Call me amused.
The Politico reports that editor-at large for Time, Mark Halperin, who is also a senior political analyst for MSNBC (suspended now)was referencing Barack Obama's speech yesterday and said "I thought he was a dick yesterday."
During the Morning Joe show, host Joe Scarborough hoped to prevent the comment from being broadcast, saying, “Delay that. Delay that. What are you doing? I can’t believe… don’t do that. Did we delay that?”
Just minutes later, Halperin quickly apologized on the air to the president and viewers for his choice of words. “Joking aside, this is an absolute apology. I shouldn’t have said it. I apologize to the president and the viewers who heard me say that,” Halperin said.
“We’re going to have a meeting after the show,” Scarborough said.
According to Scarborough, there had been a mishap with the seven-second delay button – a new executive producer apparently didn’t know how it worked. “You are supposed to know how to do the job,” Scarborough said of his producer. “I would tell you what I think of him, but he doesn’t know what button to push.”
Later in the show, Halperin again apologized, saying, “I can’t explain why I did it. It’s inappropriate, disrespectful. I’ve already apologized, and I will again to the President. I’m sorry, I’m sorry to the viewers…It is disrespectful, what I said was disrespectful to the president and the office but it also lowers our discourse.”
Everyone issued statements, Halperin with yet another apology on Twitter and via statement, MSNBC and Scarborough himself again at the end of the show.
Hat Tip Hot Air via Ed Morrissey's Tweet
Morrissey also has a updated question he ends his piece with: "Did MSNBC get mad because of the word, or because it was aimed at Obama?"
Still amused here at the fuss Halperin's Obama "was a dick" comments are creating around the blogosphere.
[Update] CNN does a piece on this and cannot even bring themselves to spell out the word dick in their article:
MSNBC contributor Mark Halperin was suspended indefinitely Thursday from the cable network after calling President Obama a "d**k."
They actually do that twice.
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