Mark Halperin's Comment: What We've Come to Expect from the Press

Yesterday morning I was doing my usual routine: while working out on the elliptical at the Y, I was bouncing back and forth between Morning Joe and Fox & Friends in my usual game of "who's more biased?".  I almost fell off watching this:



Now, everyone has their panties in a wad over Halperin's crudeness.  But, if you watch the entire thing unfold you'll notice the absolute hypocrisy on the part of Morning Joe's hosts Mika and Joe: they both egged on Halperin, laughed and snickered at the comment, and then feigned disgust and shock.  Turds ...  As the show continued on, Halperin made several apologies, all the while having a wide-eyed, fearful look on his face.  The end result: Halperin was suspended indefinitely by MSNBC. 

The uproar is ridiculous.  I do agree that all members of the Press should be respectful of the President and the office; however, that went by the wayside years ago.  So, for the MSM to now have their panties in a wad over Halperin's comment is ludicrous and hypocritical.  Let's not forget the years of nasty comments the MSM made about President Bush.  Perhaps no one used a crude term like "dick" in reference to Bush; but, let's not forget the Press's onslaught of accusations of being a war criminal, having designed or allowed 9/11, being a racist a la Hurricane Katrina, describing Bush as "murderous", labeling him a "fascist."etc.  Forget not the years of invective language and slander from such talking heads as Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews, Rachel Maddow, Ed Schulz et al.  (Gee, aren't those all MSNBC folks?)

Check out Geoffrey Dickens' summation over at Newsbusters.org:

Flashback: MSNBC Hosts Called Bush Fascist, Murderous and War Criminal, Never Faced Suspensions

On MSNBC you can call a sitting president a "murderous" "fascist" even muse about putting the President on trial for war crimes, so long as that president is a Republican. But if you dare call a Democratic president a "d–ck," as MSNBC analyst Mark Halperin did this morning it's grounds for indefinite suspension.

While calling any president the D-word is probably not showing the proper respect for the office, it has to be asked where does it rank compared to essentially accusing a president of mass murder and war crimes?

The following is a collection of quotes from MSNBC employees past (Keith Olbermann) and present (Chris Matthews, Ron Reagan Jr.) who had some particularly distasteful things to say about a then sitting President George W. Bush:

"Good evening. A President who lied us into a war and, in so doing, needlessly killed 3,584 of our family and friends and neighbors; a President whose administration initially tried to destroy the first man to nail that lie; a President whose henchmen then ruined the career of the intelligence asset that was his wife when intelligence assets were never more essential to the viability of the Republic; a President like that has tonight freed from the prospect of prison the only man ever to come to trial for one of the component felonies in what may be the greatest crime of this young century."

Another prime example from Dickens' report:

"As a final crash of self-indulgent nonsense, when the incontrovertible truth of your panoramic and murderous deceit has even begun to cost your political party seemingly perpetual congressional seats....When somebody asks you, sir, about the cooked books and faked threats you foisted on a sincere and frightened nation; when somebody asks you, sir, about your gallant, noble, self-abnegating sacrifice of your golf game so as to soothe the families of the war dead; this advice, Mr. Bush: Shut the hell up! Good night and good luck." 

I don't know about you, but I would take the insult of "dick" a lot better than the things that were said about Bush.