health care plan becomes law the nation will go bankrupt and that the only way to avoid that fate is for the government to spend more money. \u201cAnd folks look, AARP knows\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Economy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Economy","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/economy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4102\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}